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Old June 14, 2014, 06:33 PM   #23
sabjork
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Join Date: June 14, 2014
Posts: 2
Gun Powder Shelf Life

If properly stored smokeless powder and primers will last a lifetime and beyond. It is designed to be inherently stable and function predictably after many years of storage and harsh field conditions. This is not to say that you should treat your powder this way, however; the prominent manufacturers have very high standards to appeal to military and civilian usage.
In the year 1918 my grandfather purchased the 30-06 for hunting deer in the mountains of Utah, from him I inherited many rounds of 30-06, both reloads and factory-new in addition to his original Springfield rifle. To my amazement every round fired perfectly and accurately. These cartridges were 94 years old and not particularly well stored.
Some years ago I purchased Winchester 748 and Hodgdon BL-C(2) from a Gun show vendor who estimated that the containers were over 20 years old. Both containers had been opened but the powder smelled exactly the same as the brand new containers that I bought earlier this year. I have read many posts which claim that the test is in the smell. While fresh powder has a very distinct smell just as the well stored powder has, powder that has gone bad is very noticeable. It smells of decay and takes on a different, rust colored, appearance. I’m sure this is largely due to moisture. If up if
At the same Gun show I purchased a few bricks of RWS 4033 small rifle primers by Nobel GmbH (yeah the guy who invented TNT and for whom the Nobel prize is named after). The vendor purchased these from an estate sale and because the writing on the packaging was all in German he had no idea what they were. Based on the packaging I determined these were at least 40 years old. The pack referenced that they were “new and improved” because the primers did not contain mercury, an element which was not used beyond 1930. So these primers may have been 60 to 70 years old. Every primer fit and functioned flawlessly. In fact while this primer is no longer available for purchase in North America, it is referenced in the latest Hornady 9th Manual for cartridge reloading as a suitable small-rifle primer along with the other usual brands. So Hornady clearly has some knowledge of the long storage life of rifle primers and thought to include these in a 2013 reloading book.
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