black powder shells
 

What is the shelf life of black powder loaded brass shells. I don't suppose the powder would change over time? ch

Probably about as long as the zipper on your jeans...:rotf:



But seriously, if no moisture were able to get into the powder, they would probably last indefinitely. But it's nearly impossible to keep moisture out unless the shells were sealed with wax, both at the primer and at the top wad as well.

I bought a very old box of .22 WRF cartridges that looked nearly new... the cardboard looked entirely new, as did the bullets (no signs of oxidation on the lead bullets) but when I went to shoot them not a one of the fifty would fire. Somehow the primer substance failed.






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Black powder does not degrade like celluous based nitro powders

So the question would be -what is the shelf life of the primers used in the load

Which is likely many decades

i tried fireing some old black powder 10 ga shells that were about 100-110 years old...the primer busted fine but the powder only sizzled like a fire cracker powder that you set afire with a match....there was all kind of differant colors of smoke coming from the barrels this went one for about 20 secounds i was scared to unbreach the gun finally did...i had a still rod that i use to knock outold stuck hulls in the barrels when i got it out of the barrel that powder still spewed for about 10 more secounds...scared the daylights out of me thought it would burn the barrel up before i got that powder knocked out of that barrel...so i aint tried fireing anymore old black powder loads lately....charlie

I would suppose they were paper shells that absorbed moisture. BP loads in muzzleloaders have fired after 100's of years. Or it could have been poorly manufactured or home made BP in shells to start with.

these were paper shells they were ums new club shells...i still have the rest of the box setting on the shelf the shells look good...charlie

Charlie Can you carefully open one up. See if the powder is packed into a solid hard mass.

they are packed solid i guess from being compressed for so long...or maybe they got into dampness some where along the way..these are the only shells i ever had a problem with in black powder....charlie

If you crumble the powder and reload the shell it should work. (don't smack it with a hammer).

Haha

It was not uncommon to find a new BP shooter who put his powder in a plastic bottle ( like a dish soap one ) to use as a flask

And invariably - they would shake it. We would have to explain -It's rare but not unheard of for that to cause a static spark and set it off

And back to the mention of old loads going off, I have found guns in antique stores with a load still in them. In one local gun shop - many years ago - some one brought in a family history flintlock that had hung over the fire place for generations and asked for it to be cleaned up. The guy in the shop cocked it and pulled the trigger - a spark found it's way into the touchhole and boom. A room full of smoke and a hole in the ceiling