storage?

[cooter]

Hey guys. I'm getting ready to start loading for the first time
I'm curious about storing. My wife had a heart attack when she saw me bringing the powder in the house so I placed a metal cabinet in my carport and placed all my suppliesinto it. ( enclosed carport with roll up door but no heat or air ) I'm scared of the moisture with the powder and primers. So I got hold of some large dessicant packs ( 5 to be exact and placed them in the cabinet to absorb moisture. ) what's your opinions? Wont work? Ruined powder? Too big of a worrywort?

[finz50]

Make sure your cabinet is not sealed, as the pressure of the "lit" powder is what causes the bang. If it's not pressurized it burns when on fire when (vs. actually exploding). If I were your wife I'd be more concerned about the primers as they tend to do more damage. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong...

[hk33ka1]

I think education about what primers, powder and ammo can and can't do is better. SAAMI has some nice vids on their site about ammo for fire depts. Primers and powder are in every round of ammo I wouldn't leave mine in the car port.

http://www.saami.org/videos/sporting...irefighter.cfm

[cooter]

Actually I'm not scared of it exploading. My biggest worry is the moisture in the air ruining my gun powder and primers. As for the sealed part thou the cabinet should have plenty of ventilation, ( I said it was a cabinet I didn't say it was a good cabinet ) its just a put it together yourself so none of the panels fit exactly right.

[Ideal Tool]

Hello, cooter I don't think you need to worry about moisture..keep your powder can lids tight..might not be a bad idea to store primers in a sealable plastic bag though.But even these are well protected with that colored varnish seal already.

[howlnmad]

I keep most of my supplies in an outer building with no temp control. As long as the lids are on tight, you shouldn't have a problem with the powder. Primers I keep in the house.

[b money]

GI metal ammo cans! I keep all my stuff in them, totally water and air tight. Only thing that affects the contents of an ammo can is heat/cold and in the event of a fire the rubber gasket will melt reliving all the pressure while the lid keeps the burning powder and primers contained. That's how they were designed.

But in all reality the powders and primers that you brought home are no more of a hazard(if used and stored with common sense; yeah I know) than anything else(chemicals, propane tanks, fuel, etc etc) in a common household. Your wife has no need to worry about those two things. The money you think you will save reloading is a whole different matter though.

[hikingman]

Mine was a garage sale special.

Some specs for the powder box:
Wooden box with two brass hinges in side panel;
There's some smaller holes drilled in one end;
It holds 4-5 kegs that weigh 1 lb. each;
I keep using it as found at the sale.

You think the last owner might have used it for the same purpose?

Primers in a plastic box with attached lid. You can find the boxes that people used to store floppies in-at the second hand store or Goodwill.

[Incognito]

Where do you reload, inside the house or in the garage? Just sneak it in.
What she doesn't know won't hurt her

[wwmkwood]

I would be more concerned about the powder breaking down in the heat.

[RKG]

In the alternative (risky, yes, but far more effective if it works) you might inventory the things your wife has in the cabinet under the kitchen sink, pointing out all of those that are far more combustible than modern smokeless powder.

[serf 'rett]

In the alternative (risky, yes, but far more effective if it works) you might inventory the things your wife has in the cabinet under the kitchen sink, pointing out all of those that are far more combustible than modern smokeless powder.

That's the highest risk suggestion thus far!

I would think your turnaround time would be a factor in whether there will be a risk of deterioration.
Load ‘em early, load ‘em often and I don’t think you’ll have problem. Then you can store the loaded rounds inside.

[snuffy]

This topic keeps coming up again and again. Why do people think that powder is so fragile? If kept in it's original containers, with the lid on tight, it will last indefinitely. GA doesn't get that cold outside to affect powder. It might get too hot though.

Primers are also very tolerant of high humidity. The lacquer sealant on top of the anvils wards off moisture completely. Heat doesn't affect them much either, or cold for that matter.

As for the wife, there's no fixin that problem, better you than me!

[madmo44mag]

Snuffy you nailed it.

I have used powders and primers that were 20 years old and they loaded and shot just like new.
Keep the lids tight, don't leave the lids off when loading and you will not have a problem.

[Woody3]

I keep my 45 pounds of misc. Powders in a flam locker in my shop. It's not heated or cooled and everything stores and keeps nicely. The primers are all kept in a mil ammo can in the house.

Just as a side note, or question. Do any of you put grounding cables on your metal storage containers? I don't but was told it would be a good idea.

[wncchester]

"Too big of a worrywort? "

Yep. The powder will be fine in the factory containers. Go to Walmart and get a plastic "tupperware" bread box type container that will hold your primers in the original containers; you may want to drop one of the dessicant packs in there.

Cold has no adverse effect on powder or primers. No heat you can stand will do much to it, not for a dozen years or more anyway. I have 50+ year old powder in my unheated garage and it's still fine.

Put a half teaspoon of powder in a saucer and let your wife watch you stick a match to it, she will see a brief hot fire but no explosion. Maybe that will reassure her, it did mine. (And do not have the powder container itself near by, if it lights off you won't be putting it out no matter how much it scares the pee outta you both. Do it in private first, just so YOU don't do a 'jump back' that may startle her!)

[Shootest]

Told my old lady to shut the #@%# up. So I’m single now, just me and my dog, who never complains about a thing.

[Waldog]

Tell the little lady that powder is FAR, FAR SAFER THAN THE GALLON GAS CAN YOU HAVE FOR YOUR LAWNMOWER. Primers are more sensitive. HOWEVER, IF THEY ARE STORED IN THEIR ORIGINAL PACKAGING, THEY ARE SAFE AS WELL.

[arizona98tj]

My biggest worry is the moisture in the air ruining my gun powder and primers. As for the sealed part thou the cabinet should have plenty of ventilation, ( I said it was a cabinet I didn't say it was a good cabinet ) its just a put it together yourself so none of the panels fit exactly right.

Not much of a reason to put desiccant packs in there when you have it ventilated to the outside air.

Save the desiccant for something where it can do its job.

[Jim243]

Smokeless Gun Powder is an accelerant not a expolsive, but it does burn fast. Black Powder and primers are explosive and should be handled and stored differently. First NEVER keep your primers and powders stored together.(very bad idea) While it is not required untill you are storing 20 lbs of powder or more, it is recommended that a "Wooden Box" of 3/4 inch or 1 inch plywood be used to construct the "Powder Box" with hinges and a wooden door (or two). The idea is that if powder is stored in a metal container the pressure will build up to the point of an explosion (pressure). A fire will take quite some time to burn through that thick a box of plywood.

As long as you store your powder in a cool dry place (like a shelf out of the way), all you need to do is keep you lids on the canisters that the powder came in (plastic) and they will remain fresh for many many years. Or if you are concernded then build yourself a small "Powder Box" that you can store on a shelf.

Black Powder I would store away from your primary place of residence (Storage Shed away from the house) and also in a "Powder Box" reguardless of the amount of powder. (even 1 lb).

Primers are pretty safe as long as they all don't go off all at once. (I store mine on a closet shelf up and out of the way of all in the house) It's your call as to what you feel is safe, but should not be of great concern as long as you do not store them over a space heater, furnace, stove or any open flame.

Stay safe.
Jim

[medalguy]

Jim243 beat me to it. Powder should be stored in the original containers inside a wooden cabinet so it can withstand the heat of a fire for sufficient time to allow you to exit the area. It should have weak sides that can blow open in the event the powder does burn.

Primers should be stored in their original containers, never stored in bulk (dumped together).

Powder and primers should never be stored in tightly closed metal containers which will allow the buildup of pressure in the event of a fire. You will have just made a bomb.

Actually one of the best places to store these items is inside your temperature controlled home in a closet where no one will disturb them. And you probably, like most of us, have 20 items in your home/garage which are far more dangerous to keep than powder and primers. Gasoline, cleaning solvents, acid cleaners, alkali cleaners, you get the idea.

[Paul B.]

Well, I finally moved my powder supply out to the big shed. It gets so hot here in the summer than I'd been keeping it in the ouse and my better half was constantly on my case about it. I told her that it gets too hot to store it in the shed. I solved the problem in quite a simple manner. She was complaining that the refrigerator we had was too small and she wanted a bigger one. The one we had was only about 6 years old so i said OK, you get a new fridge and the old onle goes to the big shed and I'll store my powder in it. And yes, it's plugged in and running. s someone said, heat is more damaging to powder than cold and when it get to 110 outside in the shade, my powder will be nice and cool.
Paul B.

[cooter]

Well guess you learn something everyday. Thanks guys I never would've guessed that heat would be my biggest problem. I'm trying to talk her into letting me set up a loading area in the sun room now.

[jhansman]

Wow, you actually got powder in the house? Not bad. I only got as far as brass and got the evil eye. It's all downstairs now.

[medalguy]

Paul, that old refrigerator is a great storage facility but save yourself some money and unplug the thing. It has great insulating capability in an uncooled garage setting and the cooling is not required. Get yourself a cheap digital thermometer and put it inside, then check it once in a while. The temperature inside should stay below 80 degrees which is fine for powder.