THIS POWDER IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE FROM HIGGINSONS, AND IT HAS BEEN OUT OF STOCK FOR SEVERAL YEARS. THIS POST IS NOT IN ANY WAY TO BE INTERPRETED AS A "SLAM" AT HIGGINSON'S, OR SUGGESTING THAT THEY SELL "BAD" POWDER. PLEASE BUY FROM THEM IN CONFIDENCE.
Just wanted to share a little incident that may be of interest to anyone who has any of this powder stowed away. This has not only happened to me but also to "bearhunter" who also posts on this forum. A couple of weeks ago, I noticed a strange occurrence in a wooden drawer where I keep small quantities of various powder for reloading at my bench. The metal lids on my Hodgdon plastic containers were all rusty and corroded around the edge. I wondered what was the reason, but since the drawer is quite airtight when closed, I reasoned that some moisture had been trapped in there, causing the rust. I wiped the lids down with an oily rag and opened the drawer a crack to vent it. In talking recently to bearhunter about powders, he just happened to mention that he had a batch of this Higginson's powder go bad, with the indications being "sweating" and "gassing" of the powder in it's original plastic bag. His words were "It made quite a mess" This clicked when I read it so went back to my powder drawer and checked the all-plastic container that I had a quantity of this powder in. Lo and behold, the inside of the container was wet and the powder had a very acrid odor. The moisture, when checked with litmus paper is very, very acidic. Then I remembered that I had an unopened 7 lb container in my powder magazine, so went out there and checked it. Same thing!! The acidic vapors had so attacked the cardboard box that it literally fell apart. the upper part of the powder was wet, with droplets of acid formed inside the plastic bag. Obviously a dead loss. Before anyone suggests poor storage, this powder has always been stored properly. Cool, dark, with next to no temperature variations. In fact I have some powder stored that has been out of production for 3 decades, and it is still perfect, and performs just as it did when it was fresh. For any of you reloaders on here who may have some of that Higginsons OEM 4350 [N-160] I would suggest that you take a look at it, and if there are any of the aforementioned signs of deterioration, get rid of it immediately, for safety sake. Incidentally, because of the acidic nature of the powder when it deteriorates, I would not recommend putting it on your lawn. This stuff is corrosive! Regards, Eagleye.
Just wanted to share a little incident that may be of interest to anyone who has any of this powder stowed away. This has not only happened to me but also to "bearhunter" who also posts on this forum. A couple of weeks ago, I noticed a strange occurrence in a wooden drawer where I keep small quantities of various powder for reloading at my bench. The metal lids on my Hodgdon plastic containers were all rusty and corroded around the edge. I wondered what was the reason, but since the drawer is quite airtight when closed, I reasoned that some moisture had been trapped in there, causing the rust. I wiped the lids down with an oily rag and opened the drawer a crack to vent it. In talking recently to bearhunter about powders, he just happened to mention that he had a batch of this Higginson's powder go bad, with the indications being "sweating" and "gassing" of the powder in it's original plastic bag. His words were "It made quite a mess" This clicked when I read it so went back to my powder drawer and checked the all-plastic container that I had a quantity of this powder in. Lo and behold, the inside of the container was wet and the powder had a very acrid odor. The moisture, when checked with litmus paper is very, very acidic. Then I remembered that I had an unopened 7 lb container in my powder magazine, so went out there and checked it. Same thing!! The acidic vapors had so attacked the cardboard box that it literally fell apart. the upper part of the powder was wet, with droplets of acid formed inside the plastic bag. Obviously a dead loss. Before anyone suggests poor storage, this powder has always been stored properly. Cool, dark, with next to no temperature variations. In fact I have some powder stored that has been out of production for 3 decades, and it is still perfect, and performs just as it did when it was fresh. For any of you reloaders on here who may have some of that Higginsons OEM 4350 [N-160] I would suggest that you take a look at it, and if there are any of the aforementioned signs of deterioration, get rid of it immediately, for safety sake. Incidentally, because of the acidic nature of the powder when it deteriorates, I would not recommend putting it on your lawn. This stuff is corrosive! Regards, Eagleye.
Last edited:
Yes the caps rusted right off my cans. I dumped it all out. Strangely when I tried burning some it wouldn't light 
Not their fault that this stuff went south. I did burn that 8 or 9 pounds in the firepit out back. Made a pretty impressive fire that reached up about 20 feet!
