powder came from a gun show in Columbia sc
I have purchased powders from Pat's Reloading and they were pull down powders. Pat's makes the best attempt to define the things but the stuff is not new powder, and it may be from several different batches of pull down ammunition all loaded with different lots of the same powder.
I would like to repeat, this stuff is not new. It was being used, or stored, and then an Ammunition Technician tested it. Maybe a round failure, maybe it was due to schedule, but the Ammunition Tech has records about lot numbers and locations, and tested a lot. And what he found was that this powder was at the end of its lifetime. The military scraps powders that have less than 20% of the original stabilizer left. The assumption is, if a powder has 20% stabilizer, it can be safely removed, transported, uncorked, poured out, and burnt within seven years. When there is zero % stabilizer the gunpowder is unstable and will autocombust, causing, all those Ammunition Depot explosions you never heard about. Now if you heard of an Munitions Depot explosion, you never thought about the implications, and discounted the explosion as "
Crazy Russians". You did this because it fits your world view. Depots explode in Russia because
Russians are Crazy! You believe gunpowder does not deteriorate, nor does it become unstable with age, and autocombust due to the loaws of nature. (Which it does) Instead, you believe, as everyone believes, gunpowder lasts forever. That is what you believe, and what we all have been taught and everyone around you believes, so it must be true. You believe gunpowder lasts forever and you will get angry when told otherwise. You also ignore all evidence that the stuff does not last forever. When an ammunition depot explodes, it has to be due to cultural deficiencies, or nation states fitting into your stereotypes
: those Crazy Russians! An ammunition depot goes Kaboom on average, once in month, primarily in second and third world countries.
And it happened because those Nation States did not spend money inspecting and demilling old munitions. Instead their Politicians decided to leave well enough alone, and only had to do something when the Munitions Depot exploded. Sort of the way our Politicians act, and why bridges fall down. Europeans look at American failing infrastructure, California on fire, and think:
Crazy Americans!
As Noam Chomsky said,
the purpose of advertising is to create ill informed consumers who make irrational decisions. Surplus powder sellers know how to cater to your biases, and you end up buying the stuff, thinking you have got a deal. I am going to say surplus powders are not a bargain. I met Pat, and I talked with they guy about the stock pile reliability surveillance that lead to these surplus military powders being on the market, and he either knows, or ignores the fact he is selling powder that is on the cusp of instability. I have poured out almost all of my Pat's powders, and most of the other surplus powders I purchased. The stuff went bad. I did not know the stuff needed to be shot up immediately, not later, but right now. I had to learn this. So don't sit on the stuff, develop your loads, shoot the stuff, and shoot the stuff off. Soon. In between now and when the can is empty, frequently sniff what is left in the bottle for bitterness. If it smells vinegary, pour it out. Before it auto ignites and burns your house down.
