Danger Radius of BP?

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John C

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My wife recently prevailed upon me to move my modest stash of real BP from the part of the garage close to the house to part farthest away. She feels safer that way, but I was wondering what is the actual danger radius in the event of a fire of a pound of BP? I have about 3.5 lbs total, a partial pound of Fg, FFg, FFFg, and FFFFg.

I know that while smokeless powder is a propellant, and doesn't explode, BP is much more dangerous. I'm just concerned, God forbid, should my garage catch fire. My garage connects to the kitchen of my house.

Thanks,

-John
 
A shooting bud of mine had an open can of goex blow in his shop ...he said there was no more than 10 grs of powder in it ..blew the windows out of his shop ..didn`t hurt him ..scared the heck out of him ....AND his neighbors called 911 .
He was useing his bench grinder and a spark hit the open top on the can , which he thought was empty of course... ever try to really empty a Goex can , its hard to do ...dumb thing to do around powder ...I was supprised he even shared this story with me ..
 
GOEX cans have a hooked spout, making it nearly impossible to get he very last bits of powder out. Anyone can feel it.

I store my powder in a old aluminum cooler with a cheap padlock hasp and cheap lock, in a out building.
 
A one pound can of BP makes a good bang but so does a can of spray paint or a cylinder of propane. A CO2 fire extinguisher is also very exciting.

A local Fire Department had a house and some out buildings donated to them. The property owner wanted the buildings demolished so it seemed a good idea to just burn it all for training. Common items found in average homes were placed in various locations just to see what might happen.

The cans of gunpowder were pretty cool but what really sticks in my mind is when the tires on the old car in the barn started to explode. That was an eye opener. The five gallon plastic container of gas was expected to be the show stopper but it just burned, no bang.

Five gallons of propane and a 25 pound CO2 cylinder make wonderful bombs when heated. Danger Will Robinson!

The gunpowder, black and nitro, were placed on a shelf side by side. When the first can of nitro went off it knocked the other cans helter skelter. The first can of black went with a bang and lots of smoke. It was not as devastating as some of us had thought. I for one would not want to be in the same room with a can of black or nitro powder when it goes off. I am also of the opinion that we have worse things at home.
 
A U.S. M-29 fragmentation hand grenade has a killing radius of 15 meters and a casualty radius of 30 meters...Okay...
Click to expand...
All I know is you can not throw one far enough away to be safe I remember throwing one over the baracade in basic and hearing several peices of shrapnel hit the wall in frount of my and whizzing over head also remember when qualifying with grenades you use a grenade with no main charge just a detonator/basting cap this course involves moving through the couse one person fire cover w/blanks the other throw his grenade then he fire cover you throw your grenade you are 20-30 feet a part, half way through the course I was firing cover as the other guy threw as soon as he released the spoon the thing went off right at his finger tips It even rattled the sargent grading us .did I mention I don't like grenades:what::eek::what:
Roy
 
Recall going thru basic in Ft. Gordon many years ago & most clearly remember the grenade familiarization segment.

Had us seated in bleachers perhaps a hundred & fifty yards from the actual impact area and the NCOs were tossing live ones during the orientation.....those grenades were shaking the bleachers!.....That impact area setup included individual throw points with concrete bases designed to catch a dropped device & funnel it into a catch basin.....the targets were various truck tires.....interestingly an observation deck had been constructed and had what appeared to be an old aircraft "bubble" for viewing. After I got rid of my grenade I had the chance to see one fellow make a great throw that landed precisely inside a very large tire......which summarily ceased to exist.....metal particles from that explosion hit the bubble with a hell of a lot of force, even tho it was likely the better part of a hundred feet from the impact point.

Made a believer of me.......13 feet of coiled steel wire, crimped every quarter inch and wrapped around c-4 makes for an impressive display!
 
A U.S. M-29 fragmentation hand grenade has a killing radius of 15 meters and a casualty radius of 30 meters...Okay...
Click to expand...
That's what I thought, but couldn't remember the casualty radius vs lethal radius. Thanks.
When in doubt about the powder, the modern grenade is a good yardstick I figure, as it's probably less powerful.

I also agree, "Mr Live Hand Grenade" is nobody's friend.

LD
 
BP can be devastating.
I had to consult my log book to refresh my memory on this one: in June '86 I was called in to investigate an explosion at a country residence. Suspect bomb lab. (Not true) Found out that a teenage boy of limited mental capacity broke into his fathers work shop, he was smoking and without knowing - opened an ammunition can about half full of blasting BP. A spark from the cigarette did the obvious. The blast completely destroyed the shop ( read Sears type metal garden shed about 10X12),blew in the rear door of the garage which was about 15' away.Caused 3rd degree burns over 75% of the kids body. Why it did not blow his head completely off I will never figure out. Kid told us (weeks) later that he was in fact leaning over looking in the can with the cig. in his mouth!!!
The kid was air lifted via Army Helo. to Sherman Oaks Burn Center (Dr. Grossman - miracle worker)
I personally store my BP outside, a couple pounds under the right(wrong) conditions can raise hell with your house, garage etc.

FYI U.S. fragmentation grenades do not contain C-4 or BP. the explosive fill is 6.5 ounces of composition B.
Jim
 
A can of Coleman fuel or gasoline has the potential to blow your whole house apart. I don't think a can of BP, properly stored, could do that. While I was on my local fire dept., a man decided to clean his work clothes with Coleman fuel right before he put them in a washing machine. When the fuel distilled from the warm water and the vapor flowed down to the electric motor brushes, the stage was set. About this time, the wash cycle started and BOOM. It ripped the door out of the wash room wall and sent it 19 feet across the kitchen, putting a huge gash in the side of the refrigerator.(seconds after the man was in the kitchen) It also broke a chandelier in the livingroom, ripped shelves off of walls, and dishes off of shelves all through the house. All this damage with probably less than a couple cups of white gas. Imagine what a gallon would have done! This changed my perception of many everyday chemicals and fuels. Many things we have in our garage can be very dangerous if handled carelessly.
 
For what it's worth; I watched a motor home burn to the ground on the highway just outside of Lewiston, Idaho several years ago. They later told me they had filled up all the fuel containers-- full fuel tanks for the rig, the APU, and two full propane tanks.

The most dangerous explosions were the tires and the shock absorbers. The rest of it just made very large flames. When the propane tanks finally blew it was like a small hurricane of fire, going straight up, not out.

I'd just keep the BP away from the main living spaces. For our place, that would be the garage.
 
A couple of years ago at a Cowboy Action Shoot the club set off a 1 pound can of BP to open the night shoot festivities. I was not impressed. On the other hand, I wouldn't want to be standing right next to one either.
 
Went on a family vacation last August. Worried about what would happen if we had a garage fire while away. So... I dug a hole in the back yard out by the back wall big enough to put a 16 gallon Rubbermaid tub in. Put a few bottles of Graf's BP in the tub, put on the lid, put the tub in a leaf bag, dropped the tub in the hole, put a sheet of scrap 1/8" plywood over the hole and covered that with a three inch layer of dirt. Left it there for five months through 102° heat, four inches of rain, sprinklers, cats, dogs, whatever. Recently needed a new canister. Dug it up, got it out, loaded up the M1860s and it went off like new. No signs of rust on the caps, no moisture, no obvious problems with heat, and it beats hell out of worrying about it in the garage.

If it ever does go off, it'll go off straight up and sprinkle the neighbors with my better half's prize roses and five bags worth of Home Depot's finest manure.

Life is good.
 
If there's a fire in your garage, a can with an inch of gas in the bottom is more dangerous than a full can (if I remember right from physics class). The full can is more likely to burn than explode, but the mostly empty can will be full of fumes and would be more likely to explode.
 
If it ever does go off, it'll go off straight up and sprinkle the neighbors with my better half's prize roses and five bags worth of Home Depot's finest manure.
Click to expand...

The after effects of blowing up the wife's roses are likely to be more devastating than what the powder would have done. I think you have a potentially very damaging condition there...:evil:
 
Jimbrto. Thank you. I knew it was composition B but didn't want to start an argument needlessly.
Gentleman of the Charcoal, USMC Re'td.
I used to slice off a piece of C-4 and light it up to heat my C Rations. Burn's hot, just got to watch it or you'll burn the bottom out of the can...Okay...
 
A gallon of gasoline in a confined area has more explosive power than a pound of 60 shock weight dynamite. (dynamite come's in different shock weights, 40, 60 etc, which among other things will determine how strong of a 'kicker charge' it need's to detonate it.)
Sorry. Wrong thread for all this s***. I'm through with it...Okay...

If the ball is not hitting the target, then perhaps someone need's to check the shooter instead of the gun, hmmm?
 
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