How old can BP be and be safe?

[Mark in WI]

I have some cans of goex 3f BP that I bought 12-15 years ago, one is an 80th anniversary can from 1992. Do you think it is still safe? I have looked at it and it still and look ok. It has been stored in the original can in the basement. The cans shows a little surface rust but nothing all they way though. I am just worried that the stuff is getting old and unstable.
Thanks for the help,
Mark

 

[Claude Mathis]

Black powder cannot become "unstable". It can soak up moisture and fail to ignite. Store it properly and it will still be good long after we're both gone. IMHO

 

[boar]

If it is dry should be ok. I have can of 4fff for priming that I bought and still using it, it is ok. It was stored at top of basements steps were it is cool and dry. Just don't shake it up real hard. I turn mine upside down easy to make sure it isn't clumped up. Dilly

 

[sundog]

I am going to the range in a few minutes and I am going to shoot some Dupont 1F powder that was bought in 1972. We used to use it for a cannon bak in college I had a load of it stashed away and lost in moves forgot about it till I found it last year. It works just fine. Funny thing is one of my GPRs loves it, yeah a .50 cal GPR thinks its just dandy. 1F in a .50- who would ever think that would produce the best accuracy. The other GPRs burn it but like 3F better.
Your powder is safe to shoot.

 

[mazo kid]

I was just gonna say that I still have a couple of cans of DuPont powder from '72. I also have an original oval DuPont can that still has the original wrapping paper on it. As others have said, it doesn't go bad, just keep it cool and DRY.

 

[Stumpkiller]

What Claude said. It can become overly safe with age and improper storage. Some of the more modern nitric acid and ammonia based propellants and explosives can get hairy if old. Black powder just turns into fertilizer.

Fulminate of mercury, on the other hand, can get unstable in the primers of old blackpowder cartridges. It crystalizes if damp and dried repeatedly and the crystals can ignite with jostling. Though the powder usually forms acids that eliminate the problem before then by eating the case and fulminate.

 

[Stubert]

My father in law used to shoot B-P about 72-73. He passed a few years ago. My mother in law recently gave me all his gun stuff. There was 3 lbs. of GOEX 2f in the box, I tried it and it works 100% fine in my 62 cal. flinter .

 

[reddogge]

They just dredged up a cannonball dating to the war of 1812 in the Chesapeake Bay this week. It still had black powder in it that could have exploded it was in such good condition.

 

[uncrichie]

I have seen cans of BP from the 70's that had alot of rust on the inside of the can. To the extent that some of that rust was in the powder. Whether or not that would be an issue I don't know. Uncrichie.

 

[BigDave]

A little bit of rust won't hurt it, if anything a small amount would improve it's performance since iron oxide is a catalyst for most pyrotechnic applications.(but probably only if it was incorporated inside the powder)

 

[lightsky]

in 2005 i got some 2f from the augusta powder mill
cir 1865.
i've shot it along with new goex 2f and can't see
any difference
so age don't matter,it's how you keep it.
it was found under a porch in savana ga in a corked whiskey bottle.

 

[Tumblernotch]

Ah! Some good old Confederate powder. It was said that the Augusta mill was turning out the finest powder in the world by the end of the War.

 

[TANSTAAFL]

Ah! Some good old Confederate powder. It was said that the Augusta mill was turning out the finest powder in the world by the end of the War.

The lack of good (best) black powder was one thing the Confederacy never suffered from. I have read a couple of times whenever the Union troops captured Confederate powder and cartridges, they dumped their own and replaced it with the plundered powder.

I also recall the Augusta mill was experimenting with brown powder, but it proved harder to ignite and too powerful for some of their domestic manufactured arms, which blew up, so was discontinued.

 

[Tman]

Timely topic for me as a greenhorn to this forum. I was heavily involved in F&I War 12-15 years ago...........last time I shot my flinter was .........um, in the last century! I unloaded my horn at that time and put it all back in the can...........now after a couple moves if I could only fine that can of 3F!