T7 Life

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rodwha

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I've often read that Triple 7, once opened, begins to degrade. Some on a Yahoo group came up with dropping a silica gel (desiccant) into the bottle on e you've opened it with the assumption it is humidity that hurts the powder. Could be, and I've done it with mine, though, without a chronograph I'm unsure how I'd know, but it certainly can't hurt.

This got me wondering about storing a loaded pistol. After a range day I clean, dry, and oil, and then load 25-30 grns of T7 with a dry wad and ball, and cap with Rem #10s. It usually sits about a month. I'd think that's a fair seal from the moderate humidity in the house. But how long, assuming humidity is what kills the potency, can I sit before it loses its oomph?

Has anyone left their pistol loaded with T7 for an extended period? What did you notice?
 
I have not performed the experiment, but I would expect you could fire the gun 10 years later and not notice much loss of "oomph". Or maybe even 20. I'm to old to run the experiment my own self...good luck!!
 
If many seem to notice a drastic reduction in velocity after maybe a year I'm not certain. On the other hand the ball should be an excellent seal, and if the caps are a tight fit, ought to do fairly well.

I've read how Sam Colt would do a demonstration in which he'd leave a loaded pistol in a tub of water while he talked about his pistol, and afterward would fire off all of the chambers.

I wouldn't be happy with more than a 10% reduction...
 
I really wouldn't worry about it but it would be an interesting experiment to do the worst case scenario - leave a container open for a month, load up a cap and ball, and see what happens. Get some good chrono data before and after. If there's no substantial drop you know it's not an issue and you're done.

If it does drop noticeably then I'd say the next question is how long does it take to get that way with a sealed container and if it's a concern does putting in a little desiccant or putting some tape around the lid as a seal or something make a difference.

You could also test some flasks - they're probably not totally air tight.
 
robhof

I've had a flask of T7 for about 2 yrs and it's still shooting fine. I use real b/p as much as possible so the T7 is a back up and doesn't get much use, but I tried it recently and it shot great.
 
We'll probably never know. I have an original partial used pound that I bought when it first came out and it's still good. I can't say it's as good as the day I bought it, but it will still do the job.
 
I think someone may be confusing T7 with Pyrodex. When my dad died, I inherited his guns, and with them some powder, both real BP [Goex] and Pyrodex. both had been stored the same while he was sick, and when I shot the BP it was as fresh as the day dad sealed the can back up. The Pyrodex was about half strength. Did dad not screw the cap on tight enough? I couldn't tell you, but I like Triple Seven, and am not too fond of Pyrodex.
 
Rodwha

I left an 1851 Navy loaded for almost a year with Triple Seven. All the chambers went bang and I could not detect any difference.

Crossfire
 
Longest I left 777 loaded in a gun was a little over a year. Worked fine.
Pyrodex 2 1/2 years give or take a couple months. Worked fine.
 
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