Appx 35 years ago, I picked up case containing four eight pound cans of IMR4320 at a closing out sale from a Kelowna store.
I really like IMR4320 in cartridges like 303Brit and 7.65x53Arg.
I used up the pound I had pulled from the container a couple of weeks ago to load for the Gew98 chambered for 303Brit that recently came into my possession.
I noticed that I'm getting inconsistent velocities with the next pound out of the jug, using the same primers etc.
This is often a sign something has gone awry with the propellant and I wanted to eliminate that cause before playing with a bunch of other things.
I opened the cannister and after a cautious sniff, it was pretty obvious the powder was deteriorating beyond use.
Poured some out into a stainless bown and the demon rust was definitely present. When a light was shone inside the tin, the inside walls were no longer shiney and covered with rust spots that were definitely eating away the container.
I checked the container simply because some powders, especially surplus military grade types will often have a reddish or yellowish hue, due to the coating which comes from the particular batch of graphite or whatever they're using to stop the clumping.
Oh well, the powder was cheap back when I bought it. $80 for 32 pounds.
I will miss having predictable IMR4320 in my cache of powders to choose from. I have other powders with very similar burn rates and characteristics, so I won't be looking for more.
The modern IMR4320 would likely be very different in burn rate from that 35+ year matching lot.
At todays prices that powder would cost around $500 by the time it got home. It's going to be missed.
I really like IMR4320 in cartridges like 303Brit and 7.65x53Arg.
I used up the pound I had pulled from the container a couple of weeks ago to load for the Gew98 chambered for 303Brit that recently came into my possession.
I noticed that I'm getting inconsistent velocities with the next pound out of the jug, using the same primers etc.
This is often a sign something has gone awry with the propellant and I wanted to eliminate that cause before playing with a bunch of other things.
I opened the cannister and after a cautious sniff, it was pretty obvious the powder was deteriorating beyond use.
Poured some out into a stainless bown and the demon rust was definitely present. When a light was shone inside the tin, the inside walls were no longer shiney and covered with rust spots that were definitely eating away the container.
I checked the container simply because some powders, especially surplus military grade types will often have a reddish or yellowish hue, due to the coating which comes from the particular batch of graphite or whatever they're using to stop the clumping.
Oh well, the powder was cheap back when I bought it. $80 for 32 pounds.
I will miss having predictable IMR4320 in my cache of powders to choose from. I have other powders with very similar burn rates and characteristics, so I won't be looking for more.
The modern IMR4320 would likely be very different in burn rate from that 35+ year matching lot.
At todays prices that powder would cost around $500 by the time it got home. It's going to be missed.
