They were made in 99 & 01 I think? The 99 was sealed and I believe the 01 was rebottled out of a keg. Prolly had something to do with the storage conditions prior to me buying them. Never had the problem with any other powder brands before or since.
Powder with a strong sharp smell
- Thread starter ergonsdad
- Start date
D-4297
Gold $$ Contributor
Nature Boy ; The silver rectangles that usually have the data were blank , and there were some tear-away stickers that didn't have enough info on them to be useful . I've used powder in the past that was "Old" , but this stuff just made all the bells and whistles go off at the same time . Next time , I just won't buy so much at one time . Rather safe , than sorry . Besides , it was also starting to get a little erratic on the target , too .
This might help:
https://www.bevfitchett.us/alliant-...check-smokeless-powder-for-deterioration.html
I never have much powder on stock but if I needed to dispose of it I would dump small piles of it on wet concrete and put a match to it (burn).
I don't think it would be as effective as Roundup (attention attractor) to kill vegetation and might actually encourage vegetation growth due to nitrates and stuff but should the powder be ingested by night creatures like deers it might cause more than heartburn, "do not eat, drink, or smoke around this product" . Possibly, the nitrates and stuff might cause cardiac problems. Should I ever see brown fumes I could not get rid of this stuff fast enough. Interesting about bulging powder containers, for a test, about 52 years ago, I placed a 1/2 pound of some old surplus H4831 powder in its yellow and red cardboard/paper container in a steel box and within a week the insides of the box were coated with rust.
https://www.bevfitchett.us/alliant-...check-smokeless-powder-for-deterioration.html
I never have much powder on stock but if I needed to dispose of it I would dump small piles of it on wet concrete and put a match to it (burn).
I don't think it would be as effective as Roundup (attention attractor) to kill vegetation and might actually encourage vegetation growth due to nitrates and stuff but should the powder be ingested by night creatures like deers it might cause more than heartburn, "do not eat, drink, or smoke around this product" . Possibly, the nitrates and stuff might cause cardiac problems. Should I ever see brown fumes I could not get rid of this stuff fast enough. Interesting about bulging powder containers, for a test, about 52 years ago, I placed a 1/2 pound of some old surplus H4831 powder in its yellow and red cardboard/paper container in a steel box and within a week the insides of the box were coated with rust.
Dusty Stevens
Shiner
Mine had red fumes coming out of it when opened. A famous br shooter had the same thing years ago so he put it outside on his porch and it burned his porch down within a couple days. It is useless at that point- pretty much nitroglycerine i think. Way faster than any powder you can buy and its not going back
More helpful info:
ns2.hodgdon.com/PDF/MSDS%20Files/Smokeless/Hodgdon/Spherical%20Powders/All%20Hodgdon%20Spherical%20Powders.pdf
MSDS' are real common and easily accessed on most powder web sites.
This says nitroglycerine is a "vasodilator" or makes your BP go down - don't eat powder. Some store powder in air-tight plastic coolers - this would result in an accumulation of mildly pressurized toxic and corrosive fumes. I once had a giant cardboard round keg of H380 and being aware of potential problems and being unwilling to torch my investment I decided to shoot it up in my .308 match rifle with 172 GI bullets sold by the pound real cheap. Since then I have never bought more powder than I could shoot up within a year.
ns2.hodgdon.com/PDF/MSDS%20Files/Smokeless/Hodgdon/Spherical%20Powders/All%20Hodgdon%20Spherical%20Powders.pdf
MSDS' are real common and easily accessed on most powder web sites.
This says nitroglycerine is a "vasodilator" or makes your BP go down - don't eat powder. Some store powder in air-tight plastic coolers - this would result in an accumulation of mildly pressurized toxic and corrosive fumes. I once had a giant cardboard round keg of H380 and being aware of potential problems and being unwilling to torch my investment I decided to shoot it up in my .308 match rifle with 172 GI bullets sold by the pound real cheap. Since then I have never bought more powder than I could shoot up within a year.
D-4297
Gold $$ Contributor
Went through 12 pounds of Varget , 5 lbs. of A-4350 , and 2lbs. of A-4064 last year . And a pound of H-4895 . Got side-tracked with getting ready for the SWN and the 6lbs of A-4064 got forgotten temporarily . Just a guess , but it may have been in a bad storage situation before I purchased it , because it "turned" from useable to "HELL NO" in two weeks . Opened ; and loaded the 1st 1lb. container , and it shot reasonably well at 600 yds. and two weeks later , I opened the 2nd one . Gone , junk , trash ... The message here is reduce the amount of "stores" , and check it regularly .
bobm
Silver $$ Contributor
This topic comes up every six months. Powders can go bad even when stored properly due to a variety of reasons. Age, brand, temperature swings, even when the factory seal is intact. Age is primarily the main cause for deterioration. Good reason not to stockpile large quantities unless you plan to shoot it up reasonably quick. VihtaVuori states it's propellants are best used within 10 years of manufacture dates.
I lost 3lbs. of N140 made in 1999 I bought from a friend a couple of years ago. The pre owned powder had gone bad sitting around unused. The plastic containers got brittle and broke apart from nitric acid fume exposure.
Rule of thumb is........if it has a pleasant ether like smell, normal color and has no irritation to your nose it is probably good.
If it has a strong odor like chlorine bleach, burns your nose when sniffing, orange to red dust present it is bad.
Get rid of it.
I lost 3lbs. of N140 made in 1999 I bought from a friend a couple of years ago. The pre owned powder had gone bad sitting around unused. The plastic containers got brittle and broke apart from nitric acid fume exposure.
Rule of thumb is........if it has a pleasant ether like smell, normal color and has no irritation to your nose it is probably good.
If it has a strong odor like chlorine bleach, burns your nose when sniffing, orange to red dust present it is bad.
Get rid of it.
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Do you mind me asking, load data with that powder? Oboy powder i can source atm in Sweden.
Kurz
Silver $$ Contributor
This is one of the problems when vintage threads are opened once again. The Original Poster has not posted since about that time nearly 2 years ago:
ergonsdad
Precision RAS Tuners · From Bradenton, FLJoined Jun 25, 2009
Last seen Oct 12, 2019
"Stabilizers e.g.; Methyl centralite,Nitrodiphenylamine, etc functions by binding nitrocellulose degradation products (e.g. NO, NO2, and nitric acid), preventing these degradation products from accelerating further degradation. The amount of the stabilizer depletes with time; remaining content of less than 0.5% (with initial 2% content) requires increased surveillance of the munition, with less than 0.2% warranting immediate disposal, as the depletion of the stabilizer may lead to autoignition of the propellant"
I used To get powder from a local business that would buy lots of powder from the military and repackage it for sale.
They would open the 100 pound drums and smell it, either good or not. Acrid or ammonia is bad. Bad powder barrels were put in middle of parking lot and burned, quite spectacular.
I asked if the neighbors complained, he said, "I have a rock crusher on one side and a slaughter house on the other, we mind our own business."
M
They would open the 100 pound drums and smell it, either good or not. Acrid or ammonia is bad. Bad powder barrels were put in middle of parking lot and burned, quite spectacular.
I asked if the neighbors complained, he said, "I have a rock crusher on one side and a slaughter house on the other, we mind our own business."
M
Did you ask them if they had anything to do with Jimmy Hoffa?
You can probably use IMR 4227 load data as the burning rate is very similar. I have 17.0 grains as a starting load for 180 grain bullets of the Lyman Reloading Guide.
D-4297
Gold $$ Contributor
I wish I could remember . I'm thinking about 3 - 4 years , so that would have been about 2015 - 16 ? Part of a contamination issue during mixing , that caused the initial recall .
Cannot be used as fertilizer. It is not water soluble. I lay it in a trail along a fence row to get rid of weeds and lite it.
Smells of ether, acetone, thinner, etc, are good.
Smells of ammonia are not good.
Smells of ammonia are not good.
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