Powder and primer storage?

RacerX

RacerX

Professional Knucklehead; aka Jeffncs / RacerX
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Aside from in their factory bottles and boxes, how and where do you guys store your powder and primers?

Personally, I have a set of vented high school lockers that I store my powder bottles in. Primers are in ammo cans it’s desiccant. All of it is in the garage which has fluctuating temps. Any other ideas? Honestly, I’m not a fan of having my powder inside the house....
 
Primers stay in the house. The bulk of my powder stays sealed up in a big Hardigg case in the shed.
 
Powder doesn't "explode" unless contained where pressure can build, so it's relatively safe if you don't keep in hard sealed enclosures. That's the mistake some people make. Mine's just on the shelf, inside. Don't like the idea of temperature extremes. Primers I keep in plastic ammo cans with desiccant. Again, not a hard enclosure, but moisture resistant.
 
I’d move the powder inside unless you can shoot your entire inventory in 4 or 5 years. Beyond that I start to worry about degradation from the summer heat. I’m more conservative than most about this.

Primers, nothing hurts them, not temp and certainly not humidity. The boxes may rot away if they get damp and mold.

Powder is in original containers on shelves, primers are in original containers on shelves or in a filing cabinet because I ran out of space.
 
Having 50# of powder inside my house has lots of potential for seriously bad stuff to happen. Ive watched a 1/2 oz burn in my firepit... i dont want that x1000 added to any kind of fire in my house. And I have shot ammo that was stored in warehouses fro decades. Im not as concerned about the life of my powder as i am about other factors.
 
Catfish said:
Having 50# of powder inside my house has lots of potential for seriously bad stuff to happen. Ive watched a 1/2 oz burn in my firepit... i dont want that x1000 added to any kind of fire in my house. And I have shot ammo that was stored in warehouses fro decades. Im not as concerned about the life of my powder as i am about other factors.
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That can of wd-40 or hairspray is actually a bomb. The powder will burn fast but not explode. A bic lighter or grill lighter is bad news too.
 
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Yup. ill keep a can of WD 40 in the cabinet. I will not keep 3 cases of it. ill keep a couple pounds of powder in the reloading room. but not the whole stash.
 
Let's hope powder and primers are ok in homes.

Now my uncle had a wholesale business that caught on fire; he sold ammo and everything else in the world. The fire department wouldn't go in and let it burn down.
 
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Best way to keep yer powder and primers dry is to store them in a cardboard box next to your woodstove. It helps to heat the house better if the stove is surrounded by powder sorted by type.😆
 
If I knew that the fire department would be steered, and let my wife’s old family home burn to the ground, I would load 100 pounds of Bullseye and a few old corrosive primers in the attic. In a metal can. And hope they ignited🤫
 
Dave951 said:
Best way to keep yer powder and primers dry is to store them in a cardboard box next to your woodstove. It helps to heat the house better if the stove is surrounded by powder sorted by type.😆
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I keep mine warm in the basement by the gas water heater, along with the gas cans. The gas smell i strong, but I keep the doors and windows sealed, so the vapors don't go anywhere.




Disclaimer: DON'T DO THIS AT HOME!
 
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Keep your powder below 81 degrees for storage. 81 and up and it will speed up the degradation.
 
Toprudder said:
Let me guess, the powder is in one, the primers in another, and the last two are booby trapped. Not necessarily in that order.
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Rifle powder. Pistol powder. Primers. Pills.

I wish. Could you imagine?

Was talking to a guy (reloading mfg type dude) who said roughly 1Billion primers fit in a 52' conex box. He was buying them from Serbia or something years ago and using them in reman ammo back in the day. Back when primers in bulk were 1.5 cents ea.
 
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On the topic however I just came across an article in print that was on this very subject. Gave a handy little table about temps and degradation times, etc. Essentially the same thing. Less than 90 is your friend for 10 years. 70* even more. 50, longer, etc.
Reloader, rifle mag, guns and ammo, etc. Don't recall which mag.
Gave a fair bit of the science behind it with nitrocellulose being the culprit, single based, double based, chemical structure, etc. etc.
I'll make a mental note to dig through the library next time I'm on the porcelain and see if I can find it again.
 
Keep my primers in the safe.

Powder stays on the shelf in my basement workroom. Temps range from 55 in winter to 65 in summer.
 
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