Bush I've never used a desiccant packet in my powder I don't see why it wouldn't help out. I just use two flask and fill them up for the day and put the lid back on the powder tightly that should keep the powder in the bottle dry. If I'm shooting a Walker or Dragoon two flask full of powder should be enough powder to last for a while. If I'm shooting something smaller like a 58 or 60 or 51 just fill up one flask and keep the led on the powder can tight that should keep it dry. If you have a can of powder that has gotten damp there should be a way to get it dried out but I believe I'd get a new one pound can and start out with it till the other dries out. If you live in a damp place you really need to watch keeping those lids on the can tight or you'll keep having the same problems with the powder getting damp. I tested a pistol for one year to see what wouold happen to the powder if I kepted it loaded at the end of the year I took the nipples off three of the cylinder's chambers and took a wooden chop stick and pushed the loads out and found that the powder was dry and had turned into round dry pellets. The wad had turned into what looked like dry cholk. I took and caped the other three chambers and they fired as if I had just loaded them. The reason I did this was because of the post that people had been putting up about leaving thair guns loaded in the house for self defence and wanted to know if it would really work. After cleaning the pistol I didn't see any problems with the chamber's being rusted and they still looked like new. I kept the pistol in a dry place for the test. If I would have wanted to carry it I would sujest putting nail polish on the nipples and put the caps on and that would seal the caps to the nipples so that there would be no way for it to get damp inside the chambers + if I was going to keep one loaded to carry with me all the time I would fire it every month and clean it and reload it. I would never try keeping it loaded for a whole year. I just wanted to see what would happen if I did keep one loaded for that long. If anyone was going to try this DON'T try it with a gun you care anything about cause if you were to get dampness in the powder you would end up with rested cylinder chambers. I just happen to have an old pistol liying round that had seen it's better days so I used it for the test. As for buying powder I believe lose powder is better than buying the 30 gr pellets. That way you can ajust the powder charge to your gun. Some pistol's do good with 30 grs and some shoot better with less. It all depends on if your in it for the big bang or if you care about hitting what your aiming at. It also depends on which kind of pistol your shooting. No way would I let anyone talk me into using 30 gr pellets in a brass frame gun. They'll turn one into a paper weight in no time. Some folks my not go along with what I'm talking about but you know your guns better than I do + I'm still learning my own self. I my be gettin older but I don't know everything either. Hope this will help you out some.
