Does BP go bad?

[Canuck Bob]

Can a guy stock up or is there a shelf life problem?

 

[Celt5494]

Keep it dry tucked away somewhere and it should outlast you. I've fired stuff that was manufactured in the 1920's.

 

[Coot]

As Celt5494 said, keep it cool & dry. It will easily outlast all of us. Every couple of years someone gets blown up trying to unload an unexploded civil war shell.

 

[mazo kid]

It will not go bad if kept dry and sealed. I have some that came in very old powder cans in my collection, (like Indian Rifle Gunpowder, Hercules, Golden Pheasant, Quick Shot, old DuPont, etc) and the powder is still good. It is a mixture, not a chemical compound.

 

[Blizzard of '93]

keep it in the dry and cool and it will last for many a year
pyrodex has to be tightly sealed or it will clump up, but can be shaken well to break up lumps.

 

[Stumpkiller]

Lasts many, many years if kept at a stable temperature and well sealed.

 

[SmokeEater2]

Good to know! I stopped into the only gun shop here that still carries BP today for a can of FFG and the owner told me that once his BP license expires in 2012 he's not renewing it. I guess I better get enough stockpiled before then to last me a while.

 

[paulvallandigham]

The only restrictions on 'stocking up" I know about are individual State laws regulating how many lbs. of BP you can own or store in one location, and how that powder must be stored. Since any government agency will have to obtain a Search Warrant to look around your private property, this is another of those "Gotcha laws" that gets enforced Only when law enforcement officers and ambitious anti-gun prosecutors stumble on the fact that someone has not exactly complied with those state laws and regulations. Otherwise, these laws are rarely enforced.

And, most law enforcement officers are unaware that such regulations even exist. You are more likely to find Firemen know more about such laws, than police officers. :hmm:

Black powder, stored properly, can last for hundreds of years. Some of the cannons recovered from under seas, that were on pirate era ships have been found to be loaded, and when the guns are dried and the balls removed, the powder still burns.

Every once in awhile, some museum, or some private person runs across an " Heirloom" shotgun, rifle, or pistol that has been in a family for many years, only to find out that the gun has been loaded- but uncapped, or unprimed- for more than a century. Sometimes, wadding found in the barrel will be parts of newspapers, where dates can help age the time the gun was last cleaned! The powder is Black Powder, and it still fires. :shocked2: :rotf: :thumbsup:

 

[bigted]

ok...so the next question is what constitutes a "good" dry box that will house the powder for all those years? anyone have an explanation and blueprint so to speak of how to assemble a "catch" that will sufice to store powder dry and safe for the next hundred years without the aid of electricity? ....lol gotcha huh???

yep i live in la la land and have periodically been without electricty for times to time. mostly at my remote cabin where i would like to do this storing. there is no elect. there till i fire up the generator so it stands un-electriced [ there is a word for ya] for many mounths at a time.

Ted

 

[paulvallandigham]

A coleman brand Ice chest, with the metal sides and insulation inside makes a good long term storage facility for powder. Put some dessicant packs in plastic bags that you wrap every can- or group of cans of powder in, to keep them dry, and then protect the ice chest from rust by covering it also with several layers of plastic. If you bury the box(es) provide drain lines and a raised bottom in the hole to keep the box from sitting in water. If you can seal the plastic that wraps the box, and then remove air from the plastic, that will protect everything from rust, and moisture the best of all. I might even consider one of those valved plastic storage bags sold on TV shopping channels designed to use a vacuum cleaner driven in reverse to take the air out of the bags. Its its big enough, you could put the box in such a bag, and create the vacuum in the bag easily. Removing the air removes any moisture in the air in the bag.

Even a styrofoam cooler could be used for long term storage, if its taped up, and then sealed in plastic. I suggested the more expensive Coleman brand ice chests because you can find them at garage sales, they hold a lot of powder, and they are very sturdy. Put a fresh coat of paint on those older boxes, and finish with putting on a coat or 3 of acrylic epoxy to seal air from even the paint!

Old refrigerators, and freezers should also be considered for storing powder safely for long periods. The insulation in those items provides increased protection from heat and fire. With top loaded freezer chest, I would consider lining the inside with sheets of styrofoam, glued to the walls, to give even more insulation protection to the powder. Provided I made arrangements to keep the hole dry, I would not hesitate to bury this kind of container in the ground, or put it some kind of bunker half above and half below the ground. An insulated Concrete lined bunker would keep moisture away from such a container for years. Without insulation( on the outside of a concrete wall, or in a layer between separate concrete walls), however, concrete will sweat, and that condensation becomes an issue. There are rubberized paints and coatings that you should use on interior walls made of concrete.

 

[gordy]

It seems odd that the mindset of younger folks revolve around modern support systems , such as electricity , running ,water and central heat and controled humidity . You should stop and think about the fact that most BP was shipped by sailing rigs in wooden containers ! This should be an indication that you DON'T need plastic wrap or electricity for long term storage .
BP can actualy be dried and and used if it were to get moisture in it . Remember that most BP was "shipped" in from Europe durring the early days of the Colonys . I know of several ways that will work to store fairly large quanitys of BP without the use of modern devices . What a person has to do is "THINK" like someone from the 1700rds , and about what you have to work with at that time period ! :thumbsup:

 

[bigted]

exactly!!! i hesitate to try to explain how and where i live anymore as most want to pick it apart and i admit to being a little sensitive to remarks about my chosen life style.

we just came out of a period of the lack of powder of any kind here and i vowed to never allow this to slow me down again so...hence the question on the how-to from someone experienced in doing so [ storing black as well as smokless powder ] in a way that surley will keep it good.

good point with the sailing vessels tho. i never considered the fact that these vessels were out to sea for a couple mounths at a time so they had to keep their powder dry somehow to be able to repel boarders as well as keep it useable when they delivered it. good point sir!

ill probably use wood as i definetly dont want something that will sweat like metal or plastic. hate to go to use it later only to have a blob of messy gruel to try to dry and re-sift into its flake size.

any more ideas would be helpfull tho as im into learning anything i get my hands on as far as do-it-yourself stuff without the aid of elect.

 

[Zonie]

There is a shelf life for many modern smokeless powders because they start to break down over the years.

Fortunately, as long as black powder is kept cool and dry it will last forever.

 

[wattlebuster]

Keep it dry an your grandkids grandchildren will have powder to shoot. :thumbsup:

 

[Eterry]

The powder in my horn today came from a can of Du-pont stamped June 03, 1982. It was kept in my garage which stays dry, but warm, most of the year. We have spent the last couple weekends shooting it and no ill effects.

Eterry

 

[bigted]

:grin: :bow: very cool...man this site and its people are the best. i posted the same question on craftsman and got a few great ideas there as well.

for me i wanna thankyou one and all for the posts here. your the best.

now i gotta figure out the time its gonna take to assemble a powder catch.