How many of you store powder "outside"

[BradF]

I've been reading back through the archives and it looks like there is no consensus on whether or not this is an acceptable means of storage. My powder and primer supply have outgrown what I feel safe for storing in my home. I just built a detached garage and will be setting my reloading bench up in it and my best solution is to store my powder and primers in the shop too. The shop/garage is insulated so temperature swings will be slower, but it is not climate controlled. How many of you store your powder and primers in a building or room that is not climate controlled?

[BigDog454]

I have the same situation, an garage that is not attached to the house and usually unheated (unless I am working there). I have powder that is 45+ years old that is still good,I keep in a wood cupboard and it still work fine. I wouldn't worry about storing powder in an unattached building as long as it is kept dry.

[7mm Magnum]

DRY and COOL storage is best for powders,.. sounds like a perfect plan to me!

[Sevens]

Here's all I want to say: There are state and local laws and ordinances and there's recommendations and there's common sense. All of that can be looked up except for the common sense. BUT it's worth sharing that fifty pounds of smokeless powder that's kept in their original containers and not locked in an airtight outer box is SIGNIFICANTLY less dangerous than the typical can of gasoline most of us keep in the garage to feed the lawn mower and that same powder might even be more safe in your home than the mixed chemicals that a lot of people have piled up under the kitchen sink.

Powder is very stable and as long as there aren't kids and abnormal fire risks associated with residential fires in the first place, it's just not something to get worked up over, really.

If you don't have crappy old space heaters looking to catch curtains on fire...
If you don't put kerosene heaters all over the house...
If you don't ignore your chimney sweep and burn improper or excessive fires in the fireplace...
If you don't overload your electrical outlets and string extension cords everywhere...

...then there isn't a lot of real-world risk associated with smokeless powder.

[BradF]

Thanks for the replies. I wish I had put, powder & primers, in the title instead of just powder. BigDog454, do you store you primers in the same conditions?

Sevens if not for my kids being young, it would probably all be in the house. I know how I was when I was a kid, and if my son follows even anywhere close to the footsteps I left when I was a kid, I sure don't want powder, locked up or not in our home.

[zxcvbob]

I have my main stash of primers and my 8-pdrs of powder out in the detached garage, in separate locked wooden crates. I have about 10 assorted small cans of powder and a few hundred primers near my loading bench in the man-cave (basement). Finished ammo is in cans and MTM boxes all over the place. I need to clean that up before I trip over it.

The powder is probably the least dangerous thing out there in a fire. (Gasoline, acetylene, oxygen, propane, pesticides, motor oil, etc.) Not so sure about the primers though -- I didn't want them in the house.

[Art Eatman]

I've never worried about powder & primers in the house. Haven't had a problem, either. Been doing it for quite a few decades.

I threw a half-pound of ancient DuPont into my burn pit. The trash fire got going, and there was eventually a mild Whumph, but no big deal.

Now, a carton of primers + fire, if they all go off at once, can = excitement. Primers are not something to take casually. A buddy gave me a 1/2-pint milk carton full of "stray" primers from a shop-cleaning effort. I set them out at my 100-yard backstop, and shot with a .243. A fair Kapow! and little holes all over the backstop.

[PCJim]

I suppose a lot depends on where you live. I live in south Florida - hot and humid in the summers. My primers and powder stay in the house. If I lived in the north, mid-Atlantic or similar less hot and humid climates, and had a detached garage, I would prefer to have them stored outside the home. Safety is safety, and although the chances of a fire in my home are very slim, accidents do happen.

BTW, if you want to change the title of the thread, go to your original message and edit the title there. This works in other forums in which I participate, and should work here.

[bluetopper]

I have a small 10x12 storage room (actually it's my reloading room now) built in one corner of my garage. I keep all my primers and powder in there too and it gets darn hot and humid in there in Summer. I cut a hole in one of the walls last Summer and put a small $100 window unit A/C in there for when I want to reload. My primers and powder are fine.

[ipscchef]

I keep my powder and primers outside due to space limitations.
My question is if low temps are going to affect my powder/primers. I live in Pa. and humidity is not a problem where they are stored just temp variations.
It has not given me any issues so far.
Any informed thoughts ?

[Swampghost]

In the shed and away from the house! Sheds are cheap, houses not so much.

[Art Eatman]

ipscchef, all I've ever seen about storage has to do with "dry" and "not above 85 degrees". Or, "cool, dry place". I've no clue about harmful effects from freezing, though. "Cold" shouldn't matter, SFAIK.

[FrankenMauser]

Temperature swings affect powder more than primers.
Humidity affects primers more than powder.

Cool and dry works for both.

[BradF]

Thanks for all the replies. I live in north Alabama, and the temps do go from one extreme to the other here. The building is very well insulated so that will help keep the temperature swings from being as quick and perhaps even as extreme. It was 8 degrees here a few weeks ago and will no doubt be at least 100 a few times next summer. We probably won't have more than 60-70consecutive days of 90 degree temps this upcoming summer. I may build two heavy wood cabinets, seal them tight, make one wall in the cabinet easy to push out in case of explosion and put some one of the large desicant cans designed for a gun safe in it. Maybe within a year or two the political climate will be such that I can decide how much powder and primers I need to keep on hand. I prefer the buy as I use method I have used up until now. That will be harder to accomplish loading for several calibers now.

[hardhit]

In a doc safe which is fire and heat proof .120 steel and 2 ½ concrete incased sandwedge

[Inspector3711]

Keep mine in the garage on an open shelf... Primers too, but in plastic containers with some dessicant packs from other things I've bought. I threw the dessicant in just for grins, I recycle. The rounds I make go bang every time.