rusty powder

[newfie bullet]

A friend gave me a lb of imr 4198 powder, it was in an unopened tin can . when i opened it up there is a rust colored dust in the can with the powder. is this powder still good to use in my rifle or would the rust contaminate the powder
Newfie

 

[CanAm]

does it smell like vinegar? Likely turned acidic

 

[Ganderite]

If it has no odor, or a slight solvent smell, it is good powder.

If it stinks, get rid of it right away.

It is most probably good powder with a little rust from the can, which won't hurt anything.

 

[jethunter]

If it doesn't smell acidic use it up quick. The rust is caused by the powder starting to deteriorate.

 

[fingers284]

when my old man passed I salvaged a few tins of powder from his loading room and a couple had some rust powder in them, I just went out on a day with a slight wind & winnowed the rust dust out of it put it in a plastic container...still using some of it 11 yrs later.

 

[Burton Urnie]

If it has no odor, or a slight solvent smell, it is good powder.

If it stinks, get rid of it right away.

It is most probably good powder with a little rust from the can, which won't hurt anything.

I've had some 4198 , when poured out of can have a dust in the air. But it worked fine, and I used it up quickly.

 

[Longwalker]

I don't think you can have rust coloured powder without the powder deteriorating. It's usually the first sign of powder going bad. I recently had a couple cans of IMR 4198 that showed that problem. I used them as fire starter for brush piles. Even if it goes 'bang" do you really want to deposit acid in your bore?

 

[bertn]

If it still smells good cut open the can and you will see the rust on the inside of the can.
Pour it back and fourth a couple times with a cross breeze like Fingers284 said and it will clean up.

 

[Andy]

I'm yet another person with (four) old cans of IMR-4198 one of which has some rust coloured powder, but smells normal and shoots like normal.

Let's not assume it's rust though. Is this restricted to IMR-4198? Hmm.

 

[bearhunter]

I don't think you can have rust coloured powder without the powder deteriorating. It's usually the first sign of powder going bad. I recently had a couple cans of IMR 4198 that showed that problem. I used them as fire starter for brush piles. Even if it goes 'bang" do you really want to deposit acid in your bore?

That is a lot of rust powder.

From what I can see of the inside of your can in the photo, it doesn't appear to be acidic.

I had a bunch of #44 Bofors surplus powder that started to get a bit of rust, but it was only on the top and it was a much darker red/brown in color.

It took less than a year for that powder to deteriorate completely. Not all of it though. One lot, which I still have some of is fine and a very good duplicate of IMR3031

The last container of IMR4198 I purchased, new manufacture, in 2018 in a 8lb jug, had a fine rusty powder as soon as I poured some into the hopper of the powder dispenser. Upon inspection, I believe it's likely just a bit of excess burn rate coating.

It's fine, nothing has changed over the past 2+ years and it's about half used up. I didn't blend it with the powder I had left from the previous lot, because of the rusty colored powder. I will be doing that later on today or tomorrow.

I even set some of it in a bowl, with a nail and covered it up with stretch wrap. I forgot about it and came across the bow close to a year later. The nail wasn't rusty.

Give your powder the same test, not as long though and see what happens.

 

[nitro-express]

I had several cans that have red death dust mixed in with the powder. I consulted the ballistic and chemical engineers at Hodgdon before making any decisions. My advice is that you may want to choose that as your first step.

The nail test may have merit. Can it be an ardox nail, a coated mail or will a galvanized shingle nail work? In addition, to prove the validity, if a rusty nail were placed in a container of good powder, would the powder become inundated with red dust. I have a brand new can of Retumbo that I'll never use now that I've sold my 338 LM, might as well donate it to science.

 

[bearhunter]

I had several cans that have red death dust mixed in with the powder. I consulted the ballistic and chemical engineers at Hodgdon before making any decisions. My advice is that you may want to choose that as your first step.

The nail test may have merit. Can it be an ardox nail, a coated mail or will a galvanized shingle nail work? In addition, to prove the validity, if a rusty nail were placed in a container of good powder, would the powder become inundated with red dust. I have a brand new can of Retumbo that I'll never use now that I've sold my 338 LM, might as well donate it to science.

Why on earth would you suggest the use of a ''coated'' nail to do a rust test?????