Noticed an unusual odor in my powder storage!

dthunter

dthunter

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Hi fellow Gunnutz!
Just a reminder to all of us reloaders to periodically check our powder cans for degradation/corrosion.

I noticed a strange ordour months ago, but paid no heed to it. Never saw anything unusual until last night!

Jn the very back of my powder cans, there was a 1/2 pound of H5010 powder that was BAAADLY CORRODING! The cap was gone completely and there was a pile of red powder all around the can!

I carefull removed all the other powder from the area, and used wet rags to gently clean the mess up. I added water and diluted the powder well enough to render it inert.

Take care of your powder stores.



 
Last edited:
dthunter said:
Hi fellow Gunnutz!
Just a reminder to all of us reloaders to periodically check our powder cans for degradation/corrosion.

I noticed a strange ordour months ago, but paid no heed to it. Never saw anything unusual until last night!

Jn the very back of my powder cans, there was a 1/2 pound of H50BMG powder that was BAAADLY CORRODING! The cap was gone completely and there was a pile of red powder all around the can!

I carefull removed all the other powder from the area, and used wet rags to gently clean the mess up. I added water and diluted the powder well enough to render it inert.

Take care of your powder stores.
Click to expand...

That is odd for H50BMG. The containers had metal lids rather than the newer plastic ones? I wonder if Hodgdons replacing of the metal caps with plastic caps was for economic or chemical reasons?
I had the exact same thing occur with H5010 a few years ago. Lost 40 lbs of it.
 
I lost 21 lbs of H4350 OEM [From Higginson's] several years ago to corrosion in the powder.
There were wet droplets in the plastic containers that were pure acid of some kind.
The cardboard boxes were literally falling apart, and any unpainted metal in the
proximity of that powder was heavily rusted. It was a great powder, too!! Dave.
 
alberta tactical rifle said:
That is odd for H50BMG. The containers had metal lids rather than the newer plastic ones? I wonder if Hodgdons replacing of the metal caps with plastic caps was for economic or chemical reasons?
I had the exact same thing occur with H5010 a few years ago. Lost 40 lbs of it.
Click to expand...

Oops! I just realised that I put the wrong powder burn rate down in my post! I corrected it accordingly.

This powder was also the H5010 that you had degrade! Seems like they had an issue with thier chemistry or process!
 
dthunter said:
Oops! I just realised that I put the wrong powder burn rate down in my post! I corrected it accordingly.

This powder was also the H5010 that you had degrade! Seems like they had an issue with thier chemistry or process!
Click to expand...

They did and the problem was significant enough for Hodgdons to reformulate and create H50BMG.
What is really weird is long ago (late 70s early 80s) we could purchase H5010 in duffles (25 and 50 lb canvas bags) as surplus in the USA. It was apparently used as the propellant on some of the naval ships guns, and it lasted a very long time in the duffles. No clue why.

Degraded powder is GREAT garden fertilizer!!!
 
Higginson's stuff was famous for that. Almost 30 years ago, I lost a few pounds of 33 & a keg of 44 because of the same thing. Having said that, who knows how old the powder was or what the conditions were that it was stored in before Thomas bought it for resale.

If nothing else, it does give you some impetus to get out there & use the stuff for what it was meant for before it rots, and not for fertilizing the lawn, because we all hate to waste something!

;-)
 
I had some old H5010 go bad also years ago, along with Higginson 33 and 44. All military surplus extruded powders.

I did a great deal of research on this, and found some information. Nitric acid is used in the manufacture of smokeless gun powder, but is removed or neutralized at the end of the process... with one sometimes exception.

When gunpowder is made for military use, it is not uncommon to cut costs by not removing all of the acid in the finished powder. This has no effect in the performance of the powder, and the assumption is that the product will be used up within a few years. What this short cut does do is reduce long term shelf life, which is greatly accelerated if the powder endures summer heat over time.

My understanding is this can affect extruded powder only, not the ball variety, because the process to make ball is different and the process will not permit any acid to remain at the end.
 
Interesting lesson learned, thanks: if I'm going to keep old powders on the tablets for 10 years or more, I should check the containers at least once a year. :)
 
I had the same issue with H4350, lost 8 pounds. Plus everything medal in the locker needed to be cleaned as it formed surface rust on all exposed metal surfaces!

Eagleye said:
I lost 21 lbs of H4350 OEM [From Higginson's] several years ago to corrosion in the powder.
There were wet droplets in the plastic containers that were pure acid of some kind.
The cardboard boxes were literally falling apart, and any unpainted metal in the
proximity of that powder was heavily rusted. It was a great powder, too!! Dave.
Click to expand...
 
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