Shelf life of goex

[Otter Trapper 100]

I have been looking all over trying to find real black powder. It looks like I am going to have to order it and the smallest amount I can find is a 5 pound minimum order. That will be a lot of powder for me. How long can I expect it to last? Or better yet does anyone know where it can be ordered in a smaller amount? Thanks.

 

[LRB]

Keep the cans sealed, and the shelf life is indefinite. People are still being injured on occasion digging up CW cannon shells and mortars.

 

[Keb]

The shelf life of bp is longer than you have left on earth.

You can get bp at Old Rte. 68 Gun Shop which may or may not be near you. :/

 

[ohio ramrod]

As long as it is kept dry and not exposed to temps over 160 degrees F it will last well over 150 years! :hmm: :hmm:

 

[jaybird14]

5 pounds is a lot. Find some young folks and teach them how to shoot, it wont seem like so much after that.

 

[outbackzack]

I just finished shooting up a can I found in storage, I believe I stored it close to twenty years ago, it worked fine.

 

[hthomso]

The oldest BP I have used was 18 years old. Worked flawlessly in my flintlock. Buy in quantity, keep properly stored in the factory container, and you should be good to go anytime you want to light off the old thunderstick. :thumbsup:

 

[Loyalist Dave]

5 pounds is a lot.

It would be for me as well, but I saw on another forum that they just delivered 240 cases of Goex to Friendship, IN for the National Shoot next month, and at 25 lbs a case that's 3 tons of BP! Now that's a lot! (OK maybe for you Texans that's just a "good start") :haha:

LD

 

[Rifleman1776]

As long as it is kept dry and not exposed to temps over 160 degrees F it will last well over 150 years! :hmm: :hmm:

Where did you get that 160 degrees thing? I'm skeeptikal it is correct. :wink:

 

[jamesthomas]

5 lbs is nothing, When I get down to 5lbs I order another 10. I'll go through 3 or so lbs during the summer an another pound in the fall getting ready for hunting season. When my 40. cal. is finished I'll be shooting even more. Ya gotta think, at 70 grns a shot a pound only lasts for 100 shots. I shoot at least 30 times or better every time I go to the range, and since my range is only about 10 miles away I go a couple of times a week if the weathers good. So its easy to burn through some powder with around 6 months or better of summer an fall weather down here in the south. :thumbsup:

 

without getting myself into trouble with the admin/moderators, temps as high as 250 degree's won't have a detrimental effect on bp.

this from personal experience, not something i read somewhere.

smokeless powders and probably some of the bp substitutes likely are damaged at temperatures over 160 degrees and some much less than that.

maybe that is where the 160 number comes from.

now having said that, it is doubtful that elevated temps are going to do anything beneficial to any powder. so maybe keep it in a cooler and dry place for long term storage.



bob g

 

[Billnpatti]

The stuff keeps forever if you store it properly. Keep the lid sealed tightly and keep it stored in a cool, dry place. When I say cool, that just means room temperature. If you are comfortable, your powder will be comfortable and last for years and years. Buy in quantity and save the Hazmat fees on buying a pound or two at a time. I don't know what caliber of rifle you have or how much powder you use for a charge but on average, you will get around 100 to 150 shots per pound. Most of the club matches that I have shot in have run about 20 to 25 shots so you are talking about 4 to 6 matches from each pound (round numbers). If all the shooting you do is the monthly club match, you will burn up around 2 to 4 pounds per year. As one of the other members often says "Other's mileage may vary."

 

[Otter Trapper 100]

Thanks for all the good info.

 

[bpd303]

I have a can of Goex ffffg priming powder that was given to me by my father in 1956 with my first flint lock. At that time it was several years old. That can has been with me when I lived in south Florida, New England, and now Arkansas. It's still half full and if you go to the photo thread photographs of my flintlock (new to me) you will see how well it preforms. (just had to try it). The flintlock is long gone but the powder lives on.

 

[Rhett Griffith]

Last year, I discovered two cans of Goex FFFg that my father traded for when I was a little kid. Those cans were at least 27 years old and they shot to the same point of impact as the new cans I have.

 

[KABAR2]

Back around 1984 or 85 I happened to stop by GunParts Corp. when they decided to get out of selling black powder I bought a bunch and so did a friend I have not bought powder since then and it is working fine as the day I bought it some 29 yrs ago...

 

[roundball]

The date codes on these old cans of Goex were in the early 80's...shot them a couple years ago and they were perfect.

 

[Rifleman1776]

without getting myself into trouble with the admin/moderators, temps as high as 250 degree's won't have a detrimental effect on bp.

this from personal experience, not something i read somewhere.

smokeless powders and probably some of the bp substitutes likely are damaged at temperatures over 160 degrees and some much less than that.

maybe that is where the 160 number comes from.

now having said that, it is doubtful that elevated temps are going to do anything beneficial to any powder. so maybe keep it in a cooler and dry place for long term storage.



bob g

Yes, sounds reasonable. Actually, black powder is not a 'thing' at all. It is a mixture of three ingrediants, charcol, pot nitrate and sulphur. Until ignition it is not a compound. I think it unlikely temps around 160 degrees, probably (means I'm guessing) even much higher, should not affect it.

 

[stone knife]

The date codes on these old cans of Goex were in the early 80's...shot them a couple years ago and they were perfect.

My ffffg is in a can just like those and works great.

 

[ohio ramrod]

As long as it is kept dry and not exposed to temps over 160 degrees F it will last well over 150 years! :hmm: :hmm:

Where did you get that 160 degrees thing? I'm skeeptikal it is correct. :wink:

I just remember that being exposed to temps in that range was the reason given by the US navy for the explosion on the Iowa that killed sixteen people when the sixteen inch gun blew up. The navy claimed that the high temp in storage made the powder un stable and more likely to explode when the bags were being
"rammed" into the gun! :idunno: