Old powder surprise

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...

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

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Rusted, but not compromised.

Here is the offending party:

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

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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.

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a casserole at the Alliant pot-luck dinner!

That is something all right. I have seen only minor rust by comparison. Pity the cannister is shot...I remember that packaging sitting on Dad's shelves.

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Never seen one that bad, I'm going the have to check out my old Hodgdons packs.

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Will have to keep an eye on some of my Dad's old powder stash, he has a few cans of that vintage.

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Going through all of my powder stock today. Found more that were questionable, but not like this - they will be discarded. Any nearby metal bits had varying degrees of corrosion.

Talked to someone this AM that had dumped some old powder out and saved it for garden fertilizer in an open pan. It spontaneously combusted months later; he was quite lucky to be nearby when it ignited as he heard the roaring noise and was able to extinguish the fire before it ignited the structure.

Had to research this, as I had never heard of spontaneous combustion of smokeless powder. It is true and well documented. The heat from decomposition can cause it to ignite. That was a dangerous hole in my knowledge base so passing it along for anyone else that might be ignorant on that point.

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About 2 years ago I had about 30 pounds of surplus 4831 start doing the same thing. The outgassing corroded a number of things and turned 4 550 round bulk packs of 22 ammo to goo. The out gas seems to contain nitric acid and is extremely corrosive. Shortly after that I was helping a friend organize her late husbands reloading room and found that he had about a dozen one pound paper bags of surplus 4831 (Yes, Hogdon did package it in paper bags for a while..) that was going bad. So on multiple fronts it looks like the life ow WWII surplus 4831, even when properly stored, is at an end. If anyone has any in their powder supply, it deserves a close look.....

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Dang - hate to hear that. I'm certainly going to inspect everything much more regularly now.

Think you are right about the nitric acid formation - found a military document on the web that said as smokeless degrades over time (accelerated by heat), it outgasses some form of nitrogen that combines with moisture and forms nitric acid. Extremely corrosive stuff.

Found some more questionable powder today and destroyed 12lbs by burning. Nothing like this H4831 at all, tho.

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"Old powder surprise" sounds like...

Old powder surprise

Have never seen one that bad...

Update.

WWII surplus 4831 seems to be reaching the end of life

WWII surplus 4831 seems to be reaching the end of life