Legal Gun Powder Storage

Harold Manback said:
Copper is non-ferrous, as is aluminum, tin, zinc, and brass. They specify using non-ferrous metals. I may have mislead people with my enthusiasm in my first post. I initially set out to build a "awesome" new gun powder cabinet for my reloading room. This was something I did want, to organize my set up, I wanted it to be kind of classy. I thought it could be done and be up to standard. I see now that it will not be a nice compliment to my reloading bench. I am really not excited to be following these ridiculous rules. I would how ever like to know why they want non-ferrous metals to be used?
Click to expand...

Non-ferrous metals are used because they are NON SPARKING.

Ferrous metals, like a hammer head, will spark when struck against another ferrous metal.
 
And sparks would be dangerous perhaps if your powder was poured out loosely in the bottom of your new wooden container. How does a spark get into the factory container?

For that matter, factory containers are designed by regulation to NOT contain the result of inadvertant ignition in any way. So why does NRCAN want us to put another container around them?:confused:
 
I think joe is starting to feel a bit frustrated :)

Ok. I'll give him a break and let him know that some of us are still with him. Reality check time :) Sorry guys, but I have to. He's obviously suffering here :) ROFL


1. The feds are NOT going to come and inspect your reloading setup - EVER!! Even if the CFO was to schedual my once, or maybe even twice in a lifetime inspection, I'm pretty sure all of my stray, questionable bits and pieces would magically find their way into my neighbours garage before he got there :) Your local police, provincial police, or the RCMP are not going to barge into your house looking for things to charge you with unless you've already drawn some negative attention to yourself. If you really want them to, a good way might be to start shooting at cars driving by on the street out front...commit a bank robbery....assault someone....whatever :) LOL!!!

2. The fire department is NOT going to nail you to the wall if they see a poof from a couple of pounds of powder going off while your house is burning to the foundation because it's just going to burn off. Smokeless powder will NOT explode unless you put it into a container that will hold some serious pressure and then heat it. I've watched a serious house fire, from almost the start, to final hose being shut off. There are arosol cans poping off like fireworks with fairly large poofs of flame. Various burning substances are churning out OH MY GOD amounts of black, toxic smoke. Windows are shattering. Stuff is falling inside the house. The constant roar of the fire was pretty damned intense once it got going. A few boxes of primers going off are barely going to be noticed over the background noise.

3. Using non-ferrous metal fasteners in your box construction is a complete waste of time unless you're planning on (a) making sure these fasteners are protruding into the inside of the box and (b) you're planning on throwing metal objects in there at a high enough speed to make a spark and (c) you're planning on leaving an open can of powder in there, or a bunch of primers, open side up laying on the bottom of the box while you're throwing hard objects at the nails!!!!! If you do this, you are a flipping R-E-T-A-R-D and NO amount of safety is going to protect you!!!!!:D LOL!!!!

4. Static electric discharge is almost no risk when dealing with smokeless power. I put some on a piece of aluminum foil and did the drag your sock feet across the carpet thing probably a dozen times. Eventually, I got tired of the shocks and stopped. No fire. Yes, my wife thinks I'm nuts, but after I built a 5' tesla coil in the garage, she stopped asking and I never give out free information :) I said "almost" because stranger things have hapened. I did light it by sprinkling some on a piece of metal and then ran the discharge from an ignition wire from my truck to the plate. It did eventually light, but it took quite a few hits before it did. This is more juice than you're ever going to generate by walking across your carpet. I couldn't even get it to light when I sprinkled some on the jaw of my vise and then used the sparker from a bic lighter. I had to actually light the lighter, then touch the flame to the trail of powder.

5. The explosives industry has been packaging dynamite in cardboard boxes for decades. If it's safe enough for them at a manufacturing level while surrounded by THOUSANDS of tons of other explosives, I'm pretty sure we don't need to be enclosing our wee bit of stuff in a hard, wooden, specially made box.

6. They're telling you to make it out of wood. Wood burns in a fire. What hapens then???

Ok joe. Are you feeling better now?? :) LOL!!!!!

Here's my personal take on it. If you've got kids that are at that age where their fingers are busy, and they like to experiment, put your stuff into something that's lockable. Just in case there is a fire in your house, make sure that it will not allow a pressure build up great enough to detonate powder. This is several hundred PSI at least and is probably up in the thousands of PSI. No tightly sealed metal boxes that can't vent and things of that sort. The stuff has been used by reloaders for decades. Have you ever heard of anyone that had powder or primers magically explode on their own when they weren't using them (they were stored)??? If you have, I'm sorry but I'm gonna say that I don't believe you right up front :)
 
Last edited:
Just a comment, Black Powder (1.1D) and Smokeless Propellants (1.3C) are real explosives. When writing regulations to stretch from one side of this country to the other, quantity is only a small part of the equation. Many of the submissions that I made to Natural Resources Canada, were responded to in a quick and intelligent manner. But then I used my signature block that comes from another government agency that involves explosives.

The recommendations that are in print, are just that recommendations. Unless a government document uses the word "SHALL", it is not in anyway mandatory. End of story. When quoting government laws or regulations always provide the "effective" date which is generally located at the bottom of the page, as this can save much heartache down the line. If there is no date attached it is difficult to use that document as a point of reference in a court of law. Find attached the last "DRAFT" of the proposed regulations

http://www.nrcan-rncan.gc.ca/mms/explosif/pdf/pl_part8_draft16_e.pdf

I deal with ammunition and explosives from around the world, and I must say that North American manufacturers unless they have been sued, provide mininimal effort in packaging alot of their products. If the product is destined for overseas additional overpack is generally used.
 
Last edited:
RePete said:
A steel storage box would create a bomb, that's why they want wood assembled with non ferrous fasteners.
Click to expand...

Sorry joe. I'll fix that for him.

A well sealed, extemely strong steel container, capable of containing a pressure buildup of several thousand psi (over the critical detonation pressure of powder) is capable of creating an explosive situation if the powder stored inside were to ignite. The smaller the container, the quicker the pressure can build up if the powder starts to burn. Large enclosures such as a stackon gun cabnet do not have enough strength and too great a volume to create the pressures required to detonate a few pounds of smokeless powder. I suspect that there is enough space just around the door that released gases from a few pounds of burning powder would be safely released. In a worst case situation, the sheet steel the door is made of would bend outwards, releasing pressure quicker, long before a critical pressure was reached inside the cabnet. They just aren't strong enough.

One side note. Any guns you have inside the cabnet would likely be badly damaged by the hot burning powder in the very unlikely event that it were to somehow ignite.

Better??? ;)
 
Last edited:
blacksmithden said:
Sorry joe. I'll fix that for him.

A well sealed, extemely strong steel container, capable of containing a pressure buildup of several thousand psi (over the critical detonation pressure of powder) is capable of creating an explosive situation if the powder stored inside were to ignite. The smaller the container, the quicker the pressure can build up if the powder starts to burn. Large enclosures such as a stackon gun cabnet do not have enough strength and too great a volume to create the pressures required to detonate a few pounds of smokeless powder. I suspect that there is enough space just around the door that released gases from a few pounds of burning powder would be safely released. In a worst case situation, the sheet steel the door is made of would bend outwards, releasing pressure quicker, long before a critical pressure was reached inside the cabnet. They just aren't strong enough.

One side note. Any guns you have inside the cabnet would likely be badly damaged by the hot burning powder in the very unlikely event that it were to somehow ignite.

Better??? ;)
Click to expand...



OK thanks. Thats what I figured. :)
 
Whats wrong with this picture? :D :D Unsafe storage?

I have taken to reloading at my comp desk until the big melt...the garage is too cold.

Desk%20Reload.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom