Green tinted winchester 231 powder ?

[farmmer dan]

Has anyone ever had green tinted 231 powder? I bought all 8 lbs of this stuff for 90$ (the manager gave me a huge break) ,what a steal! All I want it to do, is it go boom in my 357 and 45acp, witch I am sure it will do. But I haven't been around as long as others and had never seen it in tin cans before. Any idea how old this could be,and does the powder turn green after siting on the shelf for a wile or was it made that way, the few one pounders I bought were never green tinted.I have no idea how long this has been siting there at the gun shop but from the dust on it I'm guessing a wile. Also, (this might be a stupid ???) can it go bad after 20,30,40,50, years. I have not loaded it yet but hope to this week. Thanks.

 

[Steve C]

Winchester introduced 231 in the mid 70's so even if your powder was the first can off the line, which is highly unlikely its no older than 30 years. Gunpowder will remain good indefinitely if stored in a moderate temperature free from moisture like on a store shelf. The style of can you show in your picture was used until just a few years ago so your can should be good to reload.

 

[Galil5.56]

My circa 1993 metal can of WW231 has a slightly greenish gray cast, and always has. Used some a few months back, and all was well. I have seen some foreign square cut propellants that were really green as compared to WW231. Wanna see green, look at Hodgdon "Clays" sometime... Pastel olive drab.

I think a lot of other propellants would be a lot greener in color if it were not for the generous graphite coating. Australian made "Clays" seems to achieve it's desired properties w/o the graphite.

 

[Walkalong]

I am using up the last 3 Lb metal can of W-231 I have. It has a slight greenish tint.

Australian H322 was greenish as well. It was considered very good stuff in 6PPC. I still have some of it, not much though.

 

[farmmer dan]

Thanks. Happy reloading

 

[Master Blaster]

Looks normal to me, if it has any funny reddish dust or an acrid smell, in stead of an ether smell, use it for fertilizer.

 

[BsChoy]

I know that Hodgdon just purchased winchester powder but, alot of there (Hodgdons) powders have a green cast to them as well. As long as it doesn't smell acidic it should be fine