20 YO powder -- Still good, or defunct?

Tengoo

Tengoo

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Rummaging through some boxes in the basement, I found several partial cans of powder tucked away....two cans of AA in plastic, a can of Unique in cardboard, and 3 cans of IMR powder in tins. This stuff will be at least 20 years old...it's been a long time since I've done any reloading [getting back to it tho'...]. Storage was on a high shelf in a cool room...it hasn't been moved or opened in all that time.

So, question: Will it still be any good or can we not be sure? Or, should I just dump it to be safe? I know that old loaded ammo in good condition is generally okay to shoot. I was thinking I'd load up a few moderate rounds with each and try them out, since I doubt it will be at all dangerous. Any experiences you can share?
 
Tengoo said:
Rummaging through some boxes in the basement, I found several partial cans of powder tucked away....two cans of AA in plastic, a can of Unique in cardboard, and 3 cans of IMR powder in tins. This stuff will be at least 20 years old...it's been a long time since I've done any reloading [getting back to it tho'...]. Storage was on a high shelf in a cool room...it hasn't been moved or opened in all that time.

So, question: Will it still be any good or can we not be sure? Or, should I just dump it to be safe? I know that old loaded ammo in good condition is generally okay to shoot. I was thinking I'd load up a few moderate rounds with each and try them out, since I doubt it will be at all dangerous. Any experiences you can share?
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Twenty years old? That's like brand new compared to some of the stuff I still use regularly.

As mentioned, if it has a reddish dust in with it, dump it. If is is sweating or clumping heavily, dump it.

One thing, all powders will have some small clumping when it has been stored for that long without moving around a bit.

I recently bought a can of Win680 in Penticton, actually it was thrown in with some other powder the vendor had. I thought, I can always throw it away if it looks bad. The can was so old, it may have been from one of the first batches of the stuff. Its cover paper was wood grained, rather than the later White background. Looks to be close to 40 years old.

I used some of it yesterday as it looked good and didn't have an ammonia type smell. It was fine. There wasn't any clumping but after the shaking it got from dozens of people at the show, that isn't a surprise.

I have never seen ball powder go bad.

I have seen extruded powders, like 4350, 4064 and 3031 along with some surplus European single base, extruded powders go bad as well. In most cases, it was obvious. In one case, the gasses given off by the deteriorating powder rusted out the storage shelves around the containers.

If there is a fairly strong ammonia/vinegar smell in the area of where your powders are stored, check your powders or check the floor for cat scats.
 
I used up some shotgun powder that was at least 20 years old. I checked the weight against what the bushing should have thrown and it was within .2 gr. These worked great, no miss fires or hang fires and they all broke a clay target it I did my part. I used up about 5 lbs of it.

A friend of mine use up some old rifle powder but measured by weight. This did not work out so well and required pulling the barrel off his rifle, after breaking the bolt handle off trying to get the bolt open. Serious over pressure maybe around 75,000-80,000 psi.
 
As long as you are sure that the powder in the container is what is on the label and not in the conditions described above. Then i would use it with the usual caution in load development.
 
I finished off a can of Hi-Skor last year. That's right, not 700X, not 800X, just Hi-Skor. I think the last time it was made was 1952. It shot fine.

 
I just used up the rest of my 571 I had from the 80's. worked liked it did then! As long as powder is stored properly, I don't think it would ever expire, at least not in our lifetimes.
 
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