Powder stored in gun safe?

[Taildrag15X]

I have mine in a plywood cabinet, hanging on the wall in the reloading room, maked with a sticker from a powder order, "Flammable Solid".

Each State, Local Government, and Fire Codes have limits and Laws that cover how much you may store and how, not to forget as mentioned, your Homeowners Ins. Policy, read it, you might not be covered for having any stored without special coverage due to it being considered "Bulk Storage" to those that have no clue.

 

[Shynloco]

Ain't no way this side of hell I'd store Gunpowder inside a Gun Safe where my rifles, handguns and loaded rounds are kept. In fact my Gunpowder is inside a contianer in the hall closet which is temperature controlled and some signs inside the closet and containers so if theres ever a fire, the fire dept will know theres gunpowder stored there.

 

[Kinetik1]

The only "good" thing about storing your powder in your safe is this: If it is ever stolen and the thieves use a cutting torch to open it, with enough powder, you and law enforcement will instantly know where the pieces of your guns, and thieves are!!

 

[Dsly]

Powder stored in gun safe? Canada

Canadian law requires powder be stored in a lockable wooden container, using no ferrous fittings, and conspicuously labelled "EXPLOSIVES" (so thieves know exactly what to steal).
Mine is 3/4" plywood with brass hinges, hasp and lock mounted with brass screws. It sits among other toolboxes in the basement. Easily found as it was made out an old pingpong table, so it is green with white stripes.
It is not labelled, as I will follow stupid laws only so far....
Primers must be stored similarly, so I put a 3/4" divider in one side, creating a space for primer boxes. It is a very tight lid, and once closed and locked, even if a primer were to ignite, it could not reach the powder.
The other requirement is that powder can't be stored near solvents, paints, paint thinners, etc.

Having said that, I know many people who simply have their powder in a cupboard in the basement. Under the law this would be 'unsafe storage', and leave one open to criminal charges.

 

[bozo699]

Sometimes I read these threads and just smile at the responses and move on other times like now I can't resist. I used to keep all my powder,reloading equipment and rifles in the house, like most people do, as I progressed in my reloading and shooting I expanded from a few lbs of powder to maybe 75 or 100 lbs of powder and 10's of thousands of primers, which is even worse! so with all three of my children at the time still at home I decided to do something different, I have a hay shed that is 24'X104' on the end of the hay shed I have a 24'X36' shed I put tractors and fuel in, I stole a 12' bay and boxed it in and made a reloading room out of it, it is nicer than my home on the inside, air conditioned and heated year around as needed, as the years went by my powder magazine grew even more with my addictive compulsive ways to several hundred lbs, @ just $20 per lb I have several thousands of dollars worth of powder and primers, I have thousands of dollars worth of rifles protected by expensive gun safes throughout the house just like you all do so why wouldn't I protect the money I have invested in powder,primers, and loaded rounds? I do,...four fat boys full of it!! if somehow it gets a spark inside the locked safe is it going to be a big bang?..... you bet but were around dangerous things all the time and most of the time don't even know it, I work in a bullet factory with thousands of lbs of cyanide and acid in the same room, do you have any idea what would happen if the acid container sprung a leak and made it to the bags of cyanide?? I have two hundred tons of hay in the barn, a couple thousand gallons of fuel in the shed and three or four hundred lbs of gun powder and a 500 gallon propane tank beside the room, if any part of it catches on fire or explodes you will be able to see the fireball it makes 40 miles away in the nearest big town and damage is going to be catastrophic no matter if the powder is in the safes or not the whole 140' of building is a bomb, the only thing I can hope for if it ever go's up I hope it is because a thief is trying to get into one of my safes with my cutting torches that's in the shed attached to the loading room
Wayne.

 

[DaveWhite]

Sometimes I read these threads and just smile at the responses and move on other times like now I can't resist.

+1 on that. I also concur that propellants are not class A Explosives and the rules on storage and transport of those materials does not apply to ORD class materials (or else you could not ship them via UPS).

Gunpowder restrictions are variable across the many government juridictions (stupid in many), and probably the only way to get a reliable answer is from your local fire department and insurance company. If you have a catastrophic loss of a structure due to a house fire, lightning strike, etc, I would be interested to hear of a documented case of an insurance company denying coverage to the loss due to how reloading materials were stored. anyone out there have such a story? There are millions of reloaders in the USA, and I doubt that more than a handful are storing their powder in an approved explosives magazine...

When you get to the point that you have hundreds of pounds of powder, thousands of rounds of loaded ammo, and tens of thousands of primers, I think you are just about right...

A non-sparking environment is a great idea for storage of these materials and I might just line that contractor's box of mine with 3/4" plywood someday, if I ever get around to it. Like I said, two vehicles in the same garage with a combined volume of 40+ gallons of gasoline is a much higher risk than ammo, powder and primers stored in a secure cabinet, even if it is metal. I also would not give any wooden cabinet much of a rating in terms of theft deterance either, and in a garage setting that is a major consideration.

 

[bozo699]

 

[TheSnake]

Wayne, if you could post some picture of your setups, that would make me smile! I am always looking for someone to look up to and I like the way you think.

 

[amamnn]

http://www.saami.org/specifications_and_information/publications/download/SAAMI_ITEM_200-Smokeless_Powder.pdf

 

[bozo699]

If you have room in your gun safe for powder you obviously need more guns.

Dave,
I just bought more safes, there only the cost of one good rifle and protects so many
Wayne.

 

[distinguished]

An old refrigerator makes an excellent place to store powder. I know several people who store it in them. The refrigerator does not need to work.

 

[bozo699]

Yes a fridge works very well for powder storage, I used to and still do for welding rod

 

[dennisinaz]

Sometimes I read these threads and just smile at the responses and move on other times like now I can't resist.

+1 on that. I also concur that propellants are not class A Explosives and the rules on storage and transport of those materials does not apply to ORD class materials (or else you could not ship them via UPS).

Gunpowder restrictions are variable across the many government juridictions (stupid in many), and probably the only way to get a reliable answer is from your local fire department and insurance company. If you have a catastrophic loss of a structure due to a house fire, lightning strike, etc, I would be interested to hear of a documented case of an insurance company denying coverage to the loss due to how reloading materials were stored. anyone out there have such a story? There are millions of reloaders in the USA, and I doubt that more than a handful are storing their powder in an approved explosives magazine...

When you get to the point that you have hundreds of pounds of powder, thousands of rounds of loaded ammo, and tens of thousands of primers, I think you are just about right...

A non-sparking environment is a great idea for storage of these materials and I might just line that contractor's box of mine with 3/4" plywood someday, if I ever get around to it. Like I said, two vehicles in the same garage with a combined volume of 40+ gallons of gasoline is a much higher risk than ammo, powder and primers stored in a secure cabinet, even if it is metal. I also would not give any wooden cabinet much of a rating in terms of theft deterance either, and in a garage setting that is a major consideration.

smokeless powder IS a Class A explosive UNLESS it is less than a certain quantity which is how UPS and such will ship it. When the big places like Powder Valley or Brunos get a shipment in, it comes in a placarded truck and in factory cartons labeled 'explosive'.

USDOT Haz mat regulations are insanely complicated and confusing. I went to a weeklong school on basic Haz Mat and another week on the bulk stuff. The Explosives are another week...

I just store mine in the cases they come in from the manufacturer in an air conditioned room. If that end of the house catches, it will be hell as I have 200+ lbs in that room alone!

The local retailers have hundreds of pounds stored the same way.