Bucephalus
Active Member
- Aug 27, 2008
- 531
What is the best, safe and environmentally friendly way to dispose of old smokeless powder? Thank you for your time and consideration.
make a straight line on the driveway or dirt and have fun.
Spread it lightly over your lawn, and water it in. Then, watch your lawn turn lush and green.
Seriously.
fertilizer.. hmm.. learn something new!!
I was reading about this in a book, it said no more then 1 inch thick, just spread it out and burn it. Use a trail of powder to light it
Spread it lightly over your lawn, and water it in. Then, watch your lawn turn lush and green.
Seriously.
"Located in the Ballistics Laboratory of Alliant Powder is a jug of water which contains a batch of Unique powder that was produced in 1899. Periodically, a small sample is withdrawn, dried and test fired. After 102 years, it still meets the current specifications for Unique."
....just out of curiosity, are you sure that the powder is definitely bad?
True - we don't currently know what the OP meant when he said "old smokeless powder" and I wouldn't use anything I wasn't certain of (meaning mixed, or unknown) either. That was why I dumped about 2/3 of pound of Unique (mixed with a bit of Bullseye) on my front lawn. But, if he's got powder that is 10 or more years old, but has been stored properly and he knows what it is, I'd have no qualms about using it.Powder does not definately need to be bad to be disposed of. If you have misfires from surplus ammo, you do not know what kind of powder they have used in it and have no load data for it - so it is definately for the dump. Same for some of the stuff you find at gun shows - ever seen a can of powder that has layers of different shape and color and is being sold as milsurp?
Basically anything mixed, unknown or with a weird smell or texture is better disposed of than fired! Same counts for once-wet charges etc.