Powder storage

[tvfreakarms]

Is there a best way to store powder? I haven't opened my powders yet, but I have it in a plastic storage container usually in garage. But living here in norkali valley it gets pretty warm.
Should I buy some insulating material to wrap around the plastic storage container?

2 by 2...hands of blue

[thomashoward]

Cool ,dark place.
My 8lb jugs are inside the house that I feed to one lb cans that are kept in a unheated garage safe,with a vent

[tvfreakarms]

I have them in a storage right now. But I'll move it back in the house.

2 by 2...hands of blue

[pacrat]

Should I buy some insulating material to wrap around the plastic storage container?

Would be to no avail. Insulation slows down heat transfer. It does not stop it. So after time, storage box would be same temp inside as out.

[Victor Cachat]

I have a can of IMR 4064 that I bought in the late 1980s and kept in a garage cabinet.
It is still good.

But, I recently built a powder cabinet for my reloading room so I could protect the powder from temp changes and fire.
It is lined with Drywall and painted with high temp paint so, hopefully, FD can hit it before it goes up if there ever is a fire.

[tvfreakarms]

I assume if its stored inside the house it will last for a while. Properly

2 by 2...hands of blue

[snowdog650]

I assume if its stored inside the house it will last for a while. Properly

2 by 2...hands of blue

If stored properly, it will last longer than you will.

[CCrawford]

The CalGuns Wiki is here.

A thread is here as well.

You do not want to store powder in a safe, it becomes a bomb. Inside safe gases cannot escape, pressure builds, heat retained, powder burns faster, repeat cycle inside safe until safe gives way (kinda what happens in a cartridge on a larger scale).

As others have stated above, just on a shelf within normal to cool room temp and humidity. Away from kids, dogs, friends who reload, etc.

Good Luck,
Criss

[Rusty Scabbard]

Store it in a cool area of the house. My garage on the NE side of house stays pretty cool on the slab floor. My spare room on facing west use to get over 100 deg before re-roofing and adding insulation a couple years ago. I'm only a half mile from the ocean.

[Jon Road King]

Another big thing to avoid is big swings in temperature that encourage condensation. So keep that in mind, and choose a constant temp location. Don't just think cool is best and put the powder right next to a HVAC vent

[Sky_DiveR]

I keep the 8 pounders in a plastic ice chest with some desiccant and stuffed into a closet in the house until I need it. I keep 1 pounders of the same powder in a cabinet next to where I reload and when I run low, I refill from the powder in the ice chest. System seems to work OK until I go on a reloading marathon and burn thru a few pounds at one time.

['ol shooter]

Mine stays in the house, in a locked steel storage cabinet. Primers are stored at a different location in the room, in waterproof ammo containers inside a locked steel cabinet. I have had powder survive 25 years that way.

[thomashoward]

The CalGuns Wiki is here.

A thread is here as well.

You do not want to store powder in a safe, it becomes a bomb. Inside safe gases cannot escape, pressure builds, heat retained, powder burns faster, repeat cycle inside safe until safe gives way (kinda what happens in a cartridge on a larger scale).

As others have stated above, just on a shelf within normal to cool room temp and humidity. Away from kids, dogs, friends who reload, etc.

Good Luck,
Criss

unless the safe has a pressure vent. The specs on powder magazines call for one weak wall

[sirgrumps]

Cool dark place.

As temperature stable as possible.

Avoid sun exposure, north side of the house, not in the garage.

Like a wine cellar, but NOT refrigerated.

['ol shooter]

unless the safe has a pressure vent. The specs on powder magazines call for one weak wall

Good point. The cabinets I have the powder and primers in are both thin sheet metal. The powder cabinet is held together with bolts far enough apart that the cabinet would deform rather than explode. The primer cabinet is 36"x24"x80" and double door, plenty of expansion room there. There are no sources of ignition present, and it's on the second story.