Household move with smokeless powder

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When i moved from NY to SC 22 years ago they packed my Harley full of gas and oil with the rest of my junk. Not a problem

Yep, when I PCS'd to Germany in the early 90s, they wouldn't take my propane tank for the grill, but had no problem loading my GSXR 600 in with my household goods. They verify it wasn't more than 1/4 full of gas, and put a piece of tape around the fuel petcock. Got delivered to our apartment GE with the rest of our furniture.
 
Yep, when I PCS'd to Germany in the early 90s, they wouldn't take my propane tank for the grill. . .
Benefits of growing up in the country. . . I have played with fire, and accelerants, and this makes very good sense. A propane tank, even mostly empty, is way more interesting than a gallon of gasoline.

And either is far more dangerous than a pound of smokeless powder.

And if anyone thinks it’s okay to just slip some powder in a box and not tell your mover, then you need a different hobby.
That's silly. You might impugn the morality of such concealment, but the physics are pretty tame. Your wife's hairspray, or your can of real BrakeKlean, is more dangerous in a cargo fire.

This isn't blackpowder, or nitroglycerine; it's a flammable solid.
 
Benefits of growing up in the country. . . I have played with fire, and accelerants, and this makes very good sense. A propane tank, even mostly empty, is way more interesting than a gallon of gasoline.

And either is far more dangerous than a pound of smokeless powder.


That's silly. You might impugn the morality of such concealment, but the physics are pretty tame. Your wife's hairspray, or your can of real BrakeKlean, is more dangerous in a cargo fire.

This isn't blackpowder, or nitroglycerine; it's a flammable solid.
If you think it’s physics, I was talking to you:)

Edit: That was a bit snarky on my part. My apologies @edwardware
 
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It's powder and primers that were shipped to the store or to you in a hot truck handled by guys that handle 100's of packages a day and don't treat any of them very nice. Pack the stuff up and throw it in the vehicle and go. Your making a big deal out of nothing.
 
It's powder and primers that were shipped to the store or to you in a hot truck handled by guys that handle 100's of packages a day and don't treat any of them very nice. Pack the stuff up and throw it in the vehicle and go. Your making a big deal out of nothing.
Unless you're over the 25 pound limit for transporting. Then it kind of is a big deal.
 
SAAMI offers guidelines on storage and transportation of smokeless powder.
Layout 1 (saami.org)
11-3.1 Quantities of smokeless propellants not exceeding 25 lb. (11.3 kg) in shipping containers approved by the U.S. Department of Transportation, may be transported in a private vehicle.
11-3.2 Quantities of smokeless propellants exceeding 25 lb. (11.3 kg) but not exceeding 50 lb. (22.7 kg), transported in a private vehicle, shall be transported in a portable magazine having wood walls of at least 1 in. (25.4 mm) nominal thickness.
11-3.3 Transportation of more than 50 lb. (22.7 kg) of smokeless propellants in a private vehicle is prohibited.
 
SAAMI offers guidelines on storage and transportation of smokeless powder.
Layout 1 (saami.org)
11-3.1 Quantities of smokeless propellants not exceeding 25 lb. (11.3 kg) in shipping containers approved by the U.S. Department of Transportation, may be transported in a private vehicle.
11-3.2 Quantities of smokeless propellants exceeding 25 lb. (11.3 kg) but not exceeding 50 lb. (22.7 kg), transported in a private vehicle, shall be transported in a portable magazine having wood walls of at least 1 in. (25.4 mm) nominal thickness.
11-3.3 Transportation of more than 50 lb. (22.7 kg) of smokeless propellants in a private vehicle is prohibited.

How is SAAMI associated with the DOT?
Serious question.
 
How do you think commercial carriers (UPS, FedEx...) handles it. Pack the bottles/jugs in cardboard boxes and put them in whatever vehicles you can can and try to enjoy the trip. It's not hard!
 
I just moved last month. We had a shorter drive than described here and we made a few trips, a couple of which allowed me to rent a uhaul trailer to move powder, primers, firearms, and brass without bothering with the moving trailers and hazardous transport.

Recall also - that 50lb transportation limit mentioned above is also a residential possession limit for powder magazines. Some of us may or may not live a life of strict compliance. There are also limits on primers. A person might not want to find themselves pulled over for speeding with product volumes which exceed published maximums. Getting pulled over with more than 60 rifles in the back of your Jeep isn’t the best feeling either. Food for thought - travel at your own risk.
 
The powder magazine I built in post #4 was made to meet the transportation requirements that Alliant Reloading quoted. It was a fun project. It was built with no metal hardware at all. I used box joints, pegs and wooden hinge dowels. It is actually about 1 1/8 thick sides, top, bottom, all made from scrap wood that I had on hand. In the work shop it's mounted on a mover's dolly in case it has to be rolled out if there was a fire.
 
I just moved last month. We had a shorter drive than described here and we made a few trips, a couple of which allowed me to rent a uhaul trailer to move powder, primers, firearms, and brass without bothering with the moving trailers and hazardous transport.

Recall also - that 50lb transportation limit mentioned above is also a residential possession limit for powder magazines. Some of us may or may not live a life of strict compliance. There are also limits on primers. A person might not want to find themselves pulled over for speeding with product volumes which exceed published maximums. Getting pulled over with more than 60 rifles in the back of your Jeep isn’t the best feeling either. Food for thought - travel at your own risk.
Agreed. I ran six hours. Friendly state to friendly state. But I still didn't want to deal with the possible headache.
I tend to let my vehicle find its happy place which is usually outside speed limits.
I split powder storage between brother's houses to stay legal.
The worst was the loaded ammo.
 
Good lord.... before the internet and forums, people didn't worry about such things as keeping powder in climate controlled conditions. I've never kept my powder anywhere except in a garage or shop (in Texas) and have never had problems with it, in over 40 years of reloading.
You fellas do realize that once powder is loaded into a cartridge its subject to the same high temperatures, don't you? Do any of you store your ammunition in climate controlled conditions? Yeah, me neither, and again, no problems. So to @elktrout just put your powder in a box in the trunk of your car or bed of your pickup and be on your way.

35W
 
I personally wouldn't worry about exposing powder to hot weather for a few days or weeks. It just isn't that sensitive. I mean, we load it into cartridges and then stop worrying about it almost completely.
I understand your point although I do wonder about the powder somehow off gassing or loosing potency when it isn’t stored cool dry.
 
Do any of you store your ammunition in climate controlled conditions?
Sort of - I store it in our house. Seeing as how we don't have air conditioning though, this time of year (with daily temperatures in the 90s) I wish our house was a little bit more "climate controlled." :thumbup:
It's not all that bad though. Daily temperatures above 90 only last a month or six weeks here, and we have cool nights even then. So we've gotten by without air conditioning for the past 42 years. Lack of air conditioning hasn't hurt our ammunition (or powder) in 42 years either as far as I know.
Of course, we do heat our house in the winter when daytime temperatures occationally don't get above 0. So I guess that would have to be called "climate control." ;)
 
Another consideration: folks who carry guns IWB bring their ammunition to skin temperature all day every day. That's typically about 91 degrees...
 
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SAAMI offers guidelines on storage and transportation of smokeless powder.
Layout 1 (saami.org)
11-3.1 Quantities of smokeless propellants not exceeding 25 lb. (11.3 kg) in shipping containers approved by the U.S. Department of Transportation, may be transported in a private vehicle.
11-3.2 Quantities of smokeless propellants exceeding 25 lb. (11.3 kg) but not exceeding 50 lb. (22.7 kg), transported in a private vehicle, shall be transported in a portable magazine having wood walls of at least 1 in. (25.4 mm) nominal thickness.
11-3.3 Transportation of more than 50 lb. (22.7 kg) of smokeless propellants in a private vehicle is prohibited.
Good post. Thanks for the reminder.
The issue is not outgassing or spontaneous combustion, the issue is getting pulled over in a state where Johnny Law is hard nosed and anti-armed civilian. Any judge will bang the gavel and tell you, ignorance of the law is not a valid defense.
Now if some of y’all want to roll those dice and pay the fines for getting caught, that’s fine. My advice is to keep your nose clean and never get a position to argue about it in a court of law.
 
Good lord.... before the internet and forums, people didn't worry about such things as keeping powder in climate controlled conditions. I've never kept my powder anywhere except in a garage or shop (in Texas) and have never had problems with it, in over 40 years of reloading.
You fellas do realize that once powder is loaded into a cartridge its subject to the same high temperatures, don't you? Do any of you store your ammunition in climate controlled conditions? Yeah, me neither, and again, no problems. So to @elktrout just put your powder in a box in the trunk of your car or bed of your pickup and be on your way.

35W
Mine is stored in a dehumidified basement. But I remember my dad storing it in an outbuilding. We never had issues.
 
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