powder age

[Hespco]

Still using powder from the 1970's & 80's. Metal cans . Just shot some the other day. It is Win 760 , 540 ( H-S6 today ) & Win 741 ( H-S7 ) . Works perfect & smells great. Also metal cans of IMR-4831. Many primers from the late 70's & early 80's ( CCI LRM ) all perfect. Stored in a basement where it is kept cool.

 

[Laelkhunter]

Same here ,can was sealed , don't think I'll try the mail in , 1. if I didn't get in trouble for sending it back ,
2. They probably wouldn't have any to send back , to me .
3. If it is rust dust , then I get a little bit of fine birdshot along with my bullet.

Yea, the person I spoke to said to "Empty the cans, then mail them to me". No problem sending the empty cans through the mail.

 

[orcldba]

I am currently loading 33 year old W760 from steel cans. I have several containers of older powder that is still good. I had some powder that was store on cemet floor go bad on me as it was getting moisture from the cement floor. Powder will last along time provided it is store in cool dry places.

I'm still shooting ammo boxes of 30/06 reloads that I built in '83. They've slowed down from 2875 to 2825 fps, but not too much outside of the standard deviation at the time.

 

[jimbires]

JimBires:

Where did you get those nice plastic bottles to store your powder? They look great!

they are empty powder bottles that I saved for this repackaging .

 

[epoletna]

Jimbires: They looked too good to be something you stumbled on in Amazon. I don't have many empty bottles -- guess I need to do more shooting!

 

[jimbires]

when I get an 8 pound jug of powder , I fill up an empty 1 pound bottle to work out of . this way I'm not opening the 8 pounder up very often . not sure if it helps , but I've been doing this for years .

 

[epoletna]

I have done the same, but I only have one or two empties to work with. Looked like you had half a dozen. I have bottle envy.

 

[Huntsman66]

when I get an 8 pound jug of powder , I fill up an empty 1 pound bottle to work out of . this way I'm not opening the 8 pounder up very often . not sure if it helps , but I've been doing this for years .

I do the same thing

 

[Lionel Boyd Johnson]

Hi guys just wondering anyone know what length of time ( vit n133 ) will last before deteriorating and whats the oldest powder your using that is still shooting good groups, Thanks guys

I had to dispose of about 4 pounds of N165 left in the jug stored in my temperature controlled home. I'd loaded some heavy .308s and the first two shots at the range had an off sound. So I quit shooting them. When I pulled the bullets from the remaining rounds, the bases of the bullets were discolored and frosted in appearance. The powder was about 15 years old. This is the only instance of powder "going bad" that I've encountered in my 60 years reloading experience. -Ed

 

[jimbires]

I had a bunch of extras , there's 10 or 11 here . give or take , I shoot about 1 pound a week in my 338 lapua .

 

[epoletna]

Bruised shoulder much?

 

[epoletna]

I mean "lucky you." Spell check changed the words.

 

[del2les]

Hi guys just wondering anyone know what length of time ( vit n133 ) will last before deteriorating and whats the oldest powder your using that is still shooting good groups, Thanks guys

I've shot powders that were over 50+ years old, and I have several pounds of powders on my shelves that are over 40 and still work well. Also, I have shot ammo manufactured during WWII, Korean War and VN '66-8's and it has all worked.

Just prior to the pandemic and the latest shortages, I bought a brick of 1966 CCI SRP for $5, and so far, the ones I loaded have all worked well. I plan to keep the rest for collectors.

 

[Dosh]

A friend gave me a pound of powder to load some ammo for his 7Mag. It was quite stinky. I asked him how old it was and he said it was about 20 years. He said he stored it on a shelf in his garage. We're in Az and I'd estimate his garage can get over 110 in the summer. Heat kills powder, even the temp insensitive powders. I have powder over 20 years and still excellent. Difference is it's stored in temp controlled house.