aged powder

[miner49r]

"If this gun powder hasn't lost it's ginger..."

Among the treasure trove of Dad's reloading equipment there is two 8oz cans of Dupont 5066. The cans are marked 1966 & 1967. I can remember him reloading with Bullseye and Unique but not the 5066. His early notes do list loads for the 5066.

Besides loading some rounds and hoping they don't blow up in your face, is there a way to tell if the powder is still usable?

[miner49r]

Thanks for the link Bill. I have nothing that looks like that.

[Calamity Jake]

If it smells like acid or is clumped up very bad or shows signs of breaking down then it is bad, weight till spring then put it on your flowers or lawn.

[farmerjim]

I have some open cans IMR 3031, 4350, Bullseye, unique, and Herco that has been kept in a hot and cold Louisiana attic and barn from the mid 60s till I just started back reloading. It all works fine.

[miner49r]

Thx guys.
The powder looks OK and doesn't smell.

[shibumiseeker]

If it looks and smells ok, it's ok, but you want to work your loads low and up from there as powder does change characteristics over time, and the manufacturing specs have changed. I am using 1968 production H110 for my .458 and 300BLK loads and there's some variation with modern H110, but it's close.