Black Powder Storage

[jdixon]

If you had a fire resistant gun safe, and a wooden box, both of sufficient size to hold your powder stores, which would be the best place to keep it? The safe is more secure but would be a bigger problem in the unlikely event there was an explosion, the wooden box would be better for the explosion but it is not fire resistant and is more easily entered. What is the consensus on this?

 

[renovato]

I store my surplus under the bottom shelf in one of my gun safes. The cans that don't fit get set on a shelf in my garage. I don't need to worry about theft actually, but fire does worry me. If it would all fit in the safe, I'd keep it there.

 

[Le Grand]

I store my powder in the garage. Any place that is good enough to keep gasoline is certainly good enough to keep black powder. No problems so far. Le Grand

 

[TANSTAAFL]

If you had a fire resistant gun safe, and a wooden box, both of sufficient size to hold your powder stores, which would be the best place to keep it?

I noted the fire resistant, not fire proof, so I would opt for the wooden box. Actually, I keep my BP containers well separated out in the garage on shelving. I figure a one pound bang, one at a time, beats a several pound kaboom, all at once any day.

 

[wszumera]

I generally set it on a shelf in the garage away from things that get hot.

If you have a fire bad enough to touch the stuff off, it really isn't going to add much to your troubles.

Clutch

 

[roundball]

That's the way I feel about it...a case of Goex on the floor of a closet in a spare room that only I go into is not in any way going to get handled or bothered.

If the house catches on fire and we're away, no problem...if we're in the house and couldn't get out, we'd die from the smoke/fire long before the powder lights up.

I've also heard that tip about using an old refridgerator or freezer...firemen have said after a house burns down, they can open a refridgerator door and things inside will still be OK...so I've thought when our current fridge gets replaced, I might keep try that...put it in the garage and store all my reloading powders in it as well.

 

[Blackfoot]

Will a really small colloge size fridge work good?

 

[Old Ironsights]

No reason it shouldn't.

 

[bramble]

I'm a relative newbie, so bear with a dumb question, and this is just curiosity.
75 gr. of BP in a rifle barrel makes a big bang
75 gr. of BP loose burns
Is there a degree of containment required for an explosive ignition?
I realize that this is hypthetical, because in the oven of a house fire BP would probably touch off from heat before the flame got to it, or is this not an accurate assumption?
Just curious
bramble

 

[andrellj]

I keep mine in a 80mm mortar can I picked up at a surplus store. The lid does not lock and the hinges and clamp holding it closed are designed to blow off and the explosion directed upwards. If the government stores & transports 4 rockets in there without any problems, I don't think bp is anything to worry about.

 

[TANSTAAFL]

I'm a relative newbie, so bear with a dumb question, and this is just curiosity.
75 gr. of BP in a rifle barrel makes a big bang
75 gr. of BP loose burns
Is there a degree of containment required for an explosive ignition?
I realize that this is hypthetical, because in the oven of a house fire BP would probably touch off from heat before the flame got to it, or is this not an accurate assumption?
Just curious
bramble

The burn rate of BP is the same, confined or unconfined. If it is contained, so as to prevent the resulting gases from expanding freely, it can pressurize said ciontainer and go bang, big time.

 

[bigbadben]

I would prefer to keep powder in my garage, but have always had concerns about temperature variations. Here in VT it goes from being upwards of 100 sometimes in the summer to down around 30 below in the depth of winter.

Am I correct in assuming that such a dramatic temperature swing is not a good thing for black powder (or smokeless powder for that matter)? With smokeless I was always worried that it would mess with my accuracy. But with smokeless I also use powders that are easy to get about a mile from my house, so I don't need to stockpile them. Getting Goex is a tad trickier.

Ben

 

[paulvallandigham]

Normally, black powder spilled on the ground and lit will just burn like a fuse. However, I have it detonate more than once. Its funny stuff, and it can go off on you. A friend's powder horn plug fell out as he was walking in the woods, dumping most of the 3Fg powder in it on the ground. For safety, he asked me to light it. I put a small charge of powder down my barrel and pointed the barrel at the powder and fired the black change. His powder detonated, in a loud bang, much smoke and a rising cloud going up and through the trees. It made him jump and fall, and his horn cam apart again, dumping what powder he had left. So, being brave souls, we lit that off, too. This time it just burned! My ears were ringing from the first explosion for a day or two. A good steel box will direct the explosion upward, but you will still have an explosion. I think an old freezer chest, or old refrigerator, laid on its side, so the door swing upward, wwith a hasp and lock is the easiest, and cheapest way to have cool dry storage. Just keep the sun off it, and consider burying it in a hole in the ground, so you get the added protection of the earth, and the cool temperatures of the earth, to help keep the powder dry and cool. Because of corrosion problems with earth, I would spend the time and money to pour a concrete foundation, and use bricks or cinder blocks on the sides to hold back dirt and water. Then put 2 bys down to keep the box out of direct contact with the cement. That way, you could also drill a couple of holes near the top edge of the box to allow air to go in and out of the refrigerator or freezer box so that in the event that kids get into it they won't suffocate before you find them.

 

[roundball]

I would prefer to keep powder in my garage, but have always had concerns about temperature variations. Here in VT it goes from being upwards of 100 sometimes in the summer to down around 30 below in the depth of winter.

Am I correct in assuming that such a dramatic temperature swing is not a good thing for black powder (or smokeless powder for that matter)? With smokeless I was always worried that it would mess with my accuracy. But with smokeless I also use powders that are easy to get about a mile from my house, so I don't need to stockpile them. Getting Goex is a tad trickier.

Ben

As long as the cans remain sealed so there's no issue with moisture/humidity, the only other worry would be temperature.....and I think hot temps would be the problem, not cold ones.

FWIW, instructions on the cans says to store it in a cool dry place.

 

[Maverick3855]

I keep my powder in an un-heated travel trailer out near the back of my property.
I used to keep it in the house but we have such severe lightning storms here in NW Montana that it made me nervous.
The temps here range from 90+ in the summer to 48 degrees below zero in winter and my powder doesn't seem to suffer.
even after 6 years it still looks fine and shoots fine.
maverick

 

[paulvallandigham]

Lightning is not going to set it off. Lightning is the smae as static electricity, and someone posted a video showing an electrict charge passing purposefully through black powder. The electricity passes right through it, without generating enough heat to ignite the powder.

In know that sounds impossible, but it is true. If you have lightning rods on the house and garage, you can store the powder in the garage. The fact that you bury the storage box in the ground, where it stays cool all year round is the secret to why your powder remains dry and in great condition. Goex still comes in cans, but Swiss is being sold in plastic bottles. Either will stay dry as long as the cap is screwed down tight , even if they containers do get wet. I would not hesitate to let my powder share refrigerator space in my extra refrigerator I keep in the garage. I would put the cans in plastic bags to keep them from rusting from contact with water dripping from the freezer unit, but it would not bother my beer.

 

[Maverick3855]

Lightning probably wont set off powder but having a case under my bed during lightning storms just weirded me out.
Especially when it was blasting trees on the ridgeline behind my house.
I just feel better with it out in the trailer

My cans got a little surface rust from humidity but inside they were fine so I polished off the rust on the unpainted parts of the can and painted them with Rustoleum.
I bought a case and it really has lasted alot longer than I anticipated.
I only go to one or two rendezvous a year and hunt in the fall and I barely go through a pound of powder a year maybe two at the most.
I may transfer the powder into plastic bottles after reading this thread though.
Maverick

 

[roundball]

"...I may transfer the powder into plastic bottles after reading this thread though..."

FWIW, after seeing some cans of powder sitting on a store shelf with rust on them, when I began ordering by the case, the first thing I do is open the box, snug all lids with a pair of pliers to ensure they're tight, then seal 3-4 cans at a time in gallon ziploc bags, put them back in the Goex shipping carton.

PS: Blackpowder cans also have safety vents built in (pressure relief blowout spots) if you look closely at the top and bottom panels of each can, you'll see a 'dimple' in the metal as if someone made a punch mark halfway through the metal...this way a can is supposed to vent and peel open, causing a big flare up of course but without being a super strong container they don't explode like a hand grenade.

 

[bramble]

So black powder is a good conductor of electricity, not creating sufficient resistance to generate the heat required for ignition?
bramble

 

[Cherokee]

Mine stays in the garage with some other purdies. I have Acetylene and Oxygen bottles and Argon along with Ammunition and modern reloading powders.
It would make a nice show.