A couple years ago I had some 4895 surplus powder that went bad. I bought it years before from the son of an old timer who had passed away. It had been stored in an attic.
I noticed a brown gas in the glass jar it had been stored in, and it smelled real bad. I threw it out, but had another can from the same lot that I thought was OK so I kept it and used it.
I recently dug out a couple hundred rounds of .308 I had loaded with it. About 20% of them had split necks with nasty green stuff growing out of them. The brass was perfect with no splits when I loaded them a year or two ago. The powder inside was clumpy, corroded, smelly stuff. The other 80% or so is in various stages of decomposition. Even the bullets are corroded on the bases. I guess that's what I get for trying to salvage questionable powder.
The funny thing is, I bought a bunch of H4831 surplus from the same guy, stored the same, that is perfectly fine. It chronographs the same as the new stuff, and still shoots great. It's like something in the 4895 just turned to acid, but the 4831 wasn't affected.
I noticed a brown gas in the glass jar it had been stored in, and it smelled real bad. I threw it out, but had another can from the same lot that I thought was OK so I kept it and used it.
I recently dug out a couple hundred rounds of .308 I had loaded with it. About 20% of them had split necks with nasty green stuff growing out of them. The brass was perfect with no splits when I loaded them a year or two ago. The powder inside was clumpy, corroded, smelly stuff. The other 80% or so is in various stages of decomposition. Even the bullets are corroded on the bases. I guess that's what I get for trying to salvage questionable powder.
The funny thing is, I bought a bunch of H4831 surplus from the same guy, stored the same, that is perfectly fine. It chronographs the same as the new stuff, and still shoots great. It's like something in the 4895 just turned to acid, but the 4831 wasn't affected.