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powder

954 views 10 replies 7 participants last post by  howlnmad 
#1 ·
thanks for looking. im new to this site. I use to reload some years ago and am slowly getting ready to do some reloading again. my question is there a shelf life for powder? I have several containers that are several years old and would like to know if they would be safe to use.
Thanks Again
 
#2 ·
You are welcome and welcome to the forum. If you have kept the powder at a pretty constant temperature and stored properly, it should last for years. I had about a 10 year period that I did not actively reload, the powder (unique and bullseye) was still good when I started back up.
 
#7 ·
The smell is supposed to be different for bad powder. If you get some that is bad just spread it on the flower beads as it is an excellent fertilizer.

I read once that Hercules who at one time sold Bullseye had a supply of the powder used to compare to current lots. That original powder supposedly was over 100 years old.

If there is any doubt about the powder then throw it away. Your time and effort are not worth wasting to find you just reloaded a bunch of duds. But in 30 years of reloading I have never had powder go bad. Some I use today is over 20 years old.

LDBennett
 
#10 ·
Hercules kept some Unique under water and would remove some when magazines would ask about powder stability and shelf life and would dry out some of the powder and let them load and fire off some rounds and compare to new Unique. I think the powder was over 100 years old before the twenty-first century came around.
 
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