Bullseye 1955

As people get old and die off, sometimes they leave behind good stuff that the surviving family needs to get rid of.
Old-time shooters/reloaders often have sizable stockpiles of powder and primers.
I recently obtained some "Hercules Bullseye" powder for reloading pistol ammunition.
A quick google search indicates that these old containers were used in the mid-1950's.
So I call it the Hercules Bullseye1955 stash. (BE1955)
I currently use Alliant Bullseye made circa 2020 for my weekly casual target shooting session.
I call that the Bullseye2020 powder. (BE2020)
Being a curious person, I thought it would be fun to load some ammo with the BE1955 powder and compare it with the BE2020 powder.
Here is what I found...(see pics)


The BE1955 came in little square 11 oz. cans with a pop top.
The cans appeared to be in good shape. One is unopened/ still sealed.
I used the previously opened can.
The powder appeared to be fine. No weird smell or appearance.
I poured some out and burned it. It burned like any other gunpowder.
The inside of the metal can appeared to be slightly rusty.
The BE2020 is the common tall round plastic bottle.

Volume vs weight?

My current practice load is made on a Dillon press.
The load is 4.1 gr of Alliant Bullseye (BE2020)
with a nominal 200 gr lead semiwadcutter
Primers are Rem 2-1/2 using "anykine" used mixed brass.
For the purpose of this test, I obtained some once-fired WINCHESTER brass.
The bullet used was a hand cast HG#68 LSWC with a lubricant of 70% beeswax and 30% Alox2138.
The bullet diameter was 0.452 ".
This will be test#1.
V=824 SD=13

The next test was to use the same powder measure volume/setting but replace the powder with BE1955.
The result was interesting. Apparently the density of BE1955 is "lighter"
The powder measure only metered 3.7 gr.
This will be test#2
V=770 SD=26

The last test was also BE1955
The powder measure was adjusted upward to throw 4.1 gr.
This was test#3
V=839 SD=16

The main discovery was that the 70 yr old powder is less dense.
Why is that important?
Many people use reloading equipment with "fixed" cavity measures.
ie. there is no screw adjustment for weight. They typically have different cavity sizes.
Therefore, if you obtain an old can of powder and just dump it in and start cranking out ammo,
you probably won't get the ballistic result you hope for.
It would be better to weigh and adjust your machine for the different batch of powder.

This is the end of my test. I shot a 10 shot group at 25 yds to check accuracy. It wasn't as good as I hoped for, but shooting conditions were kind of crummy so I think it's fine. I got about 3.5 to 4". I got enough to last for around 3 months. After that I'll use up the 80 yr old dupont #5. Fyi, more guys died off so I'm getting even more free stuff. Sad huh?