Several questions

[SoCal50Lover]

Don't worry I will duck and hide for awhile soon.

I am getting back into shooting/reloading ( shortly ) and have a few questions.

1) What is the shelf life of powder? I found 3 bottles of unopened Blue Dot in my filing cabinet. Always room temp and little to no humidity. AND still sealed. Very close approximate age is 13 years ,

2) Same question about primers? I found 300 CCI large pistol primers. Be nice to use these.

3) Where are you reloading guys getting you projectiles from? I would like to even out quality/cost.

4) Does anyone have or know a site to get reloading info from? I.E. load specs w/ diff powders, calibers, gr bullets, etc. etc. I don't want to buy a book if I don't have to for a couple of calibers ( .50/.44 )

TIA Joe

[ojisan]

1) Maybe good but I would not risk it. Nitro and others chemicals can separate out and change burn rates. Maybe $30-40 worth? Not worth the risk.
2 ) If stored in a sealed ammo can or similar, probaly good enough for practice loads. Watch for delayed fires!
3) Lead bullets for handguns as close to your house as you can to avoid freight costs. Gun shows, ASR here in the SFV.
4) Manuals everywhere to buy on the net. Most powder makers make free handout booklets with their newest load data available. Haven't seen any in a wwhile here in PRK.

[jmzhwells]

www.reloadersnest.com is a good site w/ lots of info, hogdon and other big companies usually list warning signs of bad powder. I have used powder that is several years old w/o issues. Or go by the local gun shop, one that sells powders, they will usually have the free ones, and hard cast lead bullets are usually cheaper, just google it, lots of companies, some have fmj's that wont harm barrels for just a bit more. have fun

[Snapping Twig]

Stored properly, powder can last an INSANELY long time. I've got stuff from the 60's that's still good-to-go.

Blue Dot isn't my favorite. I've had no good experiences with it and I've used quite a bit of it. I'd fertilize my vegetable garden with it even if it was new, but that's me.

Check Alliant's warnings for Blue Dot before you reload with it, they've re evaluated their loading data for it. Perhaps if they'd done this all those years back I'd still be using it.

[Sheldon]

Powder and primers stored in those conditions should be fine.

[SoCal50Lover]

I will make 10 rounds to test fire. I will still buy some new supplies to make some good batches.

Thanks