I bought a large plastic cat litter bottle full of about 12 or 14 pounds of an unknown gun powder. This was about 20 years ago and it came from the estate of an old shooter. From the other things in his estate apparently he was into Trap and/or Skeet and duck hunting. Now it is finally time to figure it out. It is marked Herco and is a small perforated black disc flake the same diameter and thickness as Herco. It has a shine where my Herco has no gloss and of course Herco is not perforated. It has no colored dot tags, nothing but little black discs. My Herco is about 25 years old but this powder seems to be closer to 70 years old. Still smells correct.
The story was that it came in a large barrel and this gentleman had put it into smaller containers he could handle as the barrel was impossible to deal with by himself. Obviously it would seem likely to be a canister grade powder and possibly military surplus. Have been reloading since the 1970s and used my share of canister grade surplus powder. Not afraid of canister grade but know to be extra careful when fooling around with it without knowing more about it.
Perhaps it really is just regular old Herco.
My memory is about shot but seem to remember some popular canister powder several vendors were selling in the 1950s to the '70s that carried the advice "loads like Herco".
Back then almost everything I shot was named Magnum so I never paid any attention to powders like Herco.
With the shortages that $5 cat litter jug is starting to generate some interest.
I realize that many replies will be something to the effect that I am stupid for buying it and the sun will collide with the moon or worse if I try to use it.
Let it be known, I don't care about all that and only wish to identify the powder.
Thank You
The story was that it came in a large barrel and this gentleman had put it into smaller containers he could handle as the barrel was impossible to deal with by himself. Obviously it would seem likely to be a canister grade powder and possibly military surplus. Have been reloading since the 1970s and used my share of canister grade surplus powder. Not afraid of canister grade but know to be extra careful when fooling around with it without knowing more about it.
Perhaps it really is just regular old Herco.
My memory is about shot but seem to remember some popular canister powder several vendors were selling in the 1950s to the '70s that carried the advice "loads like Herco".
Back then almost everything I shot was named Magnum so I never paid any attention to powders like Herco.
With the shortages that $5 cat litter jug is starting to generate some interest.
I realize that many replies will be something to the effect that I am stupid for buying it and the sun will collide with the moon or worse if I try to use it.
Let it be known, I don't care about all that and only wish to identify the powder.Thank You
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