How to tell?

[lead4me]

I ran across an ad in a local message board that wanted 125.00 for the listed powders, it states that they range from 3 to 9 years old. I called and spoke to the man and he said that they had been stored inside and belonged to an uncle that had just passed. I am meeting him today at 4 to buy if they look good. How can I tell if they have gone bad & is any one of these more likely to go bad than the others?

Alliant 2400 - near full
Winchester 296 - unopened
Hodgdon univ. clays - unopened
Hodgdon 4198 - 2/3full
Hodgdon 4227 - unopened
Hodgdon Pyrodex - 1/3full
2cans IMR 4198 1-unopened and 1- 7/8full
2cans IMR 4227 1-unopened and 1- 2/3full
IMR 4320 - unopened
IMR 4831 - full but has been opened
IMR 4350 - full but has been opened

[HeavyMetal]

Smell!

Powder that has gone bad has a terribile odor to it. I would be more concerned about mis marked containers, I currently have a contanier of Hi-Vel that had 4198 scratched into it so fine I could hardly see it, so check for such stuff.

Bought it for the container so no loss but that is an example of what moron's do so be aware!

Then ask about house fires and such in the area. In the 70's I lived in a small bungalo complex and the home about 50 feet behind me went up in flames. Fender on my 66 Mustang took the brunt of the heat and needed to be repainted.

A week or so later I went to the range and all my ammo acted wierd, mis fires, lack of power, failure to eject you name it I had it happen.

"Fresh" loads did the same thing the next week! Took me a couple weeks to figure out the heat from the fire "Curddled" my powder supply! It never did smell but was clumped something strange!

Fertailized the front lawn with about 8 pounds of powder, grass grew real quick, and fresh powder cured my issues.