Old Powder

[Stu Kettle]

Can anyone tell me how old this stuff might be?  I've had these cans for several years, but have never been able to find anything out about them.

The lot number is too faded to show up in photos but appears to be 5105 on both cans.

The powder is almost white and is fairly large granules.





I'm curious to know when Du Pont started making smokeless powder, and when they started making more than one kind & assigning numbers to the various types.

[Delmonico]

I think it is Pre-WWII, I don't think they made the stuff after the war.  It is a true smokeless powder, but intended to load volume for volume with black powder in paper shot shells with card wads.  The pressures though are far higher than black powder.  Several companies made bulk powder like that. 

[JimBob]

You're can is post WW2.It was still listed at least as late as 1952 in the DuPont powder line.It's a nitrocellulose powder and very hydroscopic.If you intend to keep the can I would recommend dumping the powder.It was a bulk for bulk powder for loading black powder equivelent loads.It was introduced in 1893.

The earliest numbered smokeles powder DuPont offered was Number 1 introduced in 1894.Early editions of Phil Sharpe's Complete Guide to Handloading has quite a bit of information on early smokeless powders as well as early editions of the Ideal Handbook.One of the earliest smokeless powders still on the market today "Bullseye" for pistols was made from the screenings of Bulk Smokeless Shotgun originally.Another powder well over 100 years old still in production is "Unique".

[Delmonico]

Thanks, I had it in my mind that it was one of the Casulties of WWII. 

[Delmonico]

BTW all smokeless powder makes really good fertalizer for your roses.  Just sprinkle it out and water it in a bit.  It disolves fairly slow and the nitrogen will not over power them.  I've used it in flower beds for 25 years.

[JimBob]

BTW all smokeless powder makes really good fertalizer for your roses.  Just sprinkle it out and water it in a bit.  It disolves fairly slow and the nitrogen will not over power them.  I've used it in flower beds for 25 years.

LOL One time I scattered some in the yard.I had these patches of really green grass 6 inches higher than the rest forever.

[Stu Kettle]

Now I can't decide whether to load it up in some square loads in paper shells, or sprinkle it in the garden.  How's it work on vegetables?

[JimBob]

Now I can't decide whether to load it up in some square loads in paper shells, or sprinkle it in the garden.  How's it work on vegetables?

From a safety standpoint I'd use it on the veggies.Unlike black powder smokeless deteriorates as it ages depending on storage conditions and other factors that cause problems as far as increased or decreased preasure and burn rate.Not all of it does but it just ain't worth it to find out.

Another little tidbit,Trailboss is very similiar in appearance and usage as the old DuPont "Schuetzen" powder.Appearance wise it's almost identical.

[Delmonico]

LOL One time I scattered some in the yard.I had these patches of really green grass 6 inches higher than the rest forever.

You have to scatter it even.

As for older powders, I would only use it if the can was still sealed.  I would then smell it, if it has an ether smell to it, then it should be OK.  If it has no smell, then get rid of it, the stuff may be good, it may be going bad.  If it has a vinigar acid smell to it, get the stuff the H### out of any building and get it disposed in a safe manner.

[JimBob]

If it has a vinigar acid smell to it, get the stuff the H### out of any building and get it disposed in a safe manner.

Yea, I ain't much on messing around with those old nitroglycerine based powders.

[litl rooster]

Interesting they are only 8 oz cans.  I'd give you a buck and half american for them $3 for the pair

[Delmonico]

Interesting they are only 8 oz cans.  I'd give you a buck and half american for them $3 for the pair

A lot of the old Dupont were 8 oz.  I think PB, 4756 and 7625 is still sold as that size, or it was the last time I bought any.

[litl rooster]

A lot of the old Dupont were 8 oz.  I think PB, 4756 and 7625 is still sold as that size, or it was the last time I bought any.

?1946?

[Delmonico]

?1946?

I'm not that old  PB and 7625 make some of the best patterning light 12 ga loads and 4756 makes wonderful pheasant loads. 

[Stu Kettle]

It smells like good powder, I gave it the sniff test when I bought it and again this morning, but as I have grown attached to my hands and face, I think I'll save it till spring & see what it does for the 'maters.

Rooster, sounds like a fair offer to me, more than I paid them, but they don't take up much room & look kinda neat on the bench so I think I'll hang on to the cans.

[Delmonico]

I need to try it on chili peppers some time.

[JimBob]

A lot of those bulk powders are in the same size can as another powder weighing 1 lb is in.They're "bulky" powders so the standard one lb. container used for powder will only hold 8 ounces of Bulk Smokeless Shotgun.A comparison is Trailboss,that's a standard 1 lb container for powder but due to the bulky nature of the powder itself you can only get 9(?) ounces of it in that container.It has to do with standardizing container sizes so one container sized is used for many products.Some early smokeless such as DuPont No.1 came in little one pound round kegs with loading data on the label.

Edit:I have an early one pound keg of the Bulk Smokeless Shotgun powder.Loading directions on the can as follows-

10 Guage Guns 3 to 4 Drams
12 Guage Guns 2 3/4 to 3 1/4 Drams
16 Guage Guns 2 1/2 Drams

Use the same measure as for
Black Powder and a good
grade of Nitro Powder
         Shells

A lot of early users of smokeless powder blew their guns up by weighing a charge using say 3 drams weight instead of 3 drams by bulk on the dip measures.

[Qball]

I need to try it on chili peppers some time.

Remeber to treat your "derier" as loaded after. 

A neighbour tryed it, and he shot the cat. 

[Dead I]

BTW all smokeless powder makes really good fertalizer for your roses.  Just sprinkle it out and water it in a bit.  It disolves fairly slow and the nitrogen will not over power them.  I've used it in flower beds for 25 years.

If one plucks a rose and lights the stem will it burn like a fuse?     Just wondering...