Goex Powder from Moosic PA Plant

[dwtrux]

My 94 year-old good friend and mentor here in Louisiana gave me his old muzzleloading shooting bag a few years ago. I was looking in it again and found this can of Goex Powder from the Moosic, PA Plant for $6.95! So this was purchased before Goex had moved to Louisiana. History in my hand.

 

[Pete G]

My first can was $1.95…

 

[SDSmlf]

My first can was $1.95…

Have a can of DuPont with the price tag still on it. $2.10.

 

[Pete G]

I wish a buck was still silver and it was back when the country was strong .

 

[snakebit]

I wish a buck was still silver and it was back when the country was strong .

Dang it Pete. Now you got me wanting to listen to Merle Haggard records!

 

[TDM]

Very neat find there @dwtrux. I remember paying $6.95 - $7.95 prices, but not less. Before my time.

 

[Urban Coyote]

The first blackpowder I bought, 1976, was from Warshall's in downtown Seattle, I rode a metro bus to get there. I bought it for the newspaper advertised price of $2.00/lb. If I remember correctly percussion caps ran about $1.00/100 count tin.

You can’t even find black powder in my area anymore, substitutes yes. I buy mine mail order. As we all too well know, it cost a heck of a lot more today to feed a black powder gun.

 

[flconch53]

The first blackpowder I bought, 1976, was from Warshall's in downtown Seattle, I rode a metro bus to get there. I bought it for the newspaper advertised price of $2.00/lb. If I remember correctly percussion caps ran about $1.00/100 count tin.

You can’t even find black powder in my area anymore, substitutes yes. I buy mine mail order. As we all too well know, it cost a heck of a lot more today to feed a black powder gun.

And as I have said before hourly wage for me then was $1.85. Everything is relative.

 

[Urban Coyote]

And as I have said before hourly wage for me then was $1.85. Everything is relative.

A quick search suggests;
$1 in 1976 is equal to $5.53 in 2024
$2 in 1976 is equal to $10.91 in 2024

It would appear everything is not necessarily relative. The unscapled price of caps may be relative but not powder.

This being said I was just commenting on my experience buying supplies around 1976 and not making a comparison except about the availability of true blackpowder today.

It costs a lot more to do many things these days including feeding guns, any guns.

 

[flconch53]

A quick search suggests;
$1 in 1976 is equal to $5.53 in 2024
$2 in 1976 is equal to $10.91 in 2024

It would appear everything is not necessarily relative. The unscapled price of caps may be relative but not powder.

This being said I was just commenting on my experience buying supplies around 1976 and not making a comparison except about the availability of true blackpowder today.

It costs a lot more to do many things these days including feeding guns, any guns.

I just bought 4500 caps from a wholesale supplier. My cost before shipping worked out to a little over $7.00 per hundred. I can't help what the big box stores charge for a loss leader.

 

[Greenjoytj]

If you have BP in those old steel cans I recommend you decant it into one of the new style plastic cans. You do this so you are able to see the extent of the rust occurring on the inside the steel can. You'll be able to make a informed decision whether you want to return the powder to the steel can or not.
You should be able to see lot number on the can which can tell you when the powder was made.

 

[SDSmlf]

My 94 year-old good friend and mentor here in Louisiana gave me his old muzzleloading shooting bag a few years ago. I was looking in it again and found this can of Goex Powder from the Moosic, PA Plant for $6.95! So this was purchased before Goex had moved to Louisiana. History in my hand.

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If you are interested in the actual date of manufacture, take a look at the bottom of the can for the date code (your photographs missed the one surface of of the can with real data on it). The date code will be the second line in the following format, YYMMDDS. Year, month (two letters), day of month, shift (A, B or C). The first line in the code will indicate granulation and lot number, for example, 02-84 would mean 2F, lot 84

 

[dracer]

ah the good old day pricing

 

[Nobade]

I have a few of those cans myself. The cans are kind of neat but the powder is pretty bad compared to what we can buy now at a much higher price.

 

[Wncman]

My 94 year-old good friend and mentor here in Louisiana gave me his old muzzleloading shooting bag a few years ago. I was looking in it again and found this can of Goex Powder from the Moosic, PA Plant for $6.95! So this was purchased before Goex had moved to Louisiana. History in my hand.

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I think I have some nearly that price.
Nice to have one like that.

 

[dwtrux]

If you are interested in the actual date of manufacture, take a look at the bottom of the can for the date code (your photographs missed the one surface of of the can with real data on it). The date code will be the second line in the following format, YYMMDDS. Year, month (two letters), day of month, shift (A, B or C). The first line in the code will indicate granulation and lot number, for example, 02-84 would mean 2F, lot 84

Well, the rust covers some of the numbers but it appears to be 1980 canned powder

 

[dwtrux]

Interestingly, while the 3F powder can is nearly empty, I had the 4F can below that is still nearly full. This appears to be 1981

 

[Eterry]

My 94 year-old good friend and mentor here in Louisiana gave me his old muzzleloading shooting bag a few years ago. I was looking in it again and found this can of Goex Powder from the Moosic, PA Plant for $6.95! So this was purchased before Goex had moved to Louisiana. History in my hand.

My first powder was bought in 1980. $5.00/ can. Looked exactly like yours. Five dollars was lot of money BITD, my wage hauling hay was .07 a bale. After that I worked at a grocery store for $3.35/hr, I rode green-broke horses for $5 a saddling.
IIRC, gas was $0.89/G. But I got over 100 shots out of that can. Remington Caps were $1.00, but sucked. I'd need at least 2 tins to get through a pound of powder.

 

[Twisted_1in66]

My 94 year-old good friend and mentor here in Louisiana gave me his old muzzleloading shooting bag a few years ago. I was looking in it again and found this can of Goex Powder from the Moosic, PA Plant for $6.95! So this was purchased before Goex had moved to Louisiana. History in my hand.

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yeah that's the stuff in the old can. I bought some in 1969 when I bought a Pedersoli cap and ball Kentucky Pistol. For some reason, I stored some of it in a quart jar. Then in 2004 when I got my first flintlock, I couldn't find any black powder so tried Pyrodex RS, which didn't work at all - totally refused to ignite - and some Triple 7, which I could get to ignite every once in a while. Then I dug out that Jar of 35-year old, real Black Powder (BP)from 1969, and it ignited first time every time. From first hand experience, I can say Black Powder does not get weaker over time - at least not the BP that came in that can.

I was bummed because I could find any real black powder (lived in Vermont). Then one of the guys in the reenactment group directed me to a spot in a village just 6-miles away from my home that supplied the local Slate quarries with BP. The quarries used BP because it produced lower frequency vibrations upon exploding, resulting in larger pieces of slate than possible with modern high-explosives. Was a very unassuming green building with no hint it sold BP. I'd go up to the counter inside; tell them what I wanted; signed their log book; and took it home. It was easy and significantly less than Triple 7 or Pyrodex at the time. I had no problem getting BP when I lived in Vermont.