Powder shelf life?

[talkingamoeba]

I tried the search, but didn't find the answer... how long will BP keep if stored in the original can?

 

[Musketeer]

A really, really long time. Can't give exact figures, but a can of powder bought today and left in the can will certainly outlast anyone currently posting on this forum. :haha: :hatsoff:

 

[cynthialee]

When I asked this question I was told it is pretty much indefinate.
Was also told that there have been plenty of old guns found with a viable powder charge in it decades after it was loaded.

 

[54mountain]

In the journals of Lewis and Clark they state several times of how they poured their powder out on blankets to dry after their boats got swampped or overturned, as long as you keep it dry it should last forever.

 

[JohnTulle]

I am still using powder I bought in the mid-70's. It's in the bottom of the fridge. :grin:

When I was a museum director, we had powder from the Civil War in the original flasks. It was still good. That was in the early 80's.

John

 

[Stumpkiller]

Indoors (normal room climate) and sealed up and full? 25 or more years. Likely twice or three times that.

 

[Rifleman1776]

All responses are on point.
However, if your storage is in a very high humidity area, I suggest you coat the outside of the metal storage cans with Johnson's paste wax or something similar as they can corrode away from the outside.

 

[talkingamoeba]

Thanks everyone, I want to have some extra on hand just in case, and you have helped me make that decision.

 

[stormcrow]

As a footnote for readers, I have also found BP does store for a long time but BP substitutes do not. Ask me how I know this, and why this is just one of the reasons I won't touch the stuff anymore.

 

[ohio ramrod]

Kept dry and below 150 degrees F it will out last you! :hmm:

 

[Carteret Kid]

Shells fired in the Civil War are still being found live, and dangerous.

 

[Tanglefoot]

Looks like everybody who has responded is on target. I've got powder I've had for years and years and it's still good. A friend of mine once pulled a charge from a flinter that had been hanging over the owner's fireplace for two generations. The powder was still potent. Keep it dry and it'll outlast most of us. There was a myth that black powder degrades with age. Not true. It'll degrade with moisture, but not time.
I suspect folks were confusing powder with what
happens to old dynamite --- which DOES degrade with age, and become unstable and therefore more dangerous.

Ol' Foot

 

[Greenjoytj]

As black powder is made from pure elements, carbon, sulphur, potassium nitrate is won't decay. As long as its kept dry it should last forever. It will certainly out last the can it's sold in.

I have discovered that you are more likely to get rust forming on the inside of the powder can.

 

[Stumpkiller]

Potassium nitrate is not an element. With moisture it will form nitric acid.

Everything that exists is either an element or made from elements. ;-)

 

[1911nutjob]

Looks like everybody who has responded is on target. I've got powder I've had for years and years and it's still good. A friend of mine once pulled a charge from a flinter that had been hanging over the owner's fireplace for two generations. The powder was still potent. Keep it dry and it'll outlast most of us. There was a myth that black powder degrades with age. Not true. It'll degrade with moisture, but not time.
I suspect folks were confusing powder with what
happens to old dynamite --- which DOES degrade with age, and become unstable and therefore more dangerous.

Ol' Foot

Not just dynamite, but their chemically related products as well. Read an interesting article years ago about bomb squads being called in to safely dispose of pre-safety photographic/movie film that had decomposed into unstable explosive crystals after a century of poor storage. Makes me wonder how important that expiration date on nitro heart pills really is!! :grin: My current BP supply however will probably outlive me.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Yep exactamundo, the components of BP are a mixture of "stable" stuff and potassium nitrate, which is a salt, and thus if the mixture stays dry which preserves the "salt", the whole mixture is not affected. I imagine if somebody packed the stuff in containers filled with nitrogen, slight oxidation of the interior of a steel can might not occur. Just a "I wonder" idea...

LD

 

[Palepainter]

As a footnote for readers, I have also found BP does store for a long time but BP substitutes do not. Ask me how I know this, and why this is just one of the reasons I won't touch the stuff anymore.

I was surprised how fast the stuff BP substitue degraded once it was open. Slow ignition and no fires only a couple months after opening the original can.

I too, now only use BP.

 

[talkingamoeba]

Well the point is moot for now. My supplier shows no Goex FFF til after 1 Sept sometime.

 

[Dean2]

I agree with most posters. I have some 4831 that was made just after WW2. It still shoots just fine. I have shot black powder I had stored for over 30 years, it shot fine. I bought some that said it was put into cans in 1910. The 100 year old powder shot fine too, as does most BP ammo loaded in the 1880s. Stored right, I would say powder life for BP is virtually forever.

 

[1911nutjob]

Well the point is moot for now. My supplier shows no Goex FFF til after 1 Sept sometime.

Take a look at Graf's powder. They have a sale going for 11.99 per pound of fff minus hazmat fees, so I stocked up. They will also combine smokeless and primers/caps in the order now. I like their powder just as much as goex. I have plenty of fff on hand but at that price I just couldn't resist. They are also out of goex and swiss in fff.