Old Bullseye powder

I picked up an older 4lb keg of Bullseye recently and I notice that the odor of it is not the same as some new BE that I have. Both have the "sweet" odor that generally indicates everything's okay but the older powder's smell is noticeably less intense, even after shaking. The cannister is the hard cardboard type with metal ends, white background with an orange and red faded label. The guy I got it from is an experienced shooter who assured me that it is in fact Bullseye powder. Any ideas on this powder's usefulness?

I just finished off a really "old" keg of BE powder. Worked fine. You could use a reduced load to test it in case its not really BE.
Jon

The cardboard powder kegs were made by Hercules and the "new" stuff is made by Alliant.  There may have been minimal differences in the formula to account for the difference in smell.

I've shot both to the same charge weights and not seen any difference in performance.

what jon said..

old bullseye was a little more powerful than the new, 3.6 of the old is about the same as 3.8 of the newer stuff.

DavidR, 
I have also heard of this change from "old" to "new", but allegedly this happened when they dropped the metal cans with the snap lids in favor of cardboard.

BTW Hercules denied ever changing the formula.

I have a 1 lb metal container. I should see if I can propel my .38s w/2.6g of it.

2.6gr is PLENTY with both the Hercules and the Alliant stuff for .38spl.

Rob Kovach wrote:2.6gr is PLENTY with both the Hercules and the Alliant stuff for .38spl.

Yep.

I loaded 25 up using 3.2gr and 200gr Missouri SWCs in my Les Baer Hardball gun with a 13lb spring. They felt consistent, fed and ejected reliably, and accuracy was decent. Thanks for the info.

Larry Lang wrote:DavidR, 
I have also heard of this change from "old" to "new", but allegedly this happened when they dropped the metal cans with the snap lids in favor of cardboard.

BTW Hercules denied ever changing the formula.

I have a 1 lb metal container. I should see if I can propel my .38s w/2.6g of it.

I can only say its from the old cardboard kegs, to the newer plastic 1,4 and 8 kegs. My dear friend Peter Brown had this huge old cardboard keg and we tested his powder against the newer stuff (this was in 2002) and found it to be slightly stronger.

DavidR wrote:we tested his powder against the newer stuff (this was in 2002) and found it to be slightly stronger.

Which one was stronger?

Load it up and shoot it. I have been using Bullseye since it was packaged in the square metal cans, then onto the cardboard tube and now the plastic bottle. I haven't noticed any difference in formulation. As long as it doesn't have an acrid smell or unusual appearance, you should be good to go. Even if it were slightly different, it's not like you are loading maximum charges...you're not, are you? If you still have your doubts, get it from the horse's mouth and contact Alliant directly. I've always received great customer service from them when I had a question.

Rob Kovach wrote:

DavidR wrote:we tested his powder against the newer stuff (this was in 2002) and found it to be slightly stronger.

Which one was stronger?

old was stronger