How old is your oldest powder?

I've got a one pound paper can of Hercules Bullseye that I thought was old, but it has the skinny lines on it for the computer reading cash registers. That came out in, what, the 80s?

I have some metal 1 pound cans of 4198, the screw-on lid type. No skinny lines for the computer to read, so I guess it's older than the Bullseye. Probably from the 70s?

Virginia Jim said:

I have 5 cans of W540, metal cans with screw on lids. I don’t know the mfg date.
Looks like this, but 1 lb. cans:
View attachment 965563

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Late 70's, early 80's.

Nothing old for powder, I have some mid-rifle (243-308) powders I was given, H4831SC, H380, and W760, they are all plastic bottles, but older than my others, by the looks of them.
I wouldn't doubt my Dad still has the old square 'can' (paper sided) of AL-7 he had when I was a kid.

I have some from the mid 70's. It loads and shoots fine but its been stored in a controlled climate. These will be the first that gets used up the next time I load the cartridges that are suitable for it.

I have some 4756 that is 28 years old. Still good.

Date unknown. I never found a use for it until I got my father's old reloading manuals. Seems the it was used in a Duplex load of 8gr No. 6 and the rest FF black powder for his 45-70. The only manual I have that lists this powder is a 1951 Ideal #38 hand book. It's old stuff and amazingly is still good.

I have the original Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook, copyright 1959.

It has No.6 powder data for almost all the handgun cartridges.

I have no idea how old this stuff is. It was given to me earlier this year out of a friends dads estate. I've never heard of Bonanza powder. It appears to still be good.

CQB45ACP said:

Hot summers here too. What about your winters? I do worry about keeping too much in basement. I’d like to keep it all in my shed.

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our winter is temp drops to 80f for a couple months. So yes no experience with cold temps sorry.

Noses vary I s'pose. To me baf powder is not rotten egg but a very biting odor, acrid, irritating.

Chemically there is no sulphur in nitrocellulose or nitroglycerine, but there may be minor amounts in the coatins and additives powders have.

working on my last 8 pound metal can of sr4756 from 1985. still makes great ammo. down to about one pound. just finish some h110, 2400, and unique from 1986.

Blue68f100 said:

Those are from the 70's. I use to buy that powder by the 8# can for shotgun.

Here is a New unopened can of Herco Prices at $2.32. I think this was from the 60's-70's, If I recall it came from Gibson.

I've had powder go bad. Some W748 and IMR4350. Both I caught when it was starting to clump which was the start of the cycle and shot it up. The IMR4350 gave me 1 SD's out of my 7mm Mag. New powder was a bit faster and SD's in the 15's

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Wow, Gibson's - haven't thought of them in an age!

I have 2 unopened lbs of HS7, no idea how old they are, but there's some old handwritten price tags that say $10 on them. Everything else is within the last 2-3 years.

I got hold of a 5lb cardboard keg of bullseye looked to from mid 60s loaded some colt 45 worked like new ended up selling the rest the guy really wanted the keg for his man cave

I still have a couple cans of 2400 by Hercules and IMR 4350 by Dupont. The 4350 I bought when I started loading in the 1960s, the 2400 was given to me at that time. All still looked and smells good.

Still have an unopened, still sealed, can of Hercules Hi-Vel 2 from the late 1960's. Have no plans to use it, just like having sit on my powder shelf.

I was gifted several 1 lbs. of IMR-4350. One can actually was DuPont with Improved Military Rifle written on it. From the '70s I suppose. I have used a pound of it in 8x57.
I was given a pound of Unique in the square pop lid container. Still looks to be good powder, but I haven't tried it yet.

I was gifted these powders many years ago, all unopened but stored in a cool dark place. My Best Friend did some research and she couldn't believe what the metal containers were going for price-wise; we didn't realize people collect the empty containers...



The H322 is marked $6.75 on the lid & $7.99 on the front...



Speaking of old, here are some (full boxes of unused) older rifle primers, these come in plastic sleeves, not like older ones that came in the wooden sleeves; I won't state how much how much I paid for them a few weeks ago... though when I got into reloading I bought some really old primers that were still in the wooden sleeves and shot them up without any issues

I have a full can of Dupont #80. Hasn't been made since the 1930's. Don't know if it's still "good" but it's the right color (yellow) and it burns. I was going to test it in the .44Spl but never got around to it.

All these contain still good powder that I shoot a small amount of every so often ...all purchased by me new ...... except the can of Hodgdon 4831(about 1960) ...

WWII surplus H-4831, got to be mid ‘40s. I bought it in’73. Shoots better than current H-4831SC.

wlkjr said:

Oldest I have is a can of HS-5 from 1993. I have not tried any of it.

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I had some of that. Used up the last of it this year.

'50s.

I had some IMR4895 pull down go bad. Surplus from GIBrass. I noticed some loads were experiencing corrosion. The smell wasn't bad, but wasn't good either. Had all the signs of the stabilizer being used up, and the nitric acid taking over. Went to the range and quickly burned up the loads I'd made with it, and ended up dumping a lb or two in the lawn.

Old can of Hi-Skor. I have no idea how old this is. I tried working up a 9mm load, but couldn't put enough in the case to get any kind of decent results. 45acp or 38spl would be my next choice to work up a load with it.



This is what it looks like.

My oldest is from the 80s and is still fine. I have never had any powder go bad.

My only first hand experience was as a seven year old. My grandfather showed me a bottle - I have absolutely no idea of the brand - full of powder which had turned red and had a sharp, kind of eye-watering smell. I have a vague recollection of the powder being from the 1930s, but could easily be mistaken about it. At any rate, the old man said it was dangerous to have around and that it should be gotten rid of. He said he would shoot it from long distance, and that if it was as unstable as he thought then it would explode, and if wasn't, he'd just light the mess on fire afterwards. He set the can on a fencepost in the pasture, marched us back what seemed like a mile but was probably a couple of hundred yards, and had at it. It did indeed explode, which was a highpoint in my young life. The family story is that the cows wouldn't go near the place for years afterwards.