powder degrading

[frontierman01]

Hello all, thought I had posted this yesterday, but when I checked, couldn't find it. I have an open container of fffg powder from American pioneer company. it's been in my basement for the last 2-3 years. on the container it says that it doesn't contain any sulfur. don't know if this is black powder or a substitute. can anyone advise me if there is a shelf life on this? poured a little in my fire pit and it smoked and lit up. does this mean it's still good? Thanks

 

[mooman76]

Yes it has a shelf life but it largely depends on how well it was stored. It is not Black powder, it is a sub. After just a few years it still should be good. I would think that even powder that has gone bad will still burn, so throwing it on a fire is not really a good indication. Load it up a shoot it, that will tell you.

 

[coloradoclyde]

APP is substitute powder...All black powder and substitute powders are very hygroscopic, Black MZ (which some say is APP ) even comes with a silica gel pack in the can to help absorb moisture....Storing an opened can in your basement isn't going to help the situation...The powders themselves do not have "shelf lives" but improper storage and handling can ruin them or reduce their performance.

Black powder and some substitutes can be dried out and any clumps broken up and it will work just fine....not sure about APP.

 

[Katahdin]

Load up a half charge and shoot it,see what happens.

 

[BrownBear]

poured a little in my fire pit and it smoked and lit up. does this mean it's still good?

If it smoked first, then lit up, you have expensive fertilizer on your hands. Should have been instantaneous flash with the smoke to follow.

Up here in our wet climate American Pioneer has the shelf life of honesty in politics. Once you open a jug it looses about half its poop (based on chronograph results) and gets real hard to ignite in just a few months. Guys who insist on using it open a fresh jug each season and try to shoot it all up within about 3 months to avoid "wasting" it by keeping it 6 months.

 

[frontierman01]

small game starts tomorrow. will load up the cap and ball and see what happens. will update after my foray into the wilderness tomorrow. Thanks for the responses.

 

[Spikebuck]

American Pioneer has the shelf life of honesty in politics.

Worst stuff I've ever used. It may light up, but it loses a tremendous amount of it's power pretty quickly after being opened...humidity or not. I have three pounds of it just sitting on the shelf. I refuse to use it. Should just dump it in the flower bed and use the shelf space for something good.

 

[frontierman01]

Well, just came back from the woods. had a shot at a squirrel but missed. the powder still appears to be working. discharged all cylinders plus reloaded once. no misfires. all I need now is either more target shooting, or more time outdoors.

 

[azmntman]

or......BOTH :hatsoff:

 

[Spikebuck]

I hope it is still "working." If you have a chronograph you could check for sure.

Ignition and "power" are two different things. I won't get into the gory details of the horrendous hunting incident I had with this stuff, but let's say that while it was relatively slow to begin with...90 grs behind a .530 RB producing less than 1200 fps...in just months it had degraded to less than 600 FPS. Unfortunately, after having a load with it all worked up when it was shooting at what is apparently it's "peak" power, I did not shoot it again until on the hunt. I'll never, ever use it again. I hope you have better luck than I did.

 

[frontierman01]

I'm just using the revolver for small game. I don't have access to a chronograph. I have pyrodex for my Lyman's rifle tho.

 

[frontierman01]

I hate going to the target range. because they fleece you when you use black powder. I use to pay close to $30 for 1 hr. of shooting. one day I question why I was being charged extra, the owner said it was because the black powder fouls up his exhaust system more than conventional firearms. yet every time I went, I was the only one shooting black powder. I tried to join a couple of gun/hunting clubs here, but they informed me that they weren't accepting new members. one person even had an attitude. will have to go, before big game opens up to sight in my rifle.

 

[BrownBear]

I hate it when shooting clubs and businesses "feed" on other shooters.

 

[Scota4570]

Some indoor ranges forbid black powder. Apparently it is an NRA reccomedation. A club that I used to belong to banned blackpowder shooting. There was no cohearant explanation. There was some hand wringing about igniting imaginary "green powder" on the floor. It was nonsense, just petty people trying to feel important and controll others. In the end, it was vendictive and arbitrary.

I quit as did several others.

 

[BrownBear]

We went through it at the local indoor range while I was chief range officer. They have a big HVAC air handling/filter system that did a good job of quickly clearing the air and the filters really weren't an issue, comparing the volume of smoke from occasional black powder use. They got a LOT more from cartridge handguns simply because there were a lot more of them being shot.

When you drilled in far enough you discovered that the REAL issue was that our smoke "interfered" with other shooters in the brief period before the smoke cleared.

They ultimately banned black powder and I'm a has-been range officer.