Just how old is this can of Bullseye?

So a shooting buddy says he had two cans of Bullseye powder I might like.  I pretty surprised that when he said "can" he meant it. 

Smells and looks OK, but they are both opened.  I want to know if you think I should buy it?  If so, what do you think I should pay?

New powder on the left for comparison.
His older powder in the center. 0.25 lb remaining
His vintage powder on the right. 1lb remaining

Pay 20.00. Dump all the powder in the mostly empty one. Sell the empty clean can on E-bay for 100.00

Even the middle one is worth about 15.00 empty. The big one is in better shape then anything listed now.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Hercules-3LB-Smokeless-Bullseye-Gun-Powder-Tin-Can-Keg-Empty-Yellow-/332099834171?hash=item4d52b1513b:g:u14AAOSwMVdYIgeE

Agree with Len. I've seen those metal cans going for over 50 bucks.

LenV wrote:Pay 20.00. Dump all the powder in the mostly empty one. Sell the empty clean can on E-bay for 100.00

I am going to see if I can find out how old the can is.  There are no dates or lot markings,etc. at all.  I sure someone here might be able to give a ballpark guess.  It has a very interesting pop off lid.  It reminds me of some of the older beer and oil cans.

The middle plastic bottle is from 1995 if I am reading the markings right.

The newest bottle was made in March 2016.

I did check and saw several similar items running $20-50. I reckon I'll get it from him, just as a collectible item and hold on to it for a while and I'll shoot up the powder!

It is a spot on match for this one @$22.99 other than the Red-dot labeling.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/HERCULES-RED-DOT-SMOKELESS-SHOTGUN-POWDER-KEG-EMPTY/112258975593?_trksid=p2047675.c100009.m1982&_trkparms=aid%3D888007%26algo%3DDISC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20131227121020%26meid%3Dccd87c24631c472eb0fcd14040ecd9f1%26pid%3D100009%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D1%26sd%3D332099834171

It was made by Hercules instead of Alliant so that helps with the date.

I have an empty :l) yellow can like the red can in the pics. I think it was 8#?
Jon

I still have a 8lb keg of red dot in that can . I believe I got it around 1970 or so.
I still have some 1 lb cans for unique,2400 and red dot.. they were from the 60s


bullseye is probably the oldest powder still being produced.. it was originally from the very last 1800s.. Unique wasn't far behind.  all made by Hercules or it's parent company

http://www.alliantpowder.com/general/about_us.aspx

Since it's in a can, the powder has to be at least pre-72.  I bought a 4 pounder of Unique in 72 in a cardboard tube.

Greetings,

Is there a lot number on the can?

I have an old 3# yellow one with Lot # BE526.

I got it from a retired shooter active in the 1960's.

Great powder, buy the way.

Cheers,

Dave

I disposed of an empty 100# keg for H4831 my Dad bought in the 1950s.  He and I shot a lot of .270 and magnum rifles.  4350 worked better in 3006.

Might have to adjust your loads the old bullseye was a little hotter than the new by a tenth or two.

The Herco Bullseye that I had was a touch softer that the modern stuff.  I had the cardboard tube era stuff.

I told my buddy there was only a 1.25lb total powder and I wasn't terribly interested in paying his asking price of $40 for that much old powder (he thought there was several pounds total).

He said, "Gimme $20 for it."

I gave him two $20 bills and told him to hand me back whatever change he felt good about.  He handed me all the cash in his wallet, which came up to $9 and we called it good.  

Sounds like I can get all $31 back on the containers once the powder is gone, but will probably hold on to them.  

That's still 2000 rounds of practice ammo

james r chapman wrote:

Since you asked. Nothing as old as yours James. I gave all my older stuff to a friend to display at his gun shop. But still some oldies here.

Lol like the cci's

That 8 pound keg was used up till about 1980. I saw red dot in that type of container in the 80's. I do not know how long it was on the dealers shelf.
 In 1980 the 1 lb. "can" of Bullseye were in rolled paper with metal ends. They were still using the metal can for 8 lbs.