TargetTalk

Does properly stored smokeless powder have a shelf life?? I have an unopened canister of B'eye and was wondering about it.Ernie.

All three of my reloading manuals suggest that as long as the powder never got very warm (above 90 degrees F) nor very cold (below 30 degrees F) it will have a longer useful life than any of us . . .

Steve Swartz

Smell it - if has a "sweet" aroma, it should be OK. If it smells acrid / sharp, it may have decomposed a little.

Ernie,

Yes, powder does have a 'shelf life' only relative to the atmosphere that you are storing it in. I had 4895 that was 40 years old and disposed of it when it had actually begun to break down (red dust mixed in with the granules). This condition is an advanced stage of decomposition and the powder needs to be removed immediately and spread out on the lawn for fertilizer.

I trust this will answer your question.

Matt

At relatively low, and stable temperatures, powder can be stored for decades.
Small amounts of yellow or reddish dust indicates some deterioration has taken place. That does not necessarily mean the powder is dangerous to use. But observe that the burning caracteristics can have changed a little, and the burning rate can have increased very slightly. But you can salvage old powder for training use. Just reduse your charges a little, and work upwards.
The factory advices any such powder not to be used. So they can sell more. There is also an issue of liability, I guess.

I have never discarded any powder, and have never had any bad experiences from using deteriorated powder.

(I have even used salvaged powder, from WW 2 vintage rifle ammunition, dumped into a lake by the military in late 40s and early 50s. Diving friends brought caseloads of this ammo aut of the water in the 80s. I pulled the bullets, washed the powder over a sieve, then dried the powder in open air, stirred it in open air in say 2 - 3 kg lots.
I evolved loads for a war vintage military rifle with this powder, sorted and reused the usable bullets too. The powder obviously had slightly less energy, and was slightly slower burning that new powder, as the charge was slightly higher than standard loads of similar powder in non-soaked ammo.
At a couple of occations I ran into some german 8 mm ( 7.92) ammo with incendiary bullets. The area around the sealing plug for the phospor, which was at the side of the projectiles, showed some corrosion! That ammo was redumped into the lake!)

If I decide to "destroy" any powder, I would definitely not burn it. It is the best, and most expensive, lawn high nitrogen fertilizer available. Just spread it out over tha lawn.