old powder

PSFD DONKEY

I was given 6lbs of this powder, don't know where to find load data for it. thanks in advance

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PSFD DONKEY

I moved out of the US about 10 years ago but come back each summer and load up a bunch of cartridges. Usually Unique but other powders as well. The powder was along in years but I've kept it in the original containers in climate controlled storage and it's worked fine. But this year the climate has not been so controlled and the cans are rusty. Furthermore in the past it seemed the powder had a chemical smell but this year they all smell sweet. Am I imagining some thing or is it now fertilizer.I appreciate any help you can give me

Rocky Raab

It's odd, but there are threads about Alcan powders appearing suddenly on two or three websites I visit. Odd...

AL-5 was designed as a shotgun powder for 12-ga field loads. But all published loads using it list long-gone shotshell components. Fortunately, it is also useful in handgun applications. It has a burn rate close to that of Unique, which makes it very useful indeed.

I work up loads using AL-5 by using Start loads for Unique and edging up carefully. I can usually end up with straight-across substitution grain for grain, but don't choose to go above about 3/4 of Unique maximums. So, for example, if a load manual shows a load using Unique that goes from 4.0 to 8.0 grains, I can just about match velocities from 4.0 to about 6.0 grains - and I stop there out of caution.

It is very consistent and clean burning in every handgun cartridge I've tried, from the 9 Makarov through 45 Colt. I have not attempted to use it in any rifle loads of any description, even those where Unique is proven.

PSFD DONKEY

Thanks Rocky, this came from my great uncles estate, and I'm the type that doesn't want anything to go to waste.

Rocky Raab

I copy. When I worked in a gun store, we got about one "widow sale" a month. The boss always bought it all, and the items that could not be re-sold (by law) like primers and powder, we clerks divvied up amongst ourselves.

I have an amazing assortment of old powders and primers as a result. I load and use all of them - but cautiously. I have several cans each of all the Alcan powders: AL-120, AL-5, AL-7, and AL-8. I have two cans of W630, two of W680 and one of W230P, some Hodgdon 870, a can of Herter's 102 and even a bottle of Vectan SP-2. I also have an assortment of old primers from Peters, Western, RWS and more. A full sleeve of 1,000 Western 1 1/2 small pistol primers are of the round-top style - and most reloaders today have never even heard of the time when you had to have both flat and concave primer seater stems!