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I have an opportunity to buy a couple 1# cans of rifle powder that are old enough to have $15 - $16 BiMart price stickers on them.

Metal cans, full and unopened.

I'm thinking everything will be OK given the cans are full and unopened (sealed).

Am I thinking about this right?
Am I running a significant risk.

If it helps the powders are moderate to slow burning suitable for 45-70 loading.

Thanks in advance...
 
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From m what I have experienced and told by others is if the cans are not rusty an not showing that they have been in contact with a moist or extreme heat environment you are probably okay. Secondly if the powder does not have a musty but have a somewhat sweet smell, the powder is still good.

To some, even the smell of smokeless powder is like cologne, but that is not what I believe you are asking. :)
 
I'd say there is some risk. It likely depends on how they have been stored all of these years. I have had lots of good experiences with old powder and a couple of not so good. Most were just fine, but a couple had this brownish dust and didn't smell quite right. I dumped those on the compost pile.
 
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Given the cans are unopened there's no way to smell the powders. So its going to come down to a visual inspection of the cans and seller provided information. Sounds like it's going to be a crap shoot....and that's not meant to infer any negativity on the seller.
 
Yep. I neglected to mention the brownish powder issue. I recently got some IMR-4227 in a metal can that looked good, but after sniffing (not snorting), it smelled stale. Upon shaking the can with the lid open, a brown dust started floating out if the top. I was told the powder has begun to separate and is not good for anything except for spreading in your garden as fertilizer. :s0115:
 
Given the cans are unopened there's no way to smell the powders. So its going to come down to a visual inspection of the cans and seller provided information. Sounds like it's going to be a crap shoot....and that's not meant to infer any negativity on the seller.
Yeah. If the seller hasn't opened them, he likely wouldn't be aware if the powder were somehow degraded. Personally, if the cans looked fine/not rusty, and the price were reasonable, I'd roll the dice if I needed the powder. If it turned out the powder had the brown dust and bad odor, I'd just dump it out and write it off. Wouldn't even leave negative feedback for the seller, because he probably had no idea.
 

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