Old Reloading Components??

[IMagius]

I'm still using primers and powders that were given to me by my Uncle 20-some years ago ... primers are perfect and powder is acting exactly as it should.

 

[rembolt]

H4831 - a great powder that got Bruce Hodgdon started as I recall and kick-started handloading.

When Bruce Hodgdon first put it on the market he called it "4350 Data Powder.)
That was because they hadn't yet fully tested it, but they gave instructions to use 4350 loading information, which was safe, and loaders could get dirt cheap powder that worked.
This happened right after WW2. There had been no production of anything related to shooting for civilian use during the war time years. Thus there was a vast shortage, of everything! This, coupled with the great numbers of returning service personell who had received firearm training and were anxious to get shooting, kicked off the great period of about twenty years, which I call the glory years of shooting.
Certainly, all that cheap powder Hodgdon put on the market played it's part. And soon such people as Jack O'Connor and Warren Page became household became household names.
It was O'Connor who worked up (largely because that was all the powder the case would hold) the classic load of 60 grains of H4831 in the 270, with 130 grain bullets. So many reloaders hung on every word O'Connor wrote, that soon the whole reloading community was using this load and when Hodgdon's worked up loads for their new powder, they just added in Jack's load, without further testing!
Sorry for getting carried away here.

No need to be sorry Bruce I alway enjoy reading what you write here .someone with the experince and knowledge like yourself is always interesting and educational for so many of use here .thanks rembolt

 

[joe-nwt]

I used up a can of this stuff two years ago. I think it was discontinued in the early 60s.

 

[bearhunter]

My powder doesn`t usually get to sit for 30 or 40 years, you boys better get at it, or they`ll be handing out packages of it to fellow shooters at your funeral. No red dust and acidic smell, it`s good to go.

dead meat, have you ever bought powder in 500 pound lots???

Try it some time and see how long it takes to shoot up.

We used to buy bulk surplus bullets in 308 cal x 147 grain, never loaded into a cartridge by the 100 pound wooden case along with LC marked 30-06 cases by thousand case lots already primed and sparkling new. Ready to be fed into the loading machinery.

Sadly, that's mostly all over, other than the odd old boy that has had a stash or partial stash left since the fifties, sixties and early seventies.

It's hard to imagine what was available to us across the counter then. Many were under the impression it would last forever.

It won't be a lot longer, until the 7.62x54, 7.62x39 and 7.62x25 surplus dries up or is destroyed by the UN mandates. I've watched that happen with 30-06,7.65x53, 303 British etc.

It was all available at one time. In huge cheap quantities. Like every other cycle, it will end.

I can remember a time when everyone turned up their noses at full stocked Mausers and Lee Enfields. You couldn't give away Mosins or Martinis in any cartridge configuration. Same went for anything French or Italian. Japanese Arisakas were all considered junk and unsafe. I personally saw a bunch of Type 38s stripped of their stock and used for rebar in concrete because they were cheaper than new rebar. None of them were jewels and all had ground crests but today, they would bring a couple of hundred apiece. Back then, they brought 50 cents each and the stocks made darn good kindling.

I kept 200 pounds of #4831 powder for my own use. I paid $2/pound in 1970. I bought 500 pounds that trip and brought it all back in one load, along with 20,000 pieces of primed brass and 100,000 147 grain, 308 bullets. That was just one trip. There were several. I have a few pounds of that old powder left and it's just as good today as it was over 40 years ago. I still use it for my favorite 6.5x55 hunting rifle.

I'm not trying to say you don't know what your talking about, I'm just trying to put the scenario into perspective.

Many of us that did similar things, litterally shot barrels completely out and either replaced the barrel with a cheap surplus barrel or threw the $5 Lee Enfield away and started on another . Same went for Springfields and Krags. They were cheap. The supply seemed endless and to tell the truth, we had a lot of fun.

 

[Mike.B]

Wow!!! I was worried about 5 year old stuff!!!! Thanks for the replies and the offers to help me dispose of the powders safely. I guess I'll keep the powders and primers, look up a good recipe and get back to reloading. Time for bed kiddies!!!