Carl N. Brown
Member
Depends a lot on the powder....
Unique seems to have an extraordinarily long shelf life; the successful commercial powders do have remarkably stable formulas. You still have to watch for deterioration: when nitrocellulose powder breaks down, the acids released accelerate the break down.
British cordite (smokeless powder made of guncotton, nitroglycerin, vaseline, acetone solvent) does not hold up well after decades of storage. Which is why cordite has been abandoned (except for writers who rhapsodize about the smell of cordite in a mystery novel).
Unique seems to have an extraordinarily long shelf life; the successful commercial powders do have remarkably stable formulas. You still have to watch for deterioration: when nitrocellulose powder breaks down, the acids released accelerate the break down.
British cordite (smokeless powder made of guncotton, nitroglycerin, vaseline, acetone solvent) does not hold up well after decades of storage. Which is why cordite has been abandoned (except for writers who rhapsodize about the smell of cordite in a mystery novel).
