Old powder

[PeterN]

A club member indicated that he had some powder to dispose of and that any club member could have it for a donation to club funds. One member got some IMR4350 and H4350, three cans of one and one of the other, I forget which way round. I got four cans of H414, Two full and unopened, one with 12oz and one with 8oz in them, one can of H4831 and a can of Nobel rifle 0. He said the powder was a bit old and he wasn't kidding. The H414 and H4831 are at least forty years old, if not more. The Rifle 0 will be a bit newer as the price on the top is £11. The Rifle 0 can is full up to the cap as he topped it up with a part can he had.
The Rifle 0 I will use as the can is like new and the powder looks and smells OK. I am not sure about the others. The cans have a bit of surface rust on them. The part used cans of H414 I have looked in and it seems OK. The H4831 is still sealed with a bit of surface rust on the top.
He also had an almost full 800g tin can of Vit N160. However, there were some rusty patches inside the tin and the powder had a brown tinge to it. I would not trust that and neither would he. He is going to dispose of that on his garden.
I haven't decided what to offer the club for this lot, but we will come up with something.

Regards
Peter

[Graham M]

What did it smell like???

[ukrifleman]

The Rifle 0 can is full up to the cap as he topped it up with a part can he had.

I would be wary of any can that had already been opened and very wary of one that had been `topped up`

ukrifleman

[PeterN]

The powder I sniffed smelt OK to me. You are right to be wary of second hand powders. If these had come from a third party, I likely would not have got them. However, I know the source and he is a reloader with decades of experience. I may not use these powders soon anyway, as I have plenty of new powder in stock. I recently helped a local gun shop to get rid of their remaining stock of Norma powder. I got three tubs of URP and two tubs of 201. There is load data on the Norma website for these powders for calibres that I reload. I noticed that Henry Krank have now put the price of Alliant powders R15, R17 etc up to £96 a tub, even though they are showing as out of stock. The Norma powder I got was much less than half that and cheaper than Ramshot.
The same chap also has quite a few pounds of an old bulk Hercules powder, HRP85, that he and another club member bought a barrel of many years ago. There is no load data for this powder so I am not going near that powder, even for free. He has details of the loads he worked up for .308W only, that he used to shoot detailing case, primer, bullet and starting and max loads that he went to. Even with that data, I am staying away from it.
Regards
Peter.

[Graham M]

H414 is a great powder for .243Win. I still have a tub and a half of it. Wonder what they will be banning next.

[redcat]

They won't need to ban anything - the way prices are going we won't be able to afford to shoot

Redcat!