Value by weight of partial containers of powder vs full containers.

[arakboss]

If a given powder is selling for $3 an oz for a new full container what amount of discount (if any) should be given per oz for a partial container of the same type of powder?

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[Member 5605]

10%

 

[Deerhurst]

To me open powder containers are worth nothing. I cannot verify what is in them.

 

[DLS]

Me thinks you will get answers from all over the spectrum here.

For me it would depend on the situation. Do I know and trust the seller? Then perhaps no discount at all. Are they unknown to me? Then I'm not interested at all.

So the proper discount would be somewhere between 0 and 100%.

Pretty helpful answer huh?

 

[Stomper]

If a given powder is selling for $3 an oz for a new full container what amount of discount (if any) should be given per oz for a partial container of the same type of powder?

OMG.... with all your mental machinations on powder and primer prices that you've been posting about lately these days, I'm beginning to suspect you're a bookkeeper or a CPA.

 

[Caveman Jim]

I posted a thread on this very subject a few months ago. I do got a broad range of responses but for the most part an open bottle of powder is worth about $1.50 per ounce.
That being said I just had a gentleman buy 5 of the 8 open containers of powder I was gifted in a lot from a widow of a reloader. I saw where he had stored them and know they were in optimal condition.
If I had not seen that they were stored correctly, they would have been emptied a while back, I'm not risking anything to do with faulty reloading components.

 

[Caveman Jim]

OMG.... with all your mental machinations on powder and primer prices that you've been posting about lately these days, I'm beginning to suspect you're a bookkeeper or a CPA.

Jebus Stomper, I had to look that one up, Do you carry a thesaurus with you 24/7???

 

[Stomper]

Jebus Stomper, I had to look that one up, Do you carry a thesaurus with you 24/7???

I may be an ape, but I'm a well read ape.

 

[Member 5605]

I may be an ape, but I'm a well read ape.

Except to those who have heard you speak.

 

[arakboss]

OMG.... with all your mental machinations on powder and primer prices that you've been posting about lately these days, I'm beginning to suspect you're a bookkeeper or a CPA.

I wish I was making a CPAs income, maybe then I wouldn't be machinating so much

 

[arakboss]

I have quite a few partials, I am thinking about selling, just looking for ballpark pricing. Maybe it will be best to put them up with "or best offer" pricing.

 

[arakboss]

OMG.... with all your mental machinations on powder and primer prices that you've been posting about lately these days, I'm beginning to suspect you're a bookkeeper or a CPA.

You might want to make use of that ignore button if I start machinating over bullets and brass

 

[CLT65]

This is another one of those "How much risk are you comfortable with" questions.

An opened can of powder is an unknown. Most likely it's fine. Most reloaders are fairly careful. Sloppy doesn't cut it very long with this sort of thing. I've bought quite a few open cans over the years, and I've really learned what to look for- age of the cans, rust, dust, smell, appearance. The National Center for Forensic Science has photos with measurements of most every gunpowder available. I wouldn't use it to try to ID an unknown powder, but it's helpful in verifying that the powder in an opened can is what it's supposed to be.

I've told this story before, but it's relevant to the subject at hand so I'll tell it again:
Way back when I was first reloading, I bought a shotshell reloader from an old timer, and he threw in a bunch of extras- shot, hulls, wads, powder, even a nice hunting jacket. I started working up a load using a can of "Alcan 5" powder (as I recall). It had something written in sharpie on the lid, but it was too faded to read. I carefully found a recipe in the book for the components I was using, and loaded up a few rounds with increasing charges.

I took them outside and fired the first one into the ground, expecting a light load.
"Boom!" kicked like a mule.
Hmm, weird. I think I'll try the next one.
"Kaboom!" even worse, and the hull came out with the crimp partially ironed out.
Okay, something's not right here, but I was young and dumb, so I lit off the third one.
"KABOOM" no, it didn't blow up, but it's a testament to the strength of the old Mossberg that it didn't. It kicked so bad that the action came open, and the hull was completely ironed out, no crimp left at all. Something was seriously wrong, so I didn't fire the last one; I took it inside and pulled it apart.

I went in and poured over the loading manual, trying to figure out where I went wrong. The recipe was right, everything was right, but it was clearly wrong. I looked closely at the powder can, trying to make out what was on the lid. Finally I turned the can over, and clearly written on the bottom was "Green Dot".
I looked in the manual for data on Green Dot, and my starting load was several grains over maximum!

So, the lesson from this is that while what's in that opened can of powder is most likely exactly what it says it is, there is also the remote possibility that some old geezer put some different powder in the wrong can, for whatever reason.

 

[arakboss]

This is another one of those "How much risk are you comfortable with" questions.

An opened can of powder is an unknown. Most likely it's fine. Most reloaders are fairly careful. Sloppy doesn't cut it very long with this sort of thing. I've bought quite a few open cans over the years, and I've really learned what to look for- age of the cans, rust, dust, smell, appearance. The National Center for Forensic Science has photos with measurements of most every gunpowder available. I wouldn't use it to try to ID an unknown powder, but it's helpful in verifying that the powder in an opened can is what it's supposed to be.

I've told this story before, but it's relevant to the subject at hand so I'll tell it again:
Way back when I was first reloading, I bought a shotshell reloader from an old timer, and he threw in a bunch of extras- shot, hulls, wads, powder, even a nice hunting jacket. I started working up a load using a can of "Alcan 5" powder (as I recall). It had something written in sharpie on the lid, but it was too faded to read. I carefully found a recipe in the book for the components I was using, and loaded up a few rounds with increasing charges.

I took them outside and fired the first one into the ground, expecting a light load.
"Boom!" kicked like a mule.
Hmm, weird. I think I'll try the next one.
"Kaboom!" even worse, and the hull came out with the crimp partially ironed out.
Okay, something's not right here, but I was young and dumb, so I lit off the third one.
"KABOOM" no, it didn't blow up, but it's a testament to the strength of the old Mossberg that it didn't. It kicked so bad that the action came open, and the hull was completely ironed out, no crimp left at all. Something was seriously wrong, so I didn't fire the last one; I took it inside and pulled it apart.

I went in and poured over the loading manual, trying to figure out where I went wrong. The recipe was right, everything was right, but it was clearly wrong. I looked closely at the powder can, trying to make out what was on the lid. Finally I turned the can over, and clearly written on the bottom was "Green Dot".
I looked in the manual for data on Green Dot, and my starting load was several grains over maximum!

So, the lesson from this is that while what's in that opened can of powder is most likely exactly what it says it is, there is also the remote possibility that some old geezer put some different powder in the wrong can, for whatever reason.

Do you have a link to that forensic powder list?

 

[Stomper]

Except to those who have heard you speak.

You shut UP, squeaky.

You might want to make use of that ignore button if I start machinating over bullets and brass

I never said that you were annoying.....

 

[Member 38805]

In years past I bought partial containers of open powder for half the going price. They're a crap shoot, and you're hoping they've been properly stored. And if the containers are older style, even more of a crap shoot. I've ben fairly lucky by using the sniff test prior to buying them, but still had one opened almost full pound that went bad shortly after purchase. It was an old metal can of Hodgdon powder and it actually ate through the metal can!
Even in times when powder is in high demand,(like today) I still wouldn't pay more than 50% price, unless I knew the seller and how he stored his powder.

 

[CLT65]

National Center for Forensic Science

National Center for Forensic Science

 

[Trick]

This should be with the links on the sticky under load data resources. Great information.

 

[boron]

Like CLT65 I had an interesting experience when handloading 243W with a "very slightly used" box of I honestly don't remember which powder it was, but it was definitely recommended for the 80 gr I was using at the time.
It was a once-used Norma case that came apart. I had made up a total of five for testing; I unloaded the other four and emptied the rest of the powder (in small portions) down the hopper.
I paid 25 cents on the dollar for the powder and chalked it up to the price of a good education.

 

[slimmer13]

Open powder containers = lawn fertilizer to me.