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  1. Default How old is "Old" powder?

    NOT that I am considering on using this (I certainly wouldn't risk a 137 year old rifle), but how old is "old" when it comes to black powder?

    This unopened can came with the .45-70 rifle I purchased over 2 years ago.
    I opened it today.
    Smelled good, no overbearing ammonia smell. Grains are consistent.
    Who knows what temps it's been in over the decades.
    Good fertilizer I am told. Or keep it, and put it in the SHTF pile of stuff?
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  2. #2

    Default

    black powder will last almost forever , very nice to have to go with the rifle.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Location
    S.E. Arizona
    Posts
    420

    Default Black powder...

    is an intimate mechanical mixture of separate, stable ingredients. It is not a chemical compound and does not 'break down' as smokeless powders sometimes do. Heat lower than ignition temperature has little or no effect on BP, though residual moisture may be lost, slightly increasing the speed of burning.
    Moisture is the worst enemy of BP, causing the grains to disintegrate and the ingredients to separate. So long as BP is properly stored in the original, moisture-proof containers, it lasts indefinitely.

    mhb - Mike
    Sancho! My armor!

  4. Default

    Lessee if I can remember from chemistry class...salt peter (Pot Nitrate)....charcoal, sulpher, what am I missing?

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    6,045

    Default

    Artillary rounds from the civil war are still exploding after having been buried for 150+ years.

  6. #6

    Default

    That powder (1960s?) is a lot newer than the rifle!

  7. Default

    Hehe, good point Dick!
    Okay, I'll go ahead with my first BP loads using my best friend's fathers powder (May he rest in peace)

    Hopefully he'll be watching over me when I pull that 12 lbs of trigger on the first shot!

  8. #8

    Default

    did you try pouring a little on the ground and igniting it? or fire it in a muzzle loader with only wadded up paper?

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Location
    London, Ontario
    Posts
    3,251

    Default

    "...what am I missing..." Spelling. It's spelt sulfur. snicker. Oh and in the Middle Ages, the proportions differed by where it was made. Tended to settle into the ingredients when travelling too. Roads were worse then, than they are now.
    BP doesn't have the chemicals in it that create the ammonia smell.
    Spelling and grammar count!

  10. #10

    Default

    When we were kids we used to shoot old UMC .43 Spanish rounds in our rolling block rifles. That stuff was at least 60 years old and maybe older. If the primers fired, the round would go off with a bang and an evil, blue cloud of mephitic smoke. The duds we would pull the bullets and use the powder for bombs. We were kind of evil, feral children.

    jn
    Last edited by jon_norstog; 07-24-2016 at 05:30.

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