Gunpowder age

First topic message reminder :

I bought a hair under 8lbs of Bullseye last night.  Today I realize it’s from 2009

Doesn’t look rusty nor have strong of a scent that I can tell

So my question is: Does gunpowder lose its effectiveness as it ages?

For a given weight, will I get better FPS with new powder vs my 15 year old powder?



I plan on buying a 1lb bottle and testing it but would love to hear your guys experiences 


Thanks

Hey I'm not a very smart man, all you very learned people with the ability to find these dissertations on powders and explosives online have far exceeded my capability's and I don't want to die in a ball of flames or take out 4 city blocks because the old powders I have increased in power ten fold as several of you have pointed out, I do not have anything that looks like any of the pictures you all have provided. BUT like several of you have said" HOW DO YOU KNOW" I don't know and HOW DO I KNOW that the newer powders I have like WIN760 8 lbs I bought it like two years ago and when I received the MFG date is like 5 years before that. and that came from a very well known to us all supplier. So HOW DO YOU KNOW?. is really only leaves a person with one choice, Because how do I know that Hogden, or Remington, Winchester or any of the big MFG's of powder of ammo is selling absolute garbage cause after all we know that they just care about making a buck and don't care if they kill their customers, just so long as they get their money of the big sporting goods stores just keeping stuff in the warehouse for years and years before selling it, so they can sell it for more money then they paid, HOW DO YOU KNOW? I DON"T so I'm going too throw out ALL of the powders I have. I'm going to start a fire in a barrel and destroy all of the primers I have because HOW DO YOU KNOW if they didn't increase in power over time, HOW DO YOU KNOW. I am very worried about my fellow human beings and since I can not trust my supply of components and ammo because  HOW DO YOU KNOW.  I can't sell any of my guns because I don't want my fellow human beings to hurt themselves, because how do you know? I'm going to buy a Habor freight chop saw and chop all my guns in several pieces and sell them for scrap metal and just stop shooting all together, Because as you and others have pointed out 40 years or 2 weeks. HOW DO YOU KNOW?.

MkFiji wrote:I bought a hair under 8lbs of Bullseye last night.  Today I realize it’s from 2009

Doesn’t look rusty nor have strong of a scent that I can tell

So my question is: Does gunpowder lose its effectiveness as it ages?

For a given weight, will I get better FPS with new powder vs my 15 year old powder?



I plan on buying a 1lb bottle and testing it but would love to hear your guys experiences 


Thanks

looking forward to your test. I posted mine they chose to ignore it, The bullseye from who knows when is shooting right in the box of the old Hercules load data I have, 230 grn.RN 5.0 grn. 905 FPS

I have noticed my 20 year old Bullseye and Clays powders losing some "oomph!" Both powders were kept in the original plastic containers and the caps were always tightened well after use. There was no bad smell nor discoloration noted. There had not been any extreme swing in heat or cold temperatures while being stored.

With the help of my friend's new Garmin Xero C1 Pro chrono, I was able to test velocities quickly and easily, all loaded with 185g LSWCHP.

My 3.8g of Clays powder loaded in 2011 tested at 702fps yesterday. The same amount of powder of 3.8g loaded recently, tested at 663fps. Upping the charge to 4.0 Clays produced 732fps. This sandbag tested the best for accuracy at 50 yards.

3.8g Bullseye had always shot well and the pistol cycled perfectly in the past. I don't have any chrono information of older loads but yesterday, this load shot poorly at 50 yards with an average velocity of 636fps. Upping the powder charge to 3.9g produced 693fps.
I'll be loading some 4.0 BE with this older powder and see what velocities will show.

For 50 yards, I've seen better grouping with velocities over 700fps.  For 25 yards, reduced loads will probably be fine as long as the gun cycles properly. There may be may other factors to consider but older powders may still work fine but monitor loads with the chrono and continue to check for powder discoloration and smell.

8eightring wrote:Not my first rodeo with one of these old boys.

I have over 20 pounds of this and still works fine!