POWDER STORAGE QUESTION

[2172]

I keep about a half case in a wooden box with a hasp and padlock in my yard building about 50 feet from the house...it is against the wall furthest from the house...I believe it, and the shed, would blow with the least amount of damage. I would not store it in any kind of sturdy container unless the container had a blow off lid of some kind..Hank

 

[makanaut]

Ive been thinking about this also. I have considered purchasing a storage container but after some of your opinions I think I will stay away from those. What do you all think about a small pit dug covered with a piece of plywood or something. Besides it not being secure, what would I need to do about keeping the moisture out. Ziplock bags for each can,in the original carbord case with several trashbags tied around it? Do you think that would do it?

 

[Roy]

5 gallon plastic bucket with a sealable lid with a trash bag inside.

 

[Claude Mathis]

The above pictured magazine is not a "tight" box. The upper lid is loosely fit and held in place by two small locks ( to keep junior little clam hooks from nosing around ). The purpose of this is no to contain the explosion, as it is designed to blow off expending the force upwards.

That makes all the difference. :thumbsup:

 

[Forster]

I store my powder in a small Sears tool box, Heck I could store it in a lunch box.......By law in The state of Massachusetts you can only have two pounds of balck powder at one time. Five pounds with a special permit issued by the towns fire marshal, good luck trying to get one of those. Jim

 

[user 2647]

I store mine out in the garage in the soda fridge, each can in a ziplock bag to keep them dry.

 

[AZ-Robert]

By law in The state of Massachusetts....

These are the guys who gave us the AWI? :hmm:

... what would I need to do about keeping the moisture out.

The plastic bin with lid is a good idea. If you want to go the extra mile, you could use something like this:
[url] http://www.chemnet.com/show/damprid/eproduct/00000431.html[/url]

 

[Zonie]

Thanks for the ideas. I really like the idea of the color coding Hazmat lables. Kids wouldn't have any idea what they meant but the warning would be there for those with a need to know.

As for temperatures, lots of testing has shown that the inside of your nice black car sitting out in the parking lot in the Phoenix sun with the windows rolled up will get up to a little over 175 degrees F inside. That's when it's 116 degrees F outside. :grin:

If we were talking about Smokeless Powder, I would agree with the statememt "Powder needs containment to go "BOOM".
10 lbs. of powder in a pile may sizzle and "swoosh" a good deal, but no boom."

As I understand it though, Black Powder is an Explosive and does not need to be confined to burn at an explosive rate. That, and its 450 degree ignition temperature was one of the main drivers in the creation of Pyrodex.

What is interesting to me so far is this is the First Idea I have come up with that my wife totally agreed with. Based on past history, I expected a major battle with her but she was almost leading the parade saying things like "...or you could put it over there..." :rotf:

Like some of you have pointed out, I am not the only one concerned so keep those ideas coming.

 

[riarcher]

If we were talking about Smokeless Powder, I would agree with the statememt "Powder needs containment to go "BOOM".
10 lbs. of powder in a pile may sizzle and "swoosh" a good deal, but no boom."

As I understand it though, Black Powder is an Explosive and does not need to be confined to burn at an explosive rate.

Just for the fun of it, put 30 grains in a pile and ignite it.
Put 30 grains in your rifle and ignite it.
Then tell me what the difference is.

 

[roundball]

When I started into Flintlocks, the first powder I bought was 5 cans of Elephant 3F and unfortunately it was such poor quality I couldn't even use it in caplocks.

One day I finally took it all to the range with me, poured each one pound can out on the bare ground in 6-8 foot lines and burned them off one at a time.

It actually took each 6-8' line of powder several seconds to burn...just stood there watching it moving along, flaring about a foot high while it was buring, and made a lot of pretty white smoke but that was all.

 

[Homesteader]

Many years ago I lived in an apartment, and the guy right down the hall set fire to his place. Idiot arsonist trying to collect insurance. He was caught. By the time my roommate and I realized what was going on we just had time to grab our pets and get out. Scary stuff running down those stairs.

Anyway, as soon as the fire dept. got there I found the Fire Marshall (or whatever the boss was called) and told him I had about a pound of powder in my closet. Just wanted to be sure they were aware of it.

Y'know what they did? They sent ME up to get it, with a fireman in front and behind me. By this time the fire was out and the smoke was being pumped out by big fans, but they wouldn't actually retrieve it themselves. They did want it out, though. They also didn't seem to be all that concerned about it.

Don't know what this really means as far as powder storage is concerned, but thought it might be a story worth sharing. (Very odd to drive to a friend's house to spend the night with only a dog and a can of powder in my lap.)

 

[Swampman]

I've burned a pound in a pile, with nothing but a huge flash. Did a pound of Pyrodex too. It's not that dangerous.

 

[shmrck1]

Mark,
I have never done what you did but what
your results were would be what I would exspect..
i.e. a big flash rather than an explosion. In the
event my place caught fire I would still want the
Fireman to know I had ?number of # B/P in the
household and where it was atIMHO
snake-eyes :hmm:

 

[Two Trails]

That sounds like something out of a Horatio Hornblower movie. I bet it looked neat.
Two Trails

 

[roundball]

That sounds like something out of a Horatio Hornblower movie. I bet it looked neat.
Two Trails

It was a beautiful April/May or October day as I recall...bright sun, clear deep blue sky, and no wind...so after all 5 lines burned off, I had this huge, beautiful, artificially created white cloud lazily forming about 50 feet above me against that blue sky...actually was pretty.

The stuff just burned & fizzled along slowly just like we saw in some of the westerns growing up as kids...

 

[whitetaildg]

Zonie,

Very simple, an old upright freezer with a vent hole drilled in the top back with a 40 watt light bulb for moisture protection located in garage, shed etc, whereever!

W.T.