Strange Growth on Powder Containers

D

Da Moose

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GunNutz
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Calgary
I've been storing my powder in the same dry box for 30 years and when I opened it last week, there was a brownish growth on all the metal surfaces and more loose on the bottom of the box. Rust? Mold? This has never happened before.

It does wipe off. CECC8FCC-8F80-4120-9126-0C6C2CD2DB69_1_201_a.jpg If it's mold, is it toxic? Rust, but there shouldn't have been that much moisture in a sealed plastic dry box stored in a cool room. The powder in the container seems to be OK.

Any thoughts or suggestions that you gentleman might have would be appreciated.

Happy 2023 to all and may component prices come down from the stratosphere.
 

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I had some metal cans of powder do something similar. Darker brown stuff similar to your photos. When I picked up a can the bottom was rotted out and the powder a solid glob of brown crud.
Mine was stored cool and dry.
You may have noticed the deterioration sooner than I did. Is the inside of the canister still shiny silver or has it gone brown?
Does your powder have a nasty stink to it? If so it is probably no longer safe to use.
 
Cool and dry? It's not a good idea to store in a complete sealed container, some air movement is good.
The temperature changes as in outside storage don't help.
It may be caused by one lid leaking just slightly allowing some gases to form in the container.
 
This is not a good sign. It appears that some powder is breaking down and emitting acidic
gasses that are attacking the metal. Had some IMR 3031 and some N160 [OEM H4350] that
did the same thing. Dave
 
Eagleye said:
This is not a good sign. It appears that some powder is breaking down and emitting acidic
gasses that are attacking the metal. Had some IMR 3031 and some N160 [OEM H4350] that
did the same thing. Dave
Click to expand...

This is exactly what's happening.

Now, you have to find out which powder has broken down.

Do you have any of the bulk surplus powders that were sold by Higginson's???

They sold several surplus powders that broke down, such as #44, a 3031 equivalent and N46 with was a VVN160 equivalent.

I have had the same thing happen to me, usually the powder in those sealed metal cans is still OK but if you have some of the older paper types, with metal tops or the boxes with bags of bulk powder, check them for clumping and moisture.

DO NOT TRY TO SMELL THE VAPORS. They are poison and can/will do you some irrepairable damage.
 
DO NOT TRY TO SMELL THE VAPORS. They are poison and can/will do you some irrepairable damage.

10-4 on that - it’s nitric acid, much more powerful than battery acid. The offending can of powder will eat through almost everything.
 
I'd separate all cans into their own "spill tray" to alleviate spillage if one breaks open and less likely to attack others
 
Thank you for the information gentlemen.
I found the offending can, one that I inherited from someone else, and it became fertilizer for the lawn.
I poured some out onto a white sheet of paper and looked at with a 20x magnifier.
You could see the 'rust' on the grains.
 
It has been said that in certain conditions, a deteriorated powder can actually self immolate, may have been in the CMP thread on deteriorating powder, not sure. Pays to check once in a while on the older stuff, haven't heard of it happening, but, that's also the sort of thing maybe a fire inspector may or may not be able to find after the fact, other than that area being the initializing area.
 
209jones said:
It has been said that in certain conditions, a deteriorated powder can actually self immolate, may have been in the CMP thread on deteriorating powder, not sure. Pays to check once in a while on the older stuff, haven't heard of it happening, but, that's also the sort of thing maybe a fire inspector may or may not be able to find after the fact, other than that area being the initializing area.
Click to expand...

That's a new one
 
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