Old C-I-L Powder?

NAA

NAA

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Anyone have any 'conversion' info for old C-I-L [Canadian Industries Limited] smokeless gunpowder?

I have a can of C-300, that on the outside states is for shotgun loads. I am wondering if there is any official data out there that can tell me what the 'burn rate' is comparable to in a more commonly known/produced powder?

It looks to me very much like Aliant/Hercules 'Herco' powder. This C-300 was properly stored and appears to be okay and useable.

It would be interesting if it could be used for some light .38 Special handgun loads, etc.
 
I certainly wouldn't shoot it, mainly because it is of far more interest as an old time powder. It must go back quite a long way in time. Could you send us a picture of the container?
I have two cans of two very old shotgun powder, with the loads printed on the bottom of the can. The one may date back to just before 1900 and the second was made before 1912. I had pictures of these on a thread a month, or two, ago.
I burned some of the oldest on a tin lid and it burned exactly like a fast powder should burn, so it would probably be shootable, as well. The other, the Laflin & Rand, is a flake powder and looks like new. The Laflin & Rand name was gone by 1912, and they probably didn't market any powder for a few years prior to that.
 
I don't think this C-300 powder or cannister is all that old. Maybe 1970's? Took a couple of pics:

C300a.jpg


C300c.jpg


C300b.jpg


Bottom of can:

C300d.jpg
 
"...appears to be okay and useable..." Not likely. Powder does deteriorate over time. Likely older than the 70's too.
 
sunray said:
Not likely. Powder does deteriorate over time. Likely older than the 70's too.
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I know guys that are still shooting military surplus powders from the 1950's. If stored dry and in moderate temperatures smokeless powder has an almost unlimited shelf life.


Also the can is certainly no older than the 1970's as bilingual lables were not required in Canada prior to 1970. (Official languages act - 1969)
 
Use 700X loading data. Great powder for 38spl. Use 3 grains with 148 wadcutter slug. I buy every can of this powder I see at gun shows. CIL stopped selling C300 when they stopped selling ammunition maybe about 1967
 
Tod, I hope some beginning reloader hasn't got the same type of powder, and takes you seriously!

The bilingual wording on the can has nothing to do with it being compulsory. Remember, The CIL plant was in Quebec. Before WW2, the cans containing honey were always marked in French, also. As a kid, I wondered for a long time what "miel pur," was!
Looking at the pictures of the can I would guess late 1930s. It is actually a pretty well made can, something that became scarce not many years later. I doubt if the loading charts were printed on the cans after WW2.
 
Ok, now that I see the post by Bob Morgan, it looks like I am out to lunch.
Bob, did their later C300 come in cans exactly like pictured, with loading data on them?
 
Bob Morgan said:
Use 700X loading data. Great powder for 38spl. Use 3 grains with 148 wadcutter slug. I buy every can of this powder I see at gun shows. CIL stopped selling C300 when they stopped selling ammunition maybe about 1967
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You seem to be in the know!:)

How about "Hi-SKOR" ? No "7-800X", just "HI-SKOR" in a black, white and red can.
 
I bought a partial can of C300 from a friend of mine a few years ago and he said he bought it new in the 60,s.It looks the same as the one in the picture.
 
Bob Morgan said:
Use 700X loading data. Great powder for 38spl. Use 3 grains with 148 wadcutter slug. I buy every can of this powder I see at gun shows. CIL stopped selling C300 when they stopped selling ammunition maybe about 1967
Click to expand...

Thanks for your post/reply. Do you have some published data on the comparison of C-300 to 700X on burn rate or how did you come by you loads? [BTW, I have used 700X successfully in the past as a pistol powder].
 
"...certainly no older than the 1970's..." Anybody recall when CIL quit making powders? They quit making ammo in the mid 70's when IVI took over their ammo plant. They made explosives until 1984, but that doesn't mean much. There's a lot of nothing on-line about CIL powders etc.
 
Went through several cans of C-300 in the late 60's ... but switched over to 700-X and then the old Win AA 452 as it was easier to get. C-300 was intended for 12 gauge 1-1/8 oz. target loads, and had characteristics somewhat similar to 700-X and Red Dot.

As I recall, a No. 29 MEC bushing threw just over 18 grains in my loader.
 
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sunray said:
"...certainly no older than the 1970's..." Anybody recall when CIL quit making powders? They quit making ammo in the mid 70's when IVI took over their ammo plant. They made explosives until 1984, but that doesn't mean much. There's a lot of nothing on-line about CIL powders etc.
Click to expand...

I'll agree with the mid 70s as being the time CIL name was replaced by IVI on the ammuntion boxes. I was 16 in 1974, when I bought a new model 1200 winchester pump and a case of CIL IMPERIAL 12 ga shotshells, I still have a couple boxes of the shotshells. They are CIL marked.
 
NAA, in the third photo there is reloading data ,it says using CIL components for a 3 drams equivalent load use 19.0 grains and for a 2 3/4 drams equivalent load use 17.5 grains. Now you need to find some CIL components to use or compare, so you can substitute or find an equivalent component. But it doesn't tell you the shot weights. Could that information be under the masking taped on piece of paper.
 
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