Stability of Black Powder

playthings

I have heard black powder becomes unstable with age.I have a 3 lb. coffee can of FFFg black powder that is probably about 40 years old. It has been stored in a first floor closet all that time so it has always been in a dry, heated and airconditioned environment.
Is it still a safe product to use or should I spread it on the garden?

p3skyking

The powder is probably fine BUT YOU MAY BLOW YOURSELF UP WITH IT IN A COFFEE CAN! [:(][:0][:(][:0]

It is very suseptible to static discharges. Closets = Sweaters = wool = static electricity!

By all haste, I would store it somewhere else asap. I would change containers also. It should stay in the original container as it is very hydroscopic (collects water from the air). Wide mouth cans are not good. Do they even still package it in metal cans?

Sunray

BP is weird stuff. It's a real explosive that can go off when contained with static electricity. I'd take a tablespoon of what you have outside, put it on a flat rock or paving stone and drop a lit match on it. If it lights right away it's fine. If not wait some more then dispose of it.
Uncontained, it'll just burn, just like it does in the movies. Outside is the key. The last thing you need is the stench of that big cloud of smoke in your basement.

Rafter-S

Black powder has an indefinite lifespan as long as it has been kept dry. It does not deterriorate with time like modern smokeless powder does. I have some that is over 40 years old and it is as good today as the day it was bought. It sounds like yours is good from what you describe.

Be careful. Black powder is a "class A explosive," where smokeless powder is a "flamable solid." As stated above, something as minor as static electricity can ignite it so keep it contained in a proper storage can. Be careful with the suggestion of dropping a match in a spoonfull. It will flash and make an instant ball of fire about the size of a beachball. You could get burned. I know--been there, done that.

My humble 2.5-cents worth,
Rafter-S


"What is truth? No wonder jesting Pilate turned away. The truth, it has a thousand faces -- show only one of them, and the whole truth flies away! But how to show the whole? That is the question."
--Thomas Wolfe, "You Can't Go Home Again" (1934)

rhmc24

Rafter is right. Be very careful and keep your distance if you plan to 'test' BP.

Iconoclast

The above are excellent, accurate, answers. Properly stored, however, the shelf life of BP is much longer than smokeless. Even forty of so years ago, one would read of occasional tragedies where some farmer would plow up an old Civil War cannon ball, play with it and leave for the big wheatfield in the sky. I read of an experiment perhaps 10 years abo in which a gent with more $ than sense did an extensive study on Spencer rounds loaded during the war. Being rimfires likely helped, but a very high percentage still fired and most of those were from a maker whose ammuntiion was unreliable in the 1860s.

"There is nothing lower than the human race - except the French." (Mark Twain) ". . . And DemoCraps" (me)

Dean Cascio

I have some BP from the 1970's that my Father left me. What kind of container should I store it in?
Dean

If they don't trust us with guns, how can we trust them with the government?

p3skyking

Mason jars if kept in the dark are okay. Metal cans have been used for a long time, but should be some that have an airtight seal.

Big thing is cool and dry.

playthings

Thanks p3skyking, Sunray, Rafter-S, rhmc24, Iconoclast and others that may yet respond.

Wow, I hadn't given the static electricity situation as much thought as I should have. Back in pre-college days (1959,60,61)I shot a bit of black powder stuff, it was all old original pieces then. Three of us ordered a 20 or 25 lb. container and split it between us. Haven't shot black powder since and this is what is left of my share.

Think I'll get some plastic bottles from a pharmacy, use a plastic funnel, be sure the can is grounded and repackage it. Who knows, that 40 yr. old coffee can may even be worth some money on fleabay.

mazo kid

Some people have stated that a static discharge will set off the black powder. Somewhere I read that a powder company, Goex I think, did tests and found that it was nearly impossible to ignite from static discharge. However, I still try to find something to ground myself before reaching for that can! Emery

"Well done is better than well said"
Ben Franklin

Rafter-S

Quote: "Think I'll get some plastic bottles from a pharmacy, use a plastic funnel, be sure the can is grounded and repackage it."

Let's think about this for a moment. Have you ever ran your arm in a folded up plastic garbage bag to open it?...and have he hair on your arm stand up and touch the bag? That's static electricity doing that. Also, when you pour black powder from one container to another, have you ever noticed the minute dust drifting as a result. That's the same type dust that ignites and causes explosions in coal mines. If your black powder dust drifted over a pilot light somewhere in your house...well you get the idea.

If it were me, I think I would either leave it stored as it is, or pour it in cans used to store gunpowder in. I have used old empty smokeless powder cans for storage of black powder, but I painted them before hand to keep from ever getting the powders mixed up.

Quote: "Somewhere I read that a powder company, Goex I think, did tests and found that it was nearly impossible to ignite from static discharge."

Dupont had so many explosions, mostly due to static electricity, during the 200-plus years they made black powder that they finally got out of the business. All it takes is one tiny spark and black powder explodes. I recall making those sparks sliding across the seat of my truck.

I know my comments must make you jumpy, but I would rather see you a little jumpy than hurt.

More of my 2.5-cents worth,
Rafter-S

Rafter-S

About my using painted smokeless powder cans to store black powder in: Make sure you paint out all information associated with the original powder stored. And plainly mark on the cans that black powder is stored in them...and that it is EXPLOSIVE.

You do this in case something ever "happened" to you and your kinfolks had to sort out your stuff without your presence. You would want them to know they were handling cans filled the explosive, black powder.

You almost have a dimes worth now,
Rafter-S

Pinhead

Empty black plastic Hodgden 8 & 1 lb. containers make excellent containers for loose powder--be it black powder or smokeless. I never throw one away. Maybe someone has one that could be persuaded to part with it. By the way, I have a friend who had to have skin grafts on his arm because his wife swept up some spilled black powder from the floor and put it in his ash tray thinking it was cigar ashes. You can guess what happened next. As someone already mentioned, black powder is a true explosive and can be set off by heat, flame, static or even pressure. Pressure is what blew up the facility and killed the inventor of the black powder substitute Pyrodex .