Shelve live on BP

[litl rooster]

 Is there any rule to how long BP will remain stable and useable?  The two partial cans are of ffg and ffffg origonal cans and lids secured. However there upwards of 15 years old. What do you think? Should I dispose of it?

[Cuts Crooked]

It ain't got no shelf life! BP that's over 100 years old has been used and found to work fine! If it's been stored in anything remotely like reasonable conditions, it will work great no matter how old it is.

[litl rooster]

Thanks, I'd hate to waste it.

[Steel Horse Bailey]

Howdy!

I'd hate to disagree with Cuts on his own Board, but you need to dispose of that stuff ASAP!  Actually, it might be SAFER if you ship it to me and I'll dispose of it ... 37 gr. at a time!

I had some 3f Goex (1 lb.) stored in an Army 50 cal. ammo can for 8 years.  (Since then, I have learned that a tightly sealed  ammo can plus BP, while nice and dry and well protected, has the blast potential to level a house!! Don't try it at YOUR HOUSE!!)  It was 10-12 yrs. old at the time.  It was stored in a pile of ammo cans in a non-cooled Indiana garage that probably reached temps of 95-100F - or more - in a typical Indiana summer.  We were lucky in our ignorance!

Anyway, when I opened it and finally shot it, it was jes' fine!  Shucks, I only finished it about 4 yrs. ago and it came out of that garage in 1990!!

Oh, there was also a can of (then) Hercules Bullseye stored in the same garage.  Unlike the BP, the heat, not the cold, had changed the powder.  It had noticibly more OOMPH! due to the degradation that was beginning.  It also shot a LOT dirtier.  It's gone now, too.  The primers I had stored showed no noticeable difference, but that's hard to tell without proper measuring instruments.

[44caliberkid]

I have picked up partial cans of old BP at estate auctions several times, that were from the 1950's and 60's.  I used it and it worked fine.  I think Delmonico has some BP from before 1900, or close to it, and says it's fine.

[Forty Rod]

I had some over 100 years old that had gotten wet and dried into a solid cake.  I broke it up by hand and ground it up a bit at a time with a rolling pin, a wood block, and a board. Because of the different sizes of "grains" I ended up with it wasn't very consistent, but it worked.  I shot it up at about 40 grains a charge in a .50 Lyman Great Plains Rifle.

[litl rooster]

I had some over 100 years old that had gotten wet and dried into a solid cake.  I broke it up by hand and ground it up a bit at a time with a rolling pin, a wood block, and a board. Because of the different sizes of "grains" I ended up with it wasn't very consistent, but it worked.  I shot it up at about 40 grains a charge in a .50 Lyman Great Plains Rifle.

Only 40 grains...Now I know how you got yer alias My Hawkins I shoot 103 grains and my Kentucky 95 gr both patched round balls. None of those girlie loads sabots and pellets etc. Thats what this powder was origonally bought for.



Thanks to all who replied

an A for Steel Horse for the effort.......

[Delmonico]

For those who like chemisty, Black powder is a mechanical mix of two elements and a fairly stable compound.  Water will cake it, but the only other common thing that will hurt a sealed can is heat.  And if it gets hot enough to hurt it you'll know by the flames and smoke.

Nitro powders can degrade because of the acids used to make them.  If the powder smells sour or turns a brownish red it is bad and can even be unstable.  Do not mistake the solvent smell for a sour smell though.

The safest way to dispose of powder is to sprinkle it out on the lawn or the flower bed.  My wives friends come over and I have long stemmed roses in the house most of the summer.  When they ask my secret, it tell them, I don't know if they belive me when I tell them I fertilize them with gunpowder.  But any rose expert will till you to use a slow release nitrogen fertilizer and black and nitro fill the bill.

[Forty Rod]

I wasn't sure about the stuff so I kept the charges low.

Target load is 75 gr Gearhart-Owens FFFg.

Hunting load is 100 gr Gearhart-Owens FFFg.

Both behind a 490 patched round ball lubed with Spit Patch and lit off by #11 Dynomit-Nobel caps.

Sights are a silver blade front in a copper base, rear is a browned iron full buckhorn...neither one is adjustable without a hammer, set punch, and files.

Target load shoots a five shot ten inch group POA at 100 yards.  It would likely do better with a better shooter behind the gun.

[Singing Bear]

I dispose of old or unwanted gunpowder on New Year's eve and burn it all up with firecrackers.

This year I had 2 lbs. of powder.  1 lb. was unwanted or surplus smokeless mix.  The other was an old can of Pyrodex P.  It was a green, rectangular, cardboard can with a metal top and cap.  The top was covered in cockroach crap and the "can" was starting to bulge so I figure I'd just get rid of it.  Darned thang burned just fine and would have worked great in my cartridges and cap n ball revolvers.

[44caliberkid]

The reason real BP lasts so long is that it is created from all natural components, as created by God, that's why it's "Holy Black".
The smokeless, fad powder was created by sinful man, using Satanic alchemy, which is why we refer to it as the "Heathen powder".
Satan always imitates what the Father is doing, but is always a poor second.  Have pity on the lost and decieved who have not yet, or may never, find their way back to the Light.

[litl rooster]

with Spit Patch and lit off by #11 Dynomit-Nobel caps.

Sights are a silver blade front in a copper base, rear is a browned iron full buckhorn...neither one is adjustable without a hammer, set punch, and files.

Target load shoots a five shot ten inch group POA at 100 yards.  It would likely do better with a better shooter behind the gun.

Sounds as if we had our sights done at the same place....My Hawkins is a flinter and the kentucky is a percussion though



44cal. and Seth call me born again..............amen