Old Unique Powder

[RonD]

I was almost out of powder for 9mm & 40 cal handguns, and last week I bought an almost full can of Hercules Unique at a garage sale. Not sure how old it is. Bottom is stamped Lot ON 157. The price tag on the can said PLNW and below that $11.99. Can shows no sign of rust and screw on cap was tight. Don't know when the name changed from Hercules to Alliant either. I loaded a few low to moderate 9mm with 125gr Hi Tek coated bullets and they shot fine. Intend to load more for accuracy BUT how old is too old for powder in general? And would New Unique be very similar or the same as the old?

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[arakboss]

@JKOLL could speak to this topic. He had bought some old Unique I was selling (still sealed) and I think he had pretty good results. He seemed very knowledgeable about older powders.

 

[P7M13]

Currently loading 380 ACP from a can of Hercules Unique. Haven't chronographed the loads and don't care to - the recoil is snappy and the loads accurate enough.
I loaded 338 Lapua pinker rounds using H870 made in 1965, marked on the paper bag it came in. Though it wasn't as lively as the same rounds shot using Retumbo, i.e. ~150 FPS less, it certainly worked out to 800.

 

[gmerkt]

And would New Unique be very similar or the same as the old?

Back around 2002, my cousin gave me a cardboard 10# drum of "old" Unique, made in 1974. So it was close to 30 years old when I began using it. And it took me quite a while to use it up. Alliant bought Hercules in 1994. Alliant reformulated Unique some time after their acquisition. I was curious what the performance differences might be. I loaded up identical loads of each, the older powder was about 6% lower in velocity. So my guess is the older is slightly lower in energy content. What I don't know is the reason for the difference. It could be that the 30 year old powder dried out with age and lost a bit of energy content, or the reformulation was the cause.

As to how old is too old, if the old Unique you've got works as you report, it's probably okay. Storage conditions have a lot to do with shelf life of powder. Some old rifle powders made during WW2 will spontaneously decompose with age due to haste in the manufacturing process. Unique isn't in that category. There is guidance in most reloading manuals on what to look for in deteriorated canister grade powder.

 

[JKOLL]

I've had relatively good luck in using older Unique and other powders. So long as the tins are sealed and show virtually no signs of moisture incursion they work like new. Some other more recently packaged powders in plastic containers are more difficult to evaluate as the containers don't show signs of moisture like the old steel tins. I've tried some pretty "Duddy" unreliable powder in partials that were obviously exposed to oxygen and water with no signs on the container. You can tell a surprising amount by just trying a burn test open air and compare to a known good sample. Old , bad stuff will sputter and fizz differently. I'll admit that I wouldn't use 30 YO powder in PD rounds and that all I was making with the older stuff I picked up over the winter were mostly mouse fart .38 SPL loads for target practice and they worked as reliably as anything else. And, we couldn't get anything else at reasonable prices as everyone was out! But for a low -risk, low power round for range use it was a way to use up otherwise "throw-away" powders. Unique is an EXTREMELY versatile powder!

Generally, the "age" of a chemical agent like gunpowder is related mainly to oxidation and moisture absorption. Assuming an essentially hermetic seal, I believe the shelf life would be nearly indefinite. It couldn't hurt either to minimize exposure by vacuum bagging your supply in a bag with a moisture dessicant as this will take the environment down to single digit humidity and prevent corrosion on the container which causes the seal failure. Also keep them cool, not because they will blow up but because you don't want thermal expansion to contribute to the seal on the can failing.

I'm not advocating sing 30 YO powders for normal activities , but for low power, training rounds, with some care in the loading, it's a way to use up (recycle) otherwise pretty toxic landfill additions and maybe do some cheap shooting while doing it...and cheap shooting is definitely getting harder to do. I did load up about 1000 rd of .32 S&W long this year with old Unique and lead cast that I got for a song and the grandkids got a blast out of training with the little Smith .32 instead of the K-22 Masterpiece that we normally use as a smallbore training revolver.

 

[oremike]

Two things I watch out for on old powders, if it still has a solvent smell then I'll use it. If I dump a little out on a white piece of paper and it looks like it's got rust in it I don't use it.

 

[DizzyJ]

If it was stored properly, it'll last decades. Sounds like you've already used it with good results, so there's your answer.

Id venture to guess there'd be a noticeable difference between the old can you've got and a newer batch.

 

[Hemlock]

And it works just fine!

 

[CLT65]

The oldest powder I ever used was in some WWI-era dated .45acp ammo. I shot a 1917 dated round over the chronograph and it clocked just what it should have. It's ALL in how it was stored over the years.

I've also had much newer stuff go bad, and had to toss it.

 

[RonD]

Thank you all for your input. I'm going ahead and use it.

 

[po18guy]

I was almost out of powder for 9mm & 40 cal handguns, and last week I bought an almost full can of Hercules Unique at a garage sale. Not sure how old it is. Bottom is stamped Lot ON 157. The price tag on the can said PLNW and below that $11.99. Can shows no sign of rust and screw on cap was tight. Don't know when the name changed from Hercules to Alliant either. I loaded a few low to moderate 9mm with 125gr Hi Tek coated bullets and they shot fine. Intend to load more for accuracy BUT how old is too old for powder in general? And would New Unique be very similar or the same as the old?

Bad powder will have a brownish tinge, possibly small droplets of clear liquid and may smell acidy. Good powder may have an acetone-like aroma, but compare it with other powders. If it looks good, if it smells good, load it and shoot it. There is zero doubt that I have powders much older that pass the test. Storage is key. Cooler and drier is better.

My personal hesitation with opened containers is whether or not they are actually the powder on the label.

 

[fredoesway]

back in the 60s powder was sold in brown paper bags, military surplus 4895 and 4831. always worked as it should.

 

[ajgunner]

Old powder like these?
Bought cheap and all went bang.

 

[Mikej]

I got 150 rounds of old '40s-'50s, starting to corrode, probably some/all reloaded .30-06 in an ammo can for free with something else. I sat here at the bench with that green kinetic hammer-puller and took 'em all apart. There were about ten different bullet types. I saved all the powder and it filled a 1/2 pint sour cream container. I dumped the powder out in a line at the edge of one of beds in the back. Tha powder never broke down through the winter rains. I gathered up a table spoon or so that was resting on leaves3and set fire to it. It burned. Not fast, but it burned. So it looks like you can convert powder with a burn rate in the area of 4895/4064 into powder more like -869 or BMG50 huh?

 

[arakboss]

I got 150 rounds of old '40s-'50s, starting to corrode, probably some/all reloaded .30-06 in an ammo can for free with something else. I sat here at the bench with that green kinetic hammer-puller and took 'em all apart. There were about ten different bullet types. I saved all the powder and it filled a 1/2 pint sour cream container. I dumped the powder out in a line at the edge of one of beds in the back. Tha powder never broke down through the winter rains. I gathered up a table spoon or so that was resting on leaves3and set fire to it. It burned. Not fast, but it burned. So it looks like you can convert powder with a burn rate in the area of 4895/4064 into powder more like -869 or BMG50 huh?

Maybe you could provide a chart as to garden bed time vs burn rate

 

[Mikej]

Maybe you could provide a chart as to garden bed time vs burn rate

There-in lies the problem. I have no qualifications for such.

 

[orygun]

There-in lies the problem. I have no qualifications for such.

What's that got to do with it, these days, anyway?