Powder has gone bad - what to do with it?

[warpspeed]

I have a couple of jugs of powder that has come down with the Red Dust Virus.

I've used the unknown or accidentally mixed powder as fertilizer before but can the nasty smelling stuff be used to fertilize as well ?

[lightman]

I've heard plus's and con's about using powder for fertilizer, so I don't really know. I save my old and unknown powder for Deer Camp. It makes a nice light show around the campfire!

[MarkP]

Pour it in a shallow pile less thab an inch deep and burn it. Or if you have your own range put it in a can and shoot it with a fast bullet. Just know this can start a fire. I have shot an old IMR cans filled with Old WW 231 similar to Tanerite.

[243winxb]

Powders with high nitroglycerin content can detonate in open air.

[15meter]

Is it bad powder or a bad can? I had a can of powder I thought had gone bad, was about to throw it out and decided a closer look was in order.

Dumped it into a different can and looked at the original can very closely, the inside of the can was rusty. I took the powder out in a light breeze and poured it back and forth between two plastic cans.

After a dozen passes, 90% of the red was gone, back to looking "close" to IMR-4198. Tried a couple of cast loads and it shot exactly as I expected. Let it sit in the recycled plastic Hodgdon can for a couple of months and no red dust reappeared. Shot it up with no problem.

I may have gotten lucky but if your powder came from a steel can, I'd double check before I pitched it. Plastic jug, all bets are off.

And spread across your lawn, you'll never notice any difference, good or bad.

[dale2242]

I was given a can of 7828 in a metal can that has red dust but no acrid smell.
I suspect a rusty can, not bad powder.
I considered pouring it between containers with a fan blowing lightly on it to remove the rust.

[john.k]

If there is no acid smell,its unlikely the powder decomposing.....I had an old can of 4895 go bad,I sifted all the red dust out of it,within a few weeks ,the whole grains had crumbled into red dust.....i would imagine you could reload and fire the red dust ammo on the same day,just not store it.......theoretically .the powder could be stored by washing in chalk dust water ,or by using the triethanolamine that is the original stabilizer......this chemical is used as a cheap corrosion inhibiter in engine coolant...It works well in cast iron engines with no ally parts.

[Rapier]

You should know the difference between rust and smokeless powder dust. Plus the difference between the smell of acid and acetone., they are very different. The chemical smell in smokeless powder is acetone.
Nitroglycerine will explode from being enclosed in a non expandable container, but not if left in the open air. Nitro based smokeless powder will not explode if enclosed in a tight lid container or exposed to open air.

If you leave the lid off of a smokeless powder container it will deteriorate, it will not detonate.

Safe disposal is as fertilizer for plants, just spread and water in.

[45DUDE]

I will make good canon powder. It don't take much. I used it in mine and stuff paper on top packed in. I used it in black powder pistols stuffed with toilet paper to get rid of wasp nests and wood bees. The 4th of July is upon us. It will make a good display at night. I sprinkled a can on my driveway and it lit up 10 times larger than what I expected. Give it plenty of room.

[725]

If it's really actually bad, sprinkle it out in your garden or lawn. Great stuff. You should see my potato's.

[johnly]

Powders with high nitroglycerin content can detonate in open air.

The only testing of this DDT characteristics I've read of is in steel tubes and a cap or booster charge to initiate the event through pressure wave.
There are also events involving several hundred of smokeless propellant that have had DDT events.
Powders require DOT testing prior to shipping and the risk of DDT would be a test conducted. From that, one could reasonably conclude that the container size sold to consumers are below that DDT threshold when in the containers, which would be a worse situation than when just poured on the ground. Then again, deteriorated powder could be more prove to undergoing DDT.

[243winxb]

Its been tested. https://www.osti.gov/

Photo of powder in container.

[Martin Luber]

The powder deteriorating is what also rusts the can; it's acidic gas. The burning characteristics are also likely to have changed. It can also catch fire because you have exposed it to air through sifting. I know someone who had it cook off and burn the house down. I had to dump a can of 4227, as much as I didn't want to. I thought I'll load it up and use it right away, it was pluming right in the measure. Great place to have a fire....

[243winxb]

Auto-combust may happen in larger amounts of powder, like 8 lbs or more. As powder decomposes, it makes heat. starts fire.

Surplus, pull down powder may be a bigger problem?

Hot weather caused this one.

[405grain]

I had a can of IMR-4350 go bad after more than 20 years of storage where it was allowed to get hot in the summertime and cold in the winter. Sprinkled it on the lawn and it made good fertilizer. Learned from that, and now all the powders are stored in an air conditioned space and used within a few years of purchase.

[Hdskip]

Trying to burn smokeless powder is a seriously bad idea.

[mozeppa]

Trying to burn smokeless powder is a seriously bad idea.

only if done incorrectly.

[sharps4590]

Trying to burn smokeless powder is a seriously bad idea.

Why would that be? If you were going to ignite a pound of black powder in a pile I would agree. But a trail of smokeless powder? It's pretty benign.