H4895 question

[Muddydogs]

I don't load with Hodgdon's H4895 but I acquired an open pound in plastic bottle about 10 ish years ago, a guy purchased it, used it to work up a few loads then never came back to finish loading. I opened it tonight and was surprised by the color. Not knowing what it even looks like I'm not sure if the color is normal or not.

It has a brownish color mixed in with normal powder color. I took a pic on a white card which doesn't show much but hopefully the pic looking into the powder bottle helps.

 

[troy fairweather]

do You have a garden?

 

[illinoisburt]

Powder is much cheaper than new guns and new fingers. Fertilizer time.

 

[AJC1]

Almost all the temprature stabilized powders have that color. 322 and varget are even more so. Just check out the videos on YouTube. If its stored properly it's most likely good. You have to make the best decision for you.

 

[Pivot Dr]

Was it made in Australia? If so, it won’t be as dark/graphite colored as you are familiar with, such as IMR powder.

 

[Insignificant bill]

Looks like 4895

 

[243winxb]

AR2206H is H4895 . Newer powder is made darker for the US market.
http://www.adi-powders.com.au/powder-equivalents/

There is nothing wrong with your powder.

Photo from an old post i made. Info copied from the ADI web site years ago.

 

[Muddydogs]

Thanks guys, figured it was good as I have powder older then this stuff I'm just not used to the color. I mostly reload with the Reloder family of powders with some Win 748 thrown in.

 

[Scooter22]

Rule of thumb. Especially if you want to keep them and your face. Toss any powder if you don't know 100% what it is. Unless your Clint Eastwood, thennnnnn.... Do you feel lucky PUNK?

 

[mrawesome22-250]

All of Hodgdon's "extreme" powders have that dark bronze-ish color.

I've just assumed whatever they use to make it more temp stable gives it that color.

 

[Muddydogs]

Rule of thumb. Especially if you want to keep them and your face. Toss any powder if you don't know 100% what it is. Unless your Clint Eastwood, thennnnnn.... Do you feel lucky PUNK?

I know what the powder is, I'm just not sure about the look of the powder. From other posts from guys that actually use the powder or at least know what it looks like I'm confident that it's fine to use. I figured I would get the general "your going to blow yourself up" posts but at least there are some helpful posts confirming that the powder is supposed to look like it looks.

If you want to talk scary well my son in law wanted me to check out 250 rounds of 22-250 loaded with 52 grain Hornady and 55 grain Nosler bullets I think, I haven't truthed out each bullet yet. Guess the bullets won't chamber in his rifle. He traded something to some guy who loaded up these rounds. Right off I can see just looking in the 100 round boxes that the seating depths are all over the place. Upon pulling a few bullets the 55 grain bullet is loaded with an unknown powder anywhere from 33 to 35 grains. The 52 grain bullet is loaded with a powder that the loader called LC 844 and or H-335, I think he meant WC-844 but who knows. Also the one load note with all the ammo indicates the use of CCI-250 primers but I have never seen brass colored CCI primers.

At the present time I'm pulling the bullets, knocking out the primers, resizing the brass and going to work up a load for each bullet weight. I am planning on using up the H4895 on some of these loads as I figure he won't shoot 200 rounds in the next 10 years so I'm not to worried about having to reload more in the future.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

I'm late to the party but I will add it also looks normal to me. I use a lot of H4895 and it all look like yours.

 

[DukeConnor]

Just opened a fresh can of Varget. It is two tone.

 

[frankmako]

looks like 10 year old h4895. nothing wrong.

 

[badkarmamib]

Looks ok. How does it smell?

 

[forrest r]

If your powder is breaking down and has a redish/brownish look to it then do this simple test.

Take a static free container ( glass) and hold it 4"/5" below the gunpowder container and pour the powder into the glass. If the powder's broke down a "red/brown" dust will be floating in the air.

Was give this powder last year, 8 1# unopened cans with prices in the $4.xx range (sold in the 80's). Opened them and smelled them then did the "pour" test and visual inspection.


Everything looked good with no acid smell, been putting a lot of lead down range with it.

 

[Muddydogs]

Looks ok. How does it smell?

I don't smell very well so I have no idea.

 

[243winxb]

If we look up the sds https://www.hodgdon.com/resources/safety-data-sheets/ we see a description of H4895.

Here there are 3 different photos of H4895, each is different.http://www.ilrc.ucf.edu/powders/sample_detail.php?powder_id=73

If powder has red dust & is in a metal can, the can is rusting. Imo.

And yes, i have used IMR 4198 powder with red dust with no change in accuracy. Just pour powder back & forth to allow wind to blow dust away.

If the powder is not in the original container or its history is unknow, i would not use it.
The reloaded makes the final determination if the powder is safe to use. When in doubt, throw it out.

Did not use this IMR 4895, but it looked ok. 3 photos- https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?media/albums/related-gun-photos.58/&page=6

 

[Nature Boy]

It looks like normal H4895

 

[Slamfire]

This is what mine looks like. It is green



This picture shows what must be the dust particles from old, deteriorated gunpowder.



It certainly did not come from a tin can. Old, deteriorated gunpowder is a real risk of blowup. The burn rate/pressure curve is highly dependent on the configuration of the powder particle. If the particulate has broken down to the level that its surface area has increased, that will spike the pressure curve. Incidentally, you can google videos of coal dust fires, and the old cotton/textile mills were careful to collect cotton dust and get the stuff away from the production floor. Cotton dust will self ignite, as will coal dust.

As your H4895 is not on the recall list, it is probably good.







The shooting community is in complete denial about gunpowder aging. You will find confident idiots, considered savants by the rest, posting nonsense such as "old ammunition is like a fine wine, it only gets better with age". This fits the natural bias of shooters who believe that they, and their ammunition, are immortal. But it is far from the truth. There is nothing is good about old gunpowder. Not only will it blow up your gun, in bulk, such as above, it will burn down your house.