BP?

[daudisio]

First I’m sorry if these questions have been asked before :redface: . Several friends have made the statement that BP goes bad after a short period of time compared to replica powder. Searched several forums including this one, have not found an answer. So my question is how long will my Goex last stored at room temperature? Thanks

Domenic

 

[Russianblood]

Actually, it's just the opposite. Black powder, if stored correctly, never expires. Substitutes on the other hand do expire. I'm shooting some 1f black powder in my blunderbuss that my father bought to use in a pipe gun he made in the 1950's.

Just keep you powder in a cool, dry place and it will be ready for use indefinately.

 

[Mad Monk]

Domenic,

Make sure that the caps on the cans are on tight.

When I store cans of powder I take a pair of channel locks. Loosen the cap a bit and squeeze the front and back of the can. Then tighten the cap good and tight with the channel locks. The sides of the cans will flex a bit with changes in atmospheric pressure. This keeps the cans from "breathing" with changes in atmospheric pressure.

When black powder is made with pure ingredients and pure water it has a shelf-life longer than you or I.

If a powder container is allowed to "breathe" with changes in atmospheric pressure you will get moisture content variations in the powder. This causes potassium nitrate to migrate onto the surfaces of the grains. Which reduces the strength of the powder in the gun.


When it comes to chemical stability and shelf-life, NONE of the BP subs can come close to matching the chemical stability and shelf-life of a properly prepared black powder. At present the brands of black powder we have available are ALL "properly prepared".

 

I have some that is thirty years old, stored in air tight cans, still goes boom. :grin:

 

[daudisio]

Thanks for the reassurance! These forums are a great source of information. I studied here for two weeks before deciding to jump into black powder shooting, glad I did. Turns out my friends really know very little about the subject. I’m not surprised they can’t get their rifles to fire consistently. I shot my GPR Friday for the first time, over 30 times without a misfire with what I learned here. Can’t wait till next years hunting season!! Thanks again...

 

[Scota4570]

When I a kid I shot some really old Dupont BP. It cam in an oval metal can and had a tan tattered label. I estimate it was over 100 years old when I used it. Worked great. Wish I had save it now.

 

[bob1961]

....Domenic54....not get off topic here but does anyone here remember who had your avitare....i thought it was a custom one made by musketman fer him only....i may be wrong but haven't seen the member who had it originally....

as to powder going bad i don't have it long enough to go bad :v .............bob

 

[CWC]

I just got back into shooting black poder after about a 10 year break. I went and found a brass flask that I used to use for loading cap and ball pistols. It was about 1/2 full of FFFg, and is far from being air-tight. The powder shot just as well as the new can I bought.

 

[Wes/Tex]

Fired some 1860's vintage Maynard cartridges some years ago. They'd been sitting around with a small pin hole in the bottom to ignite from the separate percussion cap. Stuck on a cap and BOOM! Shook the windows of the gun shop and looked like London on a bad day!! Of course, we were in the back with the gun aimed into the gunsmith's bullet trap. Say it stayed pretty well for Houston humidity!! :haha:

 

[renovato]

I used to think that BP was more unstable than modern powders, and in fact, a few years ago took a can of Goex from the 70's out to the desert to shoot at because I was afraid to use it. I've since learned that if you keep it dry, it's stable and long lasting. I'm using a can from the early 80's now and it's no different than new Goex. Just keep it dry and cool and it'll last plenty long. Decades easily.

 

[Coot]

On a related note, I used to dive with some EOD guys who reported that some dug unexploded artillery shells from the civil war or earlier were still capable of going "high order". Just because black powder is old or stored under less than optimum conditions doesn't mean that it (or anything it is loaded in) is not dangerous.
Respect & enjoy!