I think you got ripped off. If you pay full price you should receive new powder, not 10 year old powder.
An insensitive munitions expert gave me a rule of thumb for smokeless powder shelf life: 20 years for double based and 45 years for single based. Steel powder is double based so a conservative estimate is that half the shelf life is gone.
Early in the last century the storage lifetime of smokeless powders was considered to be less:
In 1931, Picatinny Arsenal was claiming that powder only lasted 20 years, this may have been because Picatinny was a bit “powder shy”, Picatinny was destroyed during the Lake Denmark ammunition explosion of 1926. You can read the 18 Navy Cross Awards, Sailors and Marines, eight of them posthumous,
http://www.homeofheroes.com/members/02_NX/citations/02_interim-nc/nc_04interim_1.html for those who died in one of the largest non- nuclear explosions in the US.
Army Ordnance Magazine, June 1931, page 445 says:
“Smokeless powder constitutes one of the greatest hazards from a storage standpoint, due to the fact that it is subject to deterioration and at the best cannot be expected to have a life greater than about twenty years…….Master samples of all lots of smokeless powder are under constant observation in the laboratories at Picatinny Arsenal. Should any of these samples indicate rapid deterioration, notification is given at once, and steps are taken to use this deteriorating material within a very short period, if possible, or else withdraw it from service.”
Of course gun powder can last longer. Before I knew about the limits of gunpowder shelf life I bought old estate sale gunpowder, I shot a pound of Bullseye that had to be from the 60’s. It shot well. But I have found a number of posts of people whose IMR single based powders went bad in the can in 20 years. Predicting the shelf life of new powder is an inexact science, there are many variables, how much stabilizer is in the powder, the rate of consumption, and most importantly, at what temperatures were the powder stored under. Temperature reduces the lifetime of gunpowder exponentially: the hotter it is, the shorter the shelf life.
This table is extracted from information in :
Surveillance and in-service proof - the United Nations,
http://www.un.org/disarmament/conva...20-Surveillance_and_In-Service Proof(V.1).pdf
Most of what you read on gun forums about the shelf life of powder and ammunition is denial. People bought their powder or ammunition under the expectation that it will last forever and they really don’t want to believe that it will last something less than infinity. In fact, they don’t want to hear that they won’t last less than infinity. Given the irrationality of people, I understand. But, just Google “insensitive munitions” and do your own reading on this. The subject for gunpowder life time is well understood and militaries pay people, full time, to go out and inspect munitions stock piles and dump the oldest stuff before it autocombusts and blows the place sky high.
Just read how many of the largest non-nuclear explosions were due to ammunition dump explosions.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Largest_artificial_non-nuclear_explosions
One of the nasty’s with gunpowder is that at the end of its shelf life, when all the stabilizer is consumed, it gets hot and autocombusts. That is a good reason not to store the stuff in five gallon buckets and store it in the attic!
http://www.ar15.com/archive/topic.html?b=6&f=3&t=248538
I run a long range shooting club here in NM. Yesterday a member approached me with a question about a powder he is using. He said " it's fuming" ........What?
I walked down and sure enough the powder was outgassing a very heavy oder of ammonia and Nitric Acid fumes. The powder was slowly turning sticky and had,from over night, corroded the brass cases and the projectiles.
This powder is milsurp pull down IMR-5010 powder that was sold in bulk from the long gone Talon company. Weidners and Pats reloading sells this powder in black plastic 8 pound jugs. There are no lot numbers or dates on the label.
I have been reloading since 1964 and have never seen this happen before. As you know nitro-cellulose uses Nitric Acid to make the propellant. Some how the acid was not neutralized correctly. When the acid is not removed from the powder grains, the deterent coating will break down and uncontrolled burning will happen. The powder may detonate rather than burn
If any of you have any powder that was OK a few months ago you may want to check it again. This powder was normal just last winter. Now it is breaking down. It was stored in a cool room. It was not left in the sunlight.
Chris at Weiders has been notified.
This was purely a PULLDOWN powder issue. NOT a Virgin IMR-5010 issue. I know the guy this allegedly happened to (Paul A. of Albuquerque). I suggested he post the source, acquisition date, etc but to date he has not. He told me the powder was PULLDOWN IMR-5010 from
www.wideners.com. Wideners allegedly told him they would not replace the powder as his storage of it was beyond their control. Also, he had no direct status with them as he obtained this particular jug from another guy that had bought it from wideners.
I personally know the guy this happened to and unless you see some sort of acrid fumes coming off your powder, I wouldn't worry about it. Paul is a real cheap skate. He was loading $2.00 Lehigh 800 grainers with surplus powder. Silly way to save $0.25.
http://forums.gunboards.com/showthread.php?52892-Warning-surplus-IMR-5010-powder-users
1. 10-02-2009, 11:02 AM#6
Cincinnati Kid
Platinum Bullet Member
Join Date
Dec 1969
Location
Cincinnati, Ohio
Posts
421
That IMR 5010 powder that came from Talon has caused several large fires here in Ohio, two of them locally to a friend of mine, and one large fire in Northern Ohio that I know of. Anyone who has any of that 5010 powder that came from Talon needs to dispose of it if it shows any signs of breaking down. I wouldn't trust any of it.
Another nasty with old gunpowder is that the stuff does not burn evenly. I was told the term was "burn rate" instability. The stuff will pressure spike and blow guns apart. Which is another good reason there is all this surplus ammunition on the market: it was dumped as too dangerous to keep, and too dangerous to shoot!. Just spend time searching for guns blown up with surplus ammunition, you will find threads and pictures, and since you understand the cause, you will find humorous the reasons given by people who don't.
