Thread: Rusty Dusty, bad smelling powder

went to do some reloading, and had a powder go bad,

I had been storing said powder, in its plastic container, in a ammo tin, in a safe. (dunno if this was bad/the cause?)

the powder where freebies of an unknown age, (Vihtavuori N110)
I have disposed of this powder,

now my concern is, it was not stored alone, and had a couple other powders in the ammo tin with it,

when i opened there containers there was the same rusty dust come out of these,
but when the dust cleared the same smell was not present, so i am assuming the dust/gas made its way in from the off powder some how? or are they on there way out aswell?

are these powders stuffed aswell? or OK?

also how should i be storing the powder? was I doing it correctly/safely?

Only one way to find out if it still goes Bang!

Reddish brown gas smelling a bit like sweet diesel exhaust and rust inside tins is a sure sign the powder has started to decompose. It would be unsafe to use it. The recommended method of disposal is to pour it out in a long trail on a non flammable surface outdoors bare dirt etc, and light it with a paper fuse. To check powder get some litmus paper wet a piece and hold it over the lid of the poder bottle right after opening, if it goes red dump the powder. Normally powder will last 10_15 years possibly longer if stored in tightly sealed containers and kept cool ( at 25c or below). As an illustration plenty of people still use 303 ammo made in the 40s and 50s.

This is an entry I put in another thread -

Had a can of recovered milsurp 4895 virtually semi explode on me - blew the screw cap lid off the can (proper powder can not a peanut butter jar or such like), and when found was vigorously fuming giving off a large amount of acrid brown smoke. Was stored in a cupboard in our bedroom. No ignition source, cool, dry.

This is what Vihtavuori say –
“Although modern smokeless powders are basically free from deterioration under proper storage conditions, safe practices require a recognition of the signs of deterioration and its possible effects.

Powder deterioration can be checked by opening the cap on the container and smelling the contents.

Powder undergoing deterioration has an irritating acidic odor. (Don’t confuse this with common solvent odors such as alcohol, ether and acetone).”

If she smells sweet (the powder..) she’s normally sweet.
If she has an acrid smell, it’s on the way out.

So should the other powder be biffed - cannot say with info provided. What is its condition?

Interestingly I had a mate bend my ear just the other day saying VV N110 is especially prone to deterioration. I don't believe it to be under normal conditions. I have been using the same 1 kg can of 110 in my Hornet for years and have noted no deterioration/change in velocities.

I was also given a freeby can of W296 once. I inspected it, it was going off, and tipped it out straight away. You just don't know what others may have done eg tipping 2 types of powder into 1 can and shaking like mad...... All powders are the same aren't they? Always wary of getting any unsealed cans of powder.

Originally Posted by Marty Henry

Reddish brown gas smelling a bit like sweet diesel exhaust and rust inside tins is a sure sign the powder has started to decompose. It would be unsafe to use it. The recommended method of disposal is to pour it out in a long trail on a non flammable surface outdoors bare dirt etc, and light it with a paper fuse. To check powder get some litmus paper wet a piece and hold it over the lid of the poder bottle right after opening, if it goes red dump the powder. Normally powder will last 10_15 years possibly longer if stored in tightly sealed containers and kept cool ( at 25c or below). As an illustration plenty of people still use 303 ammo made in the 40s and 50s.

When you burn powder, or explosives, we were taught to put it in a ditch and pour diesel olong it to burn it off

I passed the powder in question onto @Glycerine and I'm pretty sure some of it was at least 10 years old, so that fits. The various cans/tubs were of various ages though, so some might be ok, (couple of plastic tubs of Hodgdon for instance). The 296 was nearly gone right? The N110 was one of the older ones, I wouldn't biff the stuff in the plastic, but maybe the steel ones? The litmus test sounds like a good idea to start with. I'll take the plastic stuff if you're scared of it, I have a reasonably safe place to store it I think

Originally Posted by Martin358

When you burn powder, or explosives, we were taught to put it in a ditch and pour diesel olong it to burn it off

Yes you could do that but its not really necessary, itll make a ton of black smoke and look real cool at night but may attract unwanted attention in town. The longest powder train I've lit was after a live firing exercise at Waiouru, a days worth of spare charge bags from 105 howitzers, 40 metres long with bags overlapped, took a minute to go end to end. RSM had a word afterwards said it should have been done as 2 burns.

@Tommy, yep... not using them any way haven't worked out for 300blk,

grab it next weekend at ASRA?

I'm worried about is contamination from the degrading n110, they where all stored in a sealed box together for some time,
and the brown gas/dust got into there containers... dunno if this would affect them?

the 296 is fine AFAIK, I moved it into a modern plastic powder container and it was stored in a different container with other powders, (these are unaffected)
I've been loading 300blk supers with it. not a lot left

Ahh well decant it into some modern plastic cans and monitor it in a safe place?

Some of my powder is over 50 years old and is still good.