Safe way to dispose powder?

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gmf

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I'm inheriting my dad's firearms and various supplies he and my grandpa have been amassing for years. I now am the proud owner of a 1lb canister of Hercules 2400 smokeless rifle powder. I don't anticipate ever using this, and it could be 20 years old for all I know.

Forgive my ignorance but I feel like a bit of a fish out of water here.

What's the best way to dispose of it?
 
gmf said:
I'm inheriting my dad's firearms and various supplies he and my grandpa have been amassing for years. I now am the proud owner of a 1lb canister of Hercules 2400 smokeless rifle powder. I don't anticipate ever using this, and it could be 20 years old for all I know.

Forgive my ignorance but I feel like a bit of a fish out of water here.

What's the best way to dispose of it?
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If still sealed why not give it away? I've used powders over 40 years old.

If opened or questionable, sprinkle on the lawn.
 
The best way is to burn it. It burns at a controlled rate so don't worry about this. Just take the usual precaution about fire, water/extinguisher nearby and burn it on a non-flammable surface.
 
Great lawn fertilizer. I wish you were closer I'd like to know if it was still good to use in ammo. Oldest powder I have ever used is surplus made in the 50's.
 
It will still be good for loading ammo but because you just want to get rid of it, burn it! Lots of fun, try a little to reassure yourself and then have fun.
Make a fuse trail, just like in the movies, that leads to the big pile and watch it burn with gusto!
 
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If it is questionable?
Then I would say it is the responsible thing to do.

If I am not sure about the powder I wouldnt use it.
 
Back when I was a teen, somebody I know well (who shall remain nameless, for reasons that will become obvious) had an old reproduction percussion pistol and supplies that came with it. While cleaning out the basement, he came across about a half pound of powder in a jar , and not wanting to leave it behind , poured it on a snow shovel and said "Hey, watch this.. " and I was about 50 feet away. With a great WHOOSH that half pound.. of black powder.. went up in a ten foot fireball, him stumbling out of it hairless and t-shirt on fire. I grabbed the garden hose and put out the smoking shirt within seconds. I've never heard such a string of F-words chanted repeatedly before or since. He ended up in hospital covered in Flamazine cream for a couple weeks. The kicker, it was a military hospital, and it was the toughest pill to swallow explaining to his co-workers in the Explosives Ordnance Disposal team (EOD) how he'd nearly blown himself up in a moment of incredible stupidity while lighting a pile of black powder with a cigarette lighter..
 
vinver said:
Back when I was a teen, somebody I know well (who shall remain nameless, for reasons that will become obvious) had an old reproduction percussion pistol and supplies that came with it. While cleaning out the basement, he came across about a half pound of powder in a jar , and not wanting to leave it behind , poured it on a snow shovel and said "Hey, watch this.. " and I was about 50 feet away. With a great WHOOSH that half pound.. of black powder.. went up in a ten foot fireball, him stumbling out of it hairless and t-shirt on fire. I grabbed the garden hose and put out the smoking shirt within seconds. I've never heard such a string of F-words chanted repeatedly before or since. He ended up in hospital covered in Flamazine cream for a couple weeks. The kicker, it was a military hospital, and it was the toughest pill to swallow explaining to his co-workers in the Explosives Ordnance Disposal team (EOD) how he'd nearly blown himself up in a moment of incredible stupidity while lighting a pile of black powder with a cigarette lighter..
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As kids, one of my buddies fathers had a few flats of old shotgun shells (BP as it turns out)...we took to dismantling oodles and oodles of shells with our pen knives emptying the powder into a paper bags. (lead shot was discarded, the slugs we took to throwing against the sidewalk making a game out of who could make the slug flat with the least amount of throws). The next day, this buddy of mine went to "the tracks" (railroad line) with a few mutual friends and some of the paper bags. He lit the paper on a corner of a bag (1/8 full of BP) and threw the bag into the air. He'd done this before while I was present, the bag would disappear in a huge puff of smoke and a "whoosh"; tonnes of fun. However, this day I wasn't there. He apparently fanned the bag and it went "whoosh" while still in hand and in front of his face as it was being thrown up. He ended up with very bad (scarring) burns to his arm and face.
On hearing of his injury, I began to treat powder with the respect it deserves. (well, most of the time :))
 
Just one more reason that powders must stay in their original labelled container- while most powders just burn, true black powder is explosive and you don't want to be close when it lights.
 
Have any of you actually put smokeless powder on a garden or lawn? It is more or less insoluble in water. Enough so that surplus military powder from WWII was stored under water until a method was found to convert it to sporting powder. Unless I am mistaken that is the origin of IMR powder company's name (Improved Military Reserves)

cheers mooncoon
 
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