35 lbs of bad powder - what to do?

guys, using the powder as an explosive may not be legal or doable where Saputin is.

It burns nicely. One can at a time is suggested. Generates a lot of smoke. I've burned at least 40 pounds. A group of friends, bought a bunch of OEM 4350 and Bofors #44 and split it up amongst us. Sadly, it all went bad. Easy to spot. The OEM 4350, started to sweat, clump and give off noxious gasses. The Bofors #44, gave a lot more prior warning. The inside of the cans started to rust. It also caused another problem, not only did it corrode the cans it was in but it caused the bore in a 257 Roberts to rust as well. My fault, I should have cleaned it. I won't go into why I didn't, just beware, if you have any of it around. The loads were very inconsistent as well. The "cans" were paper with metal tops and bottoms. The paper started to deteriorate and the metal shelves the cans were stored on started to rust as well. The smell in the room, was terrible. Very sour and acidic. The powder had been stored properly. It just reached a point where it started to decompose. Maybe, that's why Andy at Higginson's doesn't carry that stuff any more. Those are the only two powders I have seen trouble with. All of the other surplus powders I obtained from them work fine and seem to last as long as any commercial powder. I have some original surplus H4831, from the days when you could buy a 25 pound (10kg) keg for $17.50. Cheaper, if you bought more. Only a few pounds of it though. I bought 4 kegs for $60. I actually use it as a control powder to see how the new loads in the books stack up against the older recipes and the newly manufactured powder.
 
Interesting. There must be something about 4350. The stuff we have that is bad is also 4350.

So far we have burned off a few cans and noticed that each one goes up a bit different from the others. So there is definately an inconsistency from can to can.

Just for interest sake I have lit off several cans in the sealed OEM container just to see what happens. It is pretty cool to see them flare up so energetically. So far each one has blown the cap off and vented like a rocket engine. It is quite impressive.

Just for fun I did one at night and the light show is impressive. Got it all on video. :)
 
Old IMR 3031....I suspect similar decomposition. I think what happened to mine is that Its dried out. Never let it get damp by keeping it in the basement. I keep it up high but It gets warm up there in the summer.
I'm getting inconsistent velocities with the same charge. Think Ill play safe and give it to the plants where it will be neutralized by the dew and rain.
 
I had to torch 12 pounds of ?? powder.
It came with a gun purchase, wasn't in a factory container and on further scrutiny the gun was damaged. The only option was to destroy it.
Took it to the range during the day (no one around) and lit it up in a garbage can (what needed burning anyway).
It was pretty anti climactic to be honest, no kaboom, just a rapid fire that had about a ten to fifteen foot height for about four or five seconds and a fair bit of smoke.
To be honest I was hoping for more,lol.
 
Finally got the video finished. These are all smaller burns. Unfortunately I forgot to hit "Record" for a 6 lb burn ...... my bad :(

This video clearly demonstrates two things. Smokeless powder ignited inside the OEM container is not very dangerous, other than the obvious flames. Smokeless powder is clearly NOT an explosive.

[youtube]0KTJXwclALM[/youtube]
 
ciphery said:
Old IMR 3031....I suspect similar decomposition. I think what happened to mine is that Its dried out. Never let it get damp by keeping it in the basement. I keep it up high but It gets warm up there in the summer.
Click to expand...

Powder will deteriorate mainly because all of the nitric acid used in production is not neutralized properly. Also, nitrocellulose, one of the most common bases of powders, deteriorates over time and stabilizers are added to prevent deterioration. A little bit off in the chemistry/neutralization and you can get fairly rapid deterioration. (especially if combined with less than ideal storage conditions)
 
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