Found old powders cheap, should I buy?

[PotatoJudge]

Just discovered a little gunshop (trailer) well off the beaten path but only a few miles outside of my hometown. They have a bit of a reloading section that's mostly old stock. 30 cal sierras for $18/100, Partitions for $25/50, and a decent selection of powders for around $20 a pound. What really got me thinking was their supply of Nobel powders and a Nobel reloading manual they had. The powder cans are NOS and $11-12 a pound and looking through the manual it looks like they'll be useful for what I reload. Question is, should I stock up on powder at that price? Anybody use this stuff, and was it ever any good? I'm not worried that the powder is bad from age or anything.

They have a few thousand CCI 400 primers at $16/1000 that I'll probably pick up, and I already got a pound of RL22 and 500 155grn .452 LSWC for $16 each from them today. Just not sure how much cash I want to dump into all this stuff since it adds up quick, even at those prices. OTOH, it'll never be any cheaper.

 

[Walkalong]

OTOH, it'll never be any cheaper

Yep. Get all your budget can stand.

 

[CBS220]

How old? Make sure it's kept well, but if its in its original, unopened containers there is no reason it won't be perfectly fine.

 

[PotatoJudge]

I don't know how old it is and didn't take off the top to check the seal. Any idea when people stopped selling the stuff? It's in short square containers if that helps. They also have some older Norma powders for $19/lb.

 

[Asherdan]

This thread from cast boolits may give you a little more info

 

[PotatoJudge]

Thanks for the link Asherdan. I ended up going back today and bought 1lb of SP3, two pounds of AO, and two pounds of TU7000. I should be able to use them in 38 spl, 357 mag and max, and 30-06 with 180 grain bullets. All five pounds were about $65 after tax. I'll have to get more when the wife allows- especially the TU7000 for the 30-06 if it shoots well.

I found load data here. The company (Vectan) still makes the powders for the European market and new load data is still being developed. The guy working at this little place suggested I copy load data out of their Nobel loading manual in cas1

http://www.peterlawman.co.uk/vectan.php