Powder storage

[buckbrush]

I am getting my reloading bench kicked out of the house by my wife so I will have to reload in the garage now. The problem is, the summers get plenty hot here and the garage is no exception. I can expect 90°F or better in the summer I bet. Will this be a problem for storing all my powder and primers out there?

I can probably find another spot if that won't work.

thanks.

 

[J E Custom]

I am getting my reloading bench kicked out of the house by my wife so I will have to reload in the garage now. The problem is, the summers get plenty hot here and the garage is no exception. I can expect 90°F or better in the summer I bet. Will this be a problem for storing all my powder and primers out there?

I can probably find another spot if that won't work.

thanks.[/QUOTE )


Temperature swings are not good for powder or primers.

A constant temperature is recommended as long as it's cool,

And taking powder from an air conditioned room to a warm humid room will cause the powder
to degrade and absorb moisture greatly reducing the life.

I have a friend that framed in a small 6'x8' room in his garage, insulated it and placed a small air
conditioner in it to cool and lower humidity.Plus he keeps it locked and safe from the kids.

Just a though.

J E CUSTOM

 

[MachV]

"I am getting my reloading bench kicked out of the house by my wife"

The wife was talking to her sister the other day about where the reloading rooms should be. Her sister was makeing the B I L put his stuff in the garage when they have a couple of extra rooms in the new house. My wife laughed and said she would be in the garage before my reloading stuff was, heck she is lucky I didnt make the master bedroom my reloading and knows it... but to each thier own
Depending on your garage though its a poor place for reloading for a lot of reasons. Temp changes, clutter, dirt, distractions and just plain unhandy to name a few. Like JE Custom said though it might work great if you can build a room?????

 

[baldhunter]

Hide it under the bed,she will never find it!I store mine in the house,but my Dad kept his in the garage for 15-20 yrs,through extreme weather conditions,from below freezing to 100 degrees plus and I could not see any noticeable changes in the powder that he had stored.That fifteen year old powder,still shot the same and chronograph the same out of my rifles.That still doesn't make me want to store my powder that way.You may need to find yourself a secret hiding spot

 

[Moman]

My setup is in the garage. This has worked well, it's clean and quiet. I store all powder and primers in the house though. Just find a shelf in a closet you can use to keep these at a more constant temperature.

 

[MagnumManiac]

I have posted this before, and I know a few will debunk me, but I store all my powder and primers in a fridge. The temp is constant all year round, except recently when we had temps near 50 degrees C, and no fridge was working well.
A 'Cooler' also works well, the type with a sealed top lid is best.

I've had people say that this is a bad idea because moisture will form on the inside of the containers when brought into a warm environment, but this is not true, moisture forms on the OUTSIDE of the container but not on the inside.
As long as you keep the container sealed in between loading your powder measure and dumping any unused powder back into it, it will be fine.

Another thing I noticed is that velocity is more uniform over the life of the powder, with no loss over time as with powders stored in varying temps. (Which I used to do)
Cheers.
MagnumManiac.
gun)

 

[trishbob40]

Hi All
I use an upright five draw freezer (don't work) to store powder,primers and ammo in
have had no trouble with condensation at all,it gets really hot here 40/45cel and 5 to
10below freezing...have used this for the past fifteen years,this all kept in my garage..
bb

 

[ODAVID]

I would encourage you to buy small packages of desiccant to put in each bottle of powder. Works for me. I keep them also in my bullets that are in storage to slow down corrosion. Also in the primer packages. I put a couple packets in a Zip lock bag and add the bottle of powder or primers pkgs expell as much air as possible and seal up. Every couple months I replace and bake the desiccant low heat.

Wives can be really a challenge don't ask me HOW I KNOW.

Best of Luck

 

[J E Custom]

I would encourage you to buy small packages of desiccant to put in each bottle of powder. Works for me. I keep them also in my bullets that are in storage to slow down corrosion. Also in the primer packages. I put a couple packets in a Zip lock bag and add the bottle of powder or primers pkgs expell as much air as possible and seal up. Every couple months I replace and bake the desiccant low heat.

Wives can be really a challenge don't ask me HOW I KNOW.

Best of Luck

Odavid; Not to question your practice of placing desiccant in powder containers, but I once
read that all powders have a controlled moisture content and that it needed to be maintained
to make the powder react consistently over a period of time.

I have never done it but would like to know from a powder manufacture if it is ok or taboo.

I even stopped buying bulk containers of powder because of opening them over and over
in high humidity (The 1 lb cans only get opened once or twice and they are gone)

If someone on this web site is or knows a person that works for a powder manufacturer
please chime in.

This would be something good to know for all of us.

J E CUSTOM

 

[padd54]

Has anyone tried a vacuum sealer to break down bulk containers into usable portions?

 

[Pdvdh]

Only gun powder I've ever had go bad was stored in my garage in Alaska which was exposed to some pretty significant seasonal temperature swings. These were two 1 lb cans of IMR 4831 that had never been opened. After about 10 years of storage, when I opened one of the cans I noticed what appeared to be a reddish-brown colored dust/stain coming off the powder and on the interior of the tin container. Couldn't really smell anything different. I used the powder for fire-forming shells rather than hunting loads, as a precaution. Later I read that the reddish dust was a tell-tale sign of powder gone bad.

Since I never had any other obvious gun powder degradation problems over the past 35 years, I always suspected this powder deteriorated due to the multitude of temperature swings from summer to winter and back. In the winter, my garage was only kept a little above freezing. In the summer it would probably get up to perhaps 80F.

 

[ODAVID]

Here is another suggestion that might be a better or worse approach.

11-07-2003, 07:28 PM
James D.

Bronze Member
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: Houston, TX
Posts: 91


Re: Powder Storage
I keep my 1 lb powder bottles in some Ammo cans with a packet of desiccant thrown in to absorb moisture, if any is present when the can is closed. (The can is gasket sealed but to be triple sure?)

Cartridge cases are also an example of powder containers...

​

Also I feel the carboard around the Cartridges will attract and hold moisture.

Obviously I feel the Powder manufacture's are in the business of making powder and wanting to sell more powder; so do you think they will advise using dessicate to prevent a sale. I think no.

I tell you what......lightbulb lets just see what happens to your powder over several years compared to mine.

Opinions are free just an opinion. That is mine opinion and I am sticting to it.


BEST OF LUCK TO YOU.

 

[nfhjr62]

When i was living at home i used what was the coal bin under the front porch, when the heater was changed to a gas heater it was cleaned out and my father and i moved his tools in to it as well as i with our guns and reloading equipment the temp stayed constant around 50's as most of it was below ground level only one window that was glass blocked with a vent.
The ceiling the porch floor was concrete eight inches thick the rest was twelve inches thick rock and concrete, over fifteen years storeing and loading in this room saw no degrading of power or primers that we could see.