Disposing of Old Smokeless Powder-Photos

[antelopedundee]

Hey, it’s my powder and I want to burn it now!

It's my powder and I'll burn if I want to

burn if I want to

burn if I want to

You would burn too if it happened to you.

 

[antelopedundee]

It's my powder and I'll burn if I want to

burn if I want to

burn if I want to

You would burn too if it happened to you.

Leslie Gore might like this if she was still among us.

 

[dtucker]

Neat photos, when I was a kid my friends and I would have fun making carbide bombs among other things.

 

[Gun Smith]

Great photo's, thanks!
I gave a bunch of old powder that I got from an estate to a buddy of mine. It was mostly decaying cans of IMR that had been stored in a humid basement. Nasty smelling stuff. He and another friend poured it into zip lock bags, and lobbed them into a fire pit at night. He said it was pretty impressive!

 

[INTJ]

Several years ago I disposed of some remnants of old powder. I burned one kind of powder at a time. I found the faster burn rate powder did indeed burn faster than the slow powder, but the slow powder produced more heat. I guess that makes sense.......

 

[ckrifles]

I just pour it in the pasture makes the grass really green. Cows love it but it is really high dollar fertilizer.

 

[1K6BRA]

I just pour it in the pasture makes the grass really green. Cows love it but it is really high dollar fertilizer.

going to take a wild guess here but I bet you are wondering why your cows now have fiery atomic farts?

 

[MQ1]

I was given 2 crates of old powder a year ago, and after sorting through it, I had about 15 lbs that was either going bad, or were in partial cans from different lots that were too small to mess with.

Instead of tossing it into the yard, I took a big steel coffee can and punched a 1/4” hole in the side just above the bottom of the can. I put the coffee can in the middle of my Weber grill and then got my 10 year old son to help witness the exercise.

I explained to him the idea of burn rates for different powders, and we experimented for an hour burning different amounts of different powders on the grill, using a grill lighter to ignite the powder from the 1/4” hole.

Some of the burns were very jet-engine like with flames shooting straight up sometimes more than 15’ above the can. An awesome experience to share with my budding engineer.

MQ1

 

[C.E.Smith043]

going to take a wild guess here but I bet you are wondering why your cows now have fiery atomic farts?

 

[Kramerica]

To answer all the recent “old” and “why” questions, powder is a relatively inexpensive component in the grand scheme of things. As far as why I wouldn’t sell it, liability. I have no issue with selling sealed cans of powder that is only a few years old.

The risk of having this sit around, likely unused for another 20 years was not worth it in my opinion. As there is no accurate way to judge when a powder has deteriorated, I would rather err on the side of caution. Maybe it’s all the safety training at work these days, but I have no qualms about destroying it.

Dave.

Serious question, what happens to old smokeless powder that has begun or is already deteriorated?

 

[Hohn]

My old shooting friend jeff ely found out the hard way at the super shoot yrs. ago he poured powder into a measure and put the jug by his feet without the cap. loading away he finished a smoke and threw it down sure enough it went into the jug and lit him up his skin literally melted off him.. it was the last match he shot....

Just so we're clear-- this gentleman was smoking near a loading area? Near a contain of powder?

And the only reason this is a bad idea is because the lid was off?

 

[geo.ulrich]

Yes you got it correct , I'm not saying it was the smartest move no he should not have been smoking let alone with a jug of open powder between his legs. just telling how bad it was and it was very bad. months in the hospital. Another one one was R. Hoehn was driving home with a trailer full of powder flipped a cigarette out the window went back on trailer and it lit up. Ron was burned pretty bad in that one also....

 

[Joe Maisto]

I just pour it in the pasture makes the grass really green. Cows love it but it is really high dollar fertilizer.

I have heard it is good fertilizer, but is that really true? I have 3 # to get rid of, and planting time is near ! Response ?

 

[Joe Maisto]

Yes you got it correct , I'm not saying it was the smartest move no he should not have been smoking let alone with a jug of open powder between his legs. just telling how bad it was and it was very bad. months in the hospital. Another one one was R. Hoehn was driving home with a trailer full of powder flipped a cigarette out the window went back on trailer and it lit up. Ron was burned pretty bad in that one also....

Never heard of that one George. I am trying to imagine that scenario, and cannot understand where the flame came from to start the powder burning. I bought plenty of 8208 from our friend... Ron. We will miss that man..

 

[Thud]

You could of poured it on you roses or other flowers and not risked burning your house down. Just my thoughts.

 

[snert]

To answer all the recent “old” and “why” questions, powder is a relatively inexpensive component in the grand scheme of things. As far as why I wouldn’t sell it, liability. I have no issue with selling sealed cans of powder that is only a few years old.

The risk of having this sit around, likely unused for another 20 years was not worth it in my opinion. As there is no accurate way to judge when a powder has deteriorated, I would rather err on the side of caution. Maybe it’s all the safety training at work these days, but I have no qualms about destroying it.

Dave.

No judgement man, I get it. I was just thinking if I burned all my old powder I'd be broke and with my luck, would discover that my lot of vintage powder once shot the greatest groups ever recorded...but is unobtainium....since I just burned it!

Cool photos btw.

 

[atblis]

It's not odd for 50 year old pistol powders to still be good. Rifle powders seem to go bad faster.

 

[dfrosch]

Google Wayne Mayes. He was likely the best skeet shooter that ever lived.

The details are kinda sketchy, but he was disposing of some old powder in much the same way. Something went wrong(gust of wind?) and he sustained third degree burns over 65% of his body. He died from complications of that accident, but only after dealing with it for three months.

If I ever need to dispose of old gunpowder, I'd probably spread it real thin over the yard and water it in.

 

[Just Say Moe]

An acquaintance of mine from deer camp was disposing of some old black powder. He poured it into an old Styrofoam minnow bucket and static electricity set it off. It severely burned his face and inhaled hot smoke and fumes and was hospitalized for months and was pretty badly disfigured.

 

[PRR1957]

That is total desecration to the God of smokeless gun powder. May the ghost of Alfred Noble haunt you.