BP Outside temperature storage

[Etienne Brule]

Hi,


Since a few weeks,I have about 25 pounds of black powder in the house...

I am thinking to take all that stuff in an outside shed: but the temperture will go down to 10*F in January.

What do you think? is it too cold to keep the BP in good shape ??

Great forum !

Best regards.

Etienne Brule

 

[mykeal]

Welcome to the forum.

Cold temp should not have any detrimental effect on black powder.

 

[scrat]

that and be carefull depending on where you live 25lbs is not something i would go posting. check your state limits on how much your supposed to have. may have a good excuse to go to the range to lesson the amount.


I know someone that may have about 25lbs of black powder. do you think it would be ok to store outside in cold weather it would be dry.

 

[Chawbaccer]

Just keep the lid on tight and you will be fine.

 

[Guy de Loimbard]

This would make a fun experiment. I have an extra lb of black that I can stick in the garage for the winter, and the lowest temp I've seen here is -25. Because we've got to know for sure, right?

 

[BHP FAN]

that's taking one for the team!

 

[CAMPBELL49T]

Most states have a limit. The way I understand, where I live it is XX amount per person. That shoots in the household. I would rather keep it out of the house.

 

[MutinousDoug]

Best to keep propellants OUTSIDE your residence in any quantity. Your fire dept will thank you for doing so by fighting your house fire rather than letting it burn to the ground. Consider what your life will be like after your 25 lbs of BP deflagrates while your local FD fights your fire.
An insulated magazine (such as an old refrigerator) kept outdoors, will keep temp changes slow enough to be harmless to BP in normal weather.
Flammables and inflammable material should be kept away from your dwelling as much as possible. Class 1.1 explosives all the more so.
Doug

 

[CAMPBELL49T]

What about regular ammo center fire? I know most shoot other then BP. I have it in my closet in my computer room. One of them high dollar saves. But lot of us can't afford one. I guess out in the garage, too. But then there is the FD. Just pray for no fire. How about going to FD and let them know. I don't about that. But, I can say this thread got me thinking.

 

[MutinousDoug]

Ammunition is a whole other class than bulk powder or black. Cartridges may be shipped in quantity without hazmat authorization. Primers and powder, not so much. Then, black powder is another class.
Rifle or pistol propellant may go up in a fireball but won't knock anyone down when it is ignited. Cartridges will in effect, go up one at a time in a fire rather than sympathetically detonate like BP can do. (I'm using the term: "detonate" loosely here as BP does not detonate in the classic definition.) It does "sympathetically" deflagrate quickly enough to break rocks though.

 

[JCT]

If I remember correctly, the BATF Orange book listed 50 lbs per household of sporting powders...that probably includes smokeless too.... I wonder if it's regulated once it's loaded into cases though, I guess you could have a whole room of loaded rounds.
When I got into reloading, I bought a type 4 magazine just for a good place to store my powder, it's just a simple steel lock box on wheels with a wood lining. I don't think it's required with sporting powders, but it is required for non Fg powders, and I figure my homemade powder is non Fg....

 

[sundance44s]

It may differ from state to state .......but as an example where I live in Ms.
I can have 25 lbs on my place without a permit .
Over 25 lbs I need a permit .
I can also buy 50 lbs a year with out a permit .
I keep around 25 lbs most times in a yard barn in a wooden lock box 300 ft from the house or any house for that matter ( just because it seems safer to me ).
In the winter its cold and dry ....in the summer its hot and cooler but still dry because the barn is made of wood .
I`ve been storeing this way buying in bulk for many years with no ill effects from weather .

 

[Loyalist Dave]

It would be best for the stuff to be kept in a stable temperature or something close to that, so why not get a couple of cheap coolers, and put the cans or the keg/bag into the coolers in the shed? Probably not a problem if you don't, but I'd invest in a couple of coolers to insulate the cans from temp changes, as that much powder isn't cheap, no??

LD

 

[Wolfebyte]

Not sure I would go with the coolers.. since they are airtight, they tend to sweat when exposed to varying temperatures.. condensation builds, then evaporates with the heating and cooling.. if the cooler was ventilated, then it might be great..

I have an old wooden crate with brass hinges and brass locks.. secured by my brass padlock..

Picked it up from an explosive company that moved out of our area.. think I gave 25.00 for it ..

 

[sundance44s]

I like my large wooden box with padlock too ...I also took the warnings off the cardboard box the powder came in and glued them to my crate .
The pad lock keeps the Grandkids out of the box when they play around the shed also .
The warnings on the box might help the firemen out in the event of a fire and I`m not around .
The shed is dry as a bone and contains nothing but hand tools / No paint cans ,oil or gas ...ect.
the wooden box stays dry and much cooler than outside temps in the summer months .
My metal shop sweats bad in the summer months and is colder in the winter months so it seemed like a bad Idea , not to mention I do some grinding in there and a little welding in it .
I suppose keeping so much powder a bunker might be best , but costly .
Me and the wife both shoot black powder pretty much every weekend , so I have a need to buy in bulk ......we go through as much as a lb on a weekend between the 2 of us .
Buying a lb at a time just isn`t an option , 2 hour drive round trip and 28.00 per lb .
Buying in bulk I paid 11.00 a lb to my door from Powder Inc. 25 lb case

 

[Guy de Loimbard]

Had to shovel a bit to get out there due to last night's snow, but I put a 1lb can of Graf's FFFg out in the garage today. We'll see how cold it gets this winter, and how well it shoots come late May when the snow stops flying.

 

[mykeal]

It would be best for the stuff to be kept in a stable temperature or something close to that,

Why?

 

[wittzo]

For storage purposes, as long as blackpowder, gunpowder,commercially loaded ammo, and primers are kept air tight and in low humidity, it will last longer than any of us..unless you use it up first.

Temperature doesn't really matter that much. I'll get to that in a second.

Good military ammo has sealant on the primer and the projectile, it shouldn't be affected by humidity and moisture (even short term immersion) as long as the casing doesn't get corroded so it can't chamber. The US Army snipers have been using .50 BMG rounds from WW2 in Iraq and Afghanistan when their inventories get low. The snipers using the bolt action rifles have been using Match Ball loaded in Vietnam (or older) with no ill effects. Ammo that's been stored in most armories is stored with dessicant to keep it bone dry in airtight ammo cases, but most armories have very little in the way of air conditioning, so there's no temperature stabilization. It could be more than 100 in the summer and less than 0 in the winter.

One of myfriends was given two cases of .45 ACP sealed in sardine style ammo cans from WW2 ('43 headstamp). They had been stored in an attic, but they shot fine, they were just corrosive.

 

[Etienne Brule]

Well,

Very happy with your answers. Great !! Thank you everybody.

Etienne Brule

in the snow of Quebec...