Thread: How "cool" is cool for gunpowder storage.

Originally Posted by terryf

This is completely irrelevant - chocolate chip cookies have 8 times more energy than TNT and 15 times more than BP.

Try replacing the petrol in your engine with black powder and igniting it. It wont go well I promise.

What is important, which these internet tables don't tell us, is how quickly a substance can release its energy, ie, convert its energy to heat.

And you can also add in the odd flour explosion from around the world. Maybe our wives shouldn't have flour stored in the house.

I currently have around 34 cans of powder (greater than 15 kg) which is stored in of all places my hay shed. Yeah, she'll be a ripper.
The cans are stored in two plastic drums, which have breathers.

An interesting aside is how porous the plastic powder cans that the manufacturers pack powder in are - one of my drums has only unopened cans in it. When I take the lid off the drum there is always a nice sweet smell of powder wafting out.

I store in my garage at most 2 cans (500 grams) of the current powder I may be reloading with.
If my garage, and attached house should burn down, one of the hassles I don't want is arguing the toss with my insurance company when they go looking for reasons to squirm out.

To each his own I guess.

BTW In my early stage of married life my powder (very small supply in those days) was stored in a cupboard in the bedroom. I had a can of milsurp party go off when it popped its screw cap and gave off lovely brown fumes. Haven't stored powder in main house since.