Powder with chlorine smell?

[Catfur]

There is a very good chance that the odor is from nitric acid and oxides of nitrogen. Which means the powder is breaking down and releasing the nitrate ions... which is bad juju.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Lots of money gone bad. My humidity is arkansas- which is where some of this powder has lived for 15yrs

 

[Catfur]

Are all the powders that went bad single-base stick powder?

 

[bobm]

Catfur is right on about the smell is from residual nitric acid. It very much smells like mild chlorine bleach. I lost 2 containers of VV N-140 from a mid 90's lot. Had same red dust , too. It was corrosive on brass and I had to pull apart some loaded ammo and trash the cases. It's the 4th of July, dump it on the ground tonight and light it up.

 

[Milo 2.0]

It's the perfect night to make a giant firecracker.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Funny you mention red dust- i shined a light in one that hadnt been agitated at all as i was dumping them on my firepit and there was an orange fog inside. Weird stuff. Over 50lbs of powder on my firepit now. 16lbs was h4350 and 10lbs of varget. Makes me queasy

 

[Joe Salt]

Dusty if it's bad it might not light up, had so old H-4831 Military powder Didn't even fizzle.
But if you have 50# in your fire pit you best be a long way away when she goes up, the heat will be very intense. Don it with 8# of 5010 that was bad enough.

Joe Salt

 

[joshb]

Funny you mention red dust- i shined a light in one that hadnt been agitated at all as i was dumping them on my firepit and there was an orange fog inside. Weird stuff. Over 50lbs of powder on my firepit now. 16lbs was h4350 and 10lbs of varget. Makes me queasy

Take a video, please. Sorry Dusty. That's bad. Something is wrong with your powder storage spot. Anything "leaking"? You moved. New house? Any stored bottles of acids, cleaners, etc. in boxes near your powder area? Some new flooring exudes formaldehyde for a while. New treated lumber exudes chemicals, too. Some areas of the country have problems with gases leaking thru the soil from below. Radon, sulphur dioxide, methane, etc. I'd find a new storage spot.

 

[243winxb]

Powder in transit may have been subject to 140 f degrees temperatures in closed compartments.

I had 3 - 1 pound metal cans of IMR 4895 , bought around the same time. Different lot numbers. Stored at 60-70 degrees.

But only 1 can goes bad. Powder problem or high temperature?.

All my powders in metal cans have been moved to propertly marked plastice containers.

Black plastic containers are best to keep any sun light off the powder. Any plastic bottle must have on the bottom this type. HDPE

 

[ireload2]

If you have a brown-purple haze of dust in those canisters your powder is breaking down. It will smell like nitric acid and metal container will be rusty. The powder will often appear wet and sticky.
All you can do is burn it in an open area.

 

[Bc'z]

Funny you mention red dust- i shined a light in one that hadnt been agitated at all as i was dumping them on my firepit and there was an orange fog inside. Weird stuff. Over 50lbs of powder on my firepit now. 16lbs was h4350 and 10lbs of varget. Makes me queasy

How'd that go for ya?

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Take a video, please. Sorry Dusty. That's bad. Something is wrong with your powder storage spot. Anything "leaking"? You moved. New house? Any stored bottles of acids, cleaners, etc. in boxes near your powder area? Some new flooring exudes formaldehyde for a while. New treated lumber exudes chemicals, too. Some areas of the country have problems with gases leaking thru the soil from below. Radon, sulphur dioxide, methane, etc. I'd find a new storage spot.

This happened in my new house, sitting in boxes in my office on a brand new pvc whatever wood looking floor- the waterproof laminate whatever

 

[Bc'z]

Ok all this bad powder has me thinking.
My powder sits on shelf in my man cave/reloading room. Starting to build up a fair amount of various powders used for load development.
I've been thinking about a powder magazine of sorts.
All powders are stored inside the house where temps and humidity are consistent.
Maybe 3-4# are bout 18 years old,
Imr 4831 only one in metal, last used in February. No issues with it.
Suggestions?

 

[ireload2]

You might consider an old refrigerator set on 50F to 55 F to keep you powder cool and dry. The door needs to be an unlocked easy open version.

Ok all this bad powder has me thinking.
My powder sits on shelf in my man cave/reloading room. Starting to build up a fair amount of various powders used for load development.
I've been thinking about a powder magazine of sorts.
All powders are stored inside the house where temps and humidity are consistent.
Maybe 3-4# are bout 18 years old,
Imr 4831 only one in metal, last used in February. No issues with it.
Suggestions?

 

[Dusty Stevens]

I think josh is onto something. The only ones that went bad are ones that were in a cardboard box directly on that new floor. The ones stacked up didnt get affected or ones that were in my shop or garage still packed up or on the shelf. New house woes i guess

 

[Bc'z]

You might consider an old refrigerator set on 50F to 55 F to keep you powder cool and dry. The door needs to be an unlocked easy open version.

Move over fishing bait!!
I have my own fridge in garage.
Wife kicked my salmon baits outta the house long time ago.

 

[scubohuntr]

Orange haze is NOx; not what you want to see in your powder. I see it in the air frequently when the coal mines are blasting. Different powders have different odors, but they should be broadly similar. I'd be leery of anything other than a sort of acetone/ammonia/resiny kind of smell. Leery, with powder, means it gets fed (sparingly) to the plants. Powder is expensive, but less so than guns or emergency rooms. I just retrieved a couple of partial 8-pounders (Varget and pulldown 4895) that have been in storage for years; I haven't dared open them yet to check. When I do check them, any off odors, weird dust, or funny consistency means I'll be buying new powder. It's just not worth the risk.

 

[expiper]

I had a similar experience with some of the GI-322 back in the 80's,,,,it was in 1 lb plastic bottles from Hodgdon and I never opend them untill the symptoms began ,,,,several of the lids were "rusted" away like the example in your pic,,,and two had a large accumulation of a tar/sludge in the bottom of the can that looked like a hockey puck,,,,it was stored with other powders that did not go bad,,,Hodgdon told me of issues with the powder being stored/handled/cared for by the govt. that they thought contributed to the powder failure,,,they replaced it pound for pound (plus a little) but it could have ruined/burned down my house,,,in any case the powder you are dealing with is bad and it seems that a bad can of it (1 lb or 8 lb) can rust its way out and ruin other cans with the toxic vapors,,,one shooter I know had the vapors ruin bullets and metal tools that were stored in the same area ,,,,get it away from your house immediately and dont burn more than a cupla pounds at a time strung out on the ground (not in a big pile) or you will hurt yourself,,,,Roger

 

[hogpatrol]

You may be able to fish with it.

I gave a pound of some old mixed powder to my next door neighbor and the kids overheard me on how to dispose of it "properly". One evening they had a pile of rolled up toilet paper balls and threw them in their back yard campfire. He returned what they hadn't used.

 

[bobm]

In my case mentioned above the powder was given to me. One was 3/4 full, the other still factory sealed. The lot date on both was 1998 in 2 lb. HDPE plastic bottles. Both contents were decomposing. They resided in a damp central US farm house basement before they got to my dry western location in 2015. After burning the contents in a long trail layout I went to flatten the containers to put in recycle. They were brittle and broke apart instead of flattening. Dampness correlation?