1992 powder?

Hey guys i have a can of Goex 2f powder. I have been shooting it in my flintlock and have somewhat of a delay. I am working on touch hole size and best liners, sharp flints, etc. but was wondering if older powder like that is a little slower to take off than fresher powder. I have almost finished the can but just wondering our of curiosity and future knowledge.

Once opened the powder deterates over time. and breaks down. left unopened it lasts for years.

That is what is suspected. It was old when i got it and I had it on the shelf for a good while, occasionally using it. I am anxious to use some new stuff to see if there is a difference.

I thought actual black powder was good forever?

I have heard reports of the real stuff being 100+ years old and still works great.

I have an old broken zinc flask once that still held a few grains of powder.

The flask was made around the Civil War Era, I’m not sure how old the powder was but it lay in one of my Dads old boxes since I was a child.

My Dad never owned a black powder gun that I know of, at least since 1957 anyway.

When I touched off a few grains with a match , it flashed.

It possibly could loose some punch over time , but that didn’t seem too..

rodwha said:

I thought actual black powder was good forever?

Click to expand...

Mooman76 said:

I have heard reports of the real stuff being 100+ years old and still works great.

Click to expand...

Well yeah but the stuff is not indestructible. 100yr old powder may still be viable meaning it will ignite and at least go "poof" if not "boom".
We don't know what kind of storage or care it's had. Wet/damp, or really hot can be a bad thing for proper storage.
I was handed a half can of Goex 3F that had been in someones garage for many years once,, the stuff didn't work like it should have at all.

But back in the 90's Goex had some bad batches that lead to endless discussion the forums of the day about production yrs and lot numbers of good or bad powder lots.
It could be the powder edmelott has is one of those bum runs from the factory. :idunno:

It's a good bet to find fresh powder and expect it to work better then questionable 26yr old powder. :wink:

I think if you google people killed while disarming cannon balls,
If they were still around could give you a difinate answer....

I was handed a half can of Goex 3F that had been in someones garage for many years once,, the stuff didn't work like it should have at all.



What did it do? Slow to light ? Seem week?

The reason I ask is I have some stored in a similar situation .

I just finished off the last can of my Goex ffg that's at least 30 years old. Shot great, as always. I kept my stored in an interior closet, inside a large wooden ammo box.

I have some thats 25 yrs old and works like new. Stored in cool dry place in original can

smo said:

I was handed a half can of Goex 3F that had been in someones garage for many years once,, the stuff didn't work like it should have at all.



What did it do? Slow to light ? Seem week?

The reason I ask is I have some stored in a similar situation .

Click to expand...

It may be just my imagination and may be touch hole size, etc., but it had a definite delay in ignition. It did shoot, but I have not compared it to new stuff. I am going to shoot some new stuff and see if there is any perceptible difference. May be my imagination.

There are so many things that might be going on there....it's impossible to say.
New powder will eliminate one of them. Please get back to us, and let us know how that does before you do anything else. :thumbsup:
The usable life span of blackpowder is totally a function of how it has been stored.
As previously pointed out too...there's "going off", and there's "going off well".
Old powder may ignite, may even put a ball on a target but if it's been poorly stored and is in poor condition you'll get lousy performance beyond just "going off". :nono:

Don Steele said:

There are so many things that might be going on there....it's impossible to say.
New powder will eliminate one of them. Please get back to us, and let us know how that does before you do anything else.

Click to expand...

Yeah. I have no-name powders dating back to the early 1960's, as well as DuPont and then Goex from the early 1970's. I still shoot some of it annually just to check claims that black powder doesn't deteriorate with normal care.

So far the claims have proven true.

I just finished using my last can of Dupont black powder. Dupont stopped making BP in 1972. That means my powder was at least 46 yrs old. It worked like it should.

One of my dad’s old friends had given me a couple of can’s of DuPont BP. He had them in his shed for who knows how long? It seemed to be as good as the day it was made!

Real bp is stable. Age not a factor. Still good. Use at will.

The only thing with that old DuPont is the value of the cans has gone way-way up for collectors.

There's not much in black powder that age would effect.

If it were stored in an open container it might absorb some moisture from an area where the humidity was high.

Even then, the charcoal is the only thing that would absorb very much water and if that happened, it might be a little harder to ignite.

The other things in black powder absorb little to no moisture and they don't break down into other things over time.

It seems like I have an old partial can that is slow to burn when you touch a match to it.

I have a few pounds of powder that was in plastic bags and absorbing moisture in an unheated building for probably 40+ years, all clumpy. I spread it out in the sun and let it dry real well. It will light...with a propane torch and leaves great gobs of residue :grin: