Old powder surprise

by John K, Wednesday, April 16, 2014, 21:40 (3816 days ago)

Decided to break into an unopened 8lb can of IMR4895 today and discovered an old '60s 1lb can of H4831 stored behind it had "gone bad". We've all heard how old powder can go bad and give off an acrid smell as it breaks down chemically. I've even discarded old powder when I thought I detected a strange odor.

However, I have never seen such an extensive corrosive effect from the outgassing. If you look at the first picture, you can see the clear rectangular area where the H4831 can was sitting. The brown detritus came from the metal top & bottom of the H4831 can. You can also see where the larger rectangular can of 4895 and a round 8lb can of Unique were sitting directly in front. Notice the ventilation register is rusted...

Now take a look at the back of the relatively new 8lb can of IMR4895.

Rusted, but not compromised.

Here is the offending party:

Look at the corrosion! The cardboard body was so fragile my thumb poked a hole in the front when I picked it up.

There was ZERO odor at this point. A lot of this old powder I keep around just for the cool factor but obviously I need to keep an eye on it.