I was under the impression that smokeless powder has an infinite lifespan, or at least as long as one's lifetime, or nearly so. I know that I was firing WWII surplus powder in rounds loaded in the 1990's with no problem.
I have 2 canisters each of this 2400 and Bullseye for a sum total of 4 lbs. I intend to use it up as fast as possible, but this may take awhile. Any idea when these might date from? I'm guessing late '70's or early '80's? I live in a subdivision with attached garages where even sheds aren't allowed. Less than ideal. In the meantime how would you store these? In a metal ammo box in the basement far from everything else?View attachment 893232
Those cans look to be from the 1960's to the 1970's. Lift the lid and sniff the stuff. If it has any sort of bitterness, dump the powder and keep the can. If you see red dust, be cautious. Iron is ionic and accelerates the break down of nitrocellulose. If there are any over pressures indications whatsoever, one in one hundred is one too many, then dump the powder. Old powder has, and will blow up firearms because the pressure curve spikes. Especially those double based powders, water molecules condensing and evaporating on the surface, draw nitroglycerine to the surface and that will spike the initial pressure curve.