Gun Powder Storage Containers?

[C1PNR]

A while back I was gifted some Red Dot and Unique in the old cardboard drums. I'd guess 15 pound containers or so. Less than half that remaining now, though, maybe only 5 pounds of each. Seems like good stuff. Clean looking, no discoloration, rust, etc. Smells like my other powders, too.

I need to put it into something more convenient for daily use. A little of the Unique was in a coffee can and had stained the can with powder granule shapes! Some flakes had even stuck to the inside of the can! So I think metal containers are out.

I thought about new plastic bottles, but I sure don't want to put it into something that lends itself to an electrostatic charge and/or spark! Should I be looking for empty Clorox bottles, or something like that? What do you all suggest I use?

[vmt_hntr]

Hodgdon uses some sort of plastic for their powders. Realizing you would like something larger, gallon milk jugs would be quite useful, common and cheap. But I've got some 4759 that has been in a cardboard container for 20 years and still seems ok. If the container is kept in a place that temp is relatively constant and humidity doesn't change much, I see no reason to transfer to another container unless it is falling apart. Then maybe powder is questionable anyway. Just my 2 cents....
Bob in Indiana

[Maven]

WE, Re: bleach & empty milk jugs, etc., you've got to make sure said containers are opaque and that the powder itself doesn't react with and soften them. The electrostatic charge is less of a problem and may be dealt with by wiping or agitating a container with those products you toss in your clothes dryer. ...Maven

[JDL]

C1PNR,
A friend and I bought a drum of WC-844 a few years ago. I made the mistake of putting some of mine in milk jugs. I found a jug last year that had a hole in the side of it and the powder was running out! Very messy!! The plastic in milk containers is not designed for long life as the milk only is good for a couple of weeks. I repackaged mine in Nalgene plastic containers and forgot about it.-JDL

[C1PNR]

C1PNR,
A friend and I bought a drum of WC-844 a few years ago. I made the mistake of putting some of mine in milk jugs. I found a jug last year that had a hole in the side of it and the powder was running out! Very messy!! The plastic in milk containers is not designed for long life as the milk only is good for a couple of weeks. I repackaged mine in Nalgene plastic containers and forgot about it.-JDL
Nalgene plastic containers, huh. Is there a generic name, or even a specific brand of these to look for? I'll try a Google search.

The biggest reason for repackaging is the huge size of the present containers (10" diameter and 15" high - and there are TWO of them).

I know some plastics do not handle powder well at all. That was one reason for mentioning the empty Clorox bottle. It had to hold up to the bleach.

Thanks for the help! :D

[Urny]

I use a retired refrigerator as my powder safe, and store repackaged powder in 20 ounce glass beverage bottles. Sobe bottles. Glass seems to be pretty much non-reactive and the metal tops last a long time. I try not to drop them on the concrete floor.

[C1PNR]

I have given some thought to glass. Concrete floor (at least, will be in the garage) and, I wonder, are there any electrostatic charge concerns with glass?

Wide mouth Mason jars could well be a solution, if no static issue! Thanks! :D

[JDL]

Nalgene plastic containers, huh. Is there a generic name, or even a specific brand of these to look for? I'll try a Google search.
__________________________________________________ ______
I'm not sure of a generic name. These containers are used for storing pretty bad chemicals. A friend got them from a nearby chemical company.
__________________________________________________ ___________

I know some plastics do not handle powder well at all. That was one reason for mentioning the empty Clorox bottle. It had to hold up to the bleach.

Thanks for the help! :D[/quote]
__________________________________________________ ___________
Clorox bottles may work but, I don't think I'll be using either milk or soft drink containers any time soon. Glass will work if kept in a dark place but, it won't bounce if dropped :) .-JDL

[Ed Barrett]

Hi-tech powder in St. Louis uses white bleach bottles to ship their powder. I've had some for years and have had no problems. I have used the plastic Ovaltin bottles the look just like the ones Hodgdons uses. unless you keep the containers in a light proof cabinet that is shut 99.9% of the time make sure the containers are opaque. I've heard that double base powders can start degrading some type of plastic quicker than single base, I don't know that for a fact, but it came from a chemist.

[wills]

C1PNR,
A friend and I bought a drum of WC-844 a few years ago. I made the mistake of putting some of mine in milk jugs. I found a jug last year that had a hole in the side of it and the powder was running out! Very messy!! The plastic in milk containers is not designed for long life as the milk only is good for a couple of weeks. I repackaged mine in Nalgene plastic containers and forgot about it.-JDL
Nalgene plastic containers, huh. Is there a generic name, or even a specific brand of these to look for? I'll try a Google search.

The biggest reason for repackaging is the huge size of the present containers (10" diameter and 15" high - and there are TWO of them).

I know some plastics do not handle powder well at all. That was one reason for mentioning the empty Clorox bottle. It had to hold up to the bleach.

Thanks for the help! :D


Try a google search on nalgene you'll get a bunch of containers, some of them labware designed for "agressive" chemicals

[Linstrum]

Hi, Guys! There have been some pretty good answers on what to store powder in and what to avoid. The chlorine bleach bottles have become the industry standard for storing recovered powder in bulk, but those are not light-proof by any means and they have to be kept in the dark if the powder is to be stored in them for more than a few weeks or months. The storage place is dark enough if you can't read a newspaper without turning on the lights. If you have a place to keep your stuff completely in the dark, then the ultimate, at least that I can afford, is to use glass Mason jars. Breakage can create a major disaster, so if you use glass then be sure to put the jar in a big sock, bag, or something to contain it in case it gets dropped and broken. The woven plastic bags used for sandbags are great for wrapping up one or two quart Mason jars (be sure to keep only the same kind of powder together in one bag in case both jars get broken and the powders mix!) and are real cheap. Trash bags are okay, too, and I suppose plastic shopping bags are okay, but I don't fully trust them because they sometimes develop holes in the bottom. I also use 2-liter pop bottles. The PETE plastic they are made from is extraordinarily inert chemically besides being quite strong. Of course those must be kept completely in the dark like glass, too. PETE is identified by the recycling id triangle marking with a 1 in it with "PETE" below it. I keep my bulk powder in a storage well out in the back yard that I made by digging a 6-foot deep post hole and then casing it with a length of 8-inch diameter squirrel and gopher-proof plastic pipe down it with a light-weight lid on top. I use the storage well because the temperature a few feet down in the ground never gets above about 55°F. A storage well has to have shade over it at all times because the soil temperature in direct sunlight on a hot summer day can reach 85°F to a depth of one foot, and the heat can transfer through the air down deeper into the well. The lid on a storage well has to be lightweight so in case the powder ever goes off (very doubtful) it is not confined. Because the well is in effect a giant mortar tube you don't want the lid to become a projectile.

Static sparks have always given me fits just thinking about it. If you ever pour out some IMR4895 in the dark it will give you the willies to see the little sparkles of light running through the powder! When the weather is humid, if you pour from a plastic container to another plastic or glass container you are pretty safe. On cold dry windy days is when you run into the greatest potential for ignition problems. Ignition usually happens while pouring powder to or from plastic or glass to metal, or metal to metal. If you walk across the carpet and electrocute yourself just touching the doorknob, then don't handle powder! To be safe on days like that, you can humidify your loading room by putting out a BIG pan of very hot water for five or ten minutes before starting, or misting the air for a minute or so with a fine spray from something like an old Windex spray bottle. Before handling powder always ground yourself to an electrically grounded metal object like a real METAL cold water pipe that goes in contact with the soil (it never ceases to amaze me the number of people who "ground" something to a plastic water pipe!) Concrete is an excellent conductor of electricity and simply having a concrete floor in your reloading room is a big help in itself. On a concrete floor, take your shoes off when pouring or handling powder and you'll be safe. Touch to ground (like the concrete floor) all metal objects the powder comes in contact with before putting powder in it. If you have your shoes off then just picking the metal up is good enough. Black powder is the most sensitive to spark ignition, but most black powder, and smokeless as well, has graphite in it to equalize static charges that develop when being poured. Light colored powders, like Bullseye, don't have graphite on the grains, so maybe be a little more careful with those.

[JDL]

Nalgene plastic containers, huh. Is there a generic name, or even a specific brand of these to look for? I'll try a Google search.
__________________________________________________ ______
I'm not sure of a generic name. These containers are used for storing pretty bad chemicals. A friend got them from a nearby chemical company.
__________________________________________________ ___________

I know some plastics do not handle powder well at all. That was one reason for mentioning the empty Clorox bottle. It had to hold up to the bleach.

Thanks for the help! :D[/quote]
__________________________________________________ ___________
Clorox bottles may work but, I don't think I'll be using either milk or soft drink containers any time soon. Glass will work if kept in a dark place but, it won't bounce if dropped :) .-JDL

[Four Fingers of Death]

Nalgene containers are superb quality containers, they are sold for mega tough camping / offroad storage in camping stores, but are very dear.

I'd be just moving my stuff around and storing them on a shelf in the original containers or hunting around my friends and the local range for empty powder tins.

One idea would be to temporarily decant the powder into a plastic garbage bag and cutting the container down with a jig saw (rule a line around it first where you want to cut it, to get it level, wiggle a sheet of paper around until it overlaps very straight and either cut along the edge or draw a line with a permanent marker. This is surprisingly accurate, we used this system to cut tailshafts down for engine conversions, etc). You will need two cuts it there is a stepped edge for the lid. Seal the two new pieces with duct/gaffer tape. You could place the powder back in loose or keep it in the bag.

Personally, I'd just use the big containers, maybe with some dessicant satchels thrown in. They will make great looking waste bins later.
Mick.

[Willbird]

Number one I have NEVER EVER heard of a single person in the world having powder ignite while pouring it.

Number two,maybe I'm not cheap enough but I see nothing wrong with using powder containers to store powder hehe,simply stop throwing them away, the metal dupont cans can be given a quick coat of spray paint and re-labeled in several ways,

To a certian extent my time is worth money........driving all over town looking for cheap stuff wears a man down after awile if he has a to-do list that isnt getting done.

One could ask around I would think and soon have bushels of empty powder cans coming his way from other friends that shoot.

I AM cheap enough to try to never ever again buy powder in a 1lb can, I will make a one time exception to obtain some to try, then I have a container to unload the 8lb into :-)

The last time I counted I had 50 types of pistol, rifle,and or shotgun powders counting the 777 and FFFg, and there are some others I want to aquire yet. at least 6 types of that I have fallen in love with enough to buy 8lbs, some I inherited.

Bill

Bill

[wills]

Remember the vacuum rifle dryer? What about making containers out of PVC pipe? You could make them so you could draw a vacuum on the powder, or pressurize it with nitrogen or some other inert gas, which might prevent deterioration. It doesn’t admit light or break easily

http://www.aimoo.com/forum/postview.cfm?id=514616&CategoryID=234366&startcat= 1&ThreadID=1672041

[RayinNH]

C1PNR, Hodgdon and the surplus sellers ship powders in HDPE or #2 plastic containers. Bleach, milk, liquid laundry detergents and motor oil are all stored in HDPE. I would opt for the liquid detergent bottles because they are generally dark and easy to clean. I don't know if bleach fumes would have an effect or not on the powder. I store mine in the shed in a cabinet so I just leave mine in the gallon jugs it is shipped in. I do however repack in the #1 powder containers so that I can have some in the house for use. I also relable the container so that there is no screw up as to the contents...Ray

[wheezengeezer]

i have been having good luck with 1 qt oil bottles.they are tough,close up air tight,and fit a shelf great.i buy mobil oil in the wide cap black bottles.the low profile gallon jugs will work good for larger amounts.just drain overnight and degrease with acetone.then wipe the ink off the label.air out good and fill.use marker on the labels for id. if you are leary of static sparks,spray the outside of your plastic bottle with static guard.

[C1PNR]

Thanks for all the great ideas!

Been gone from the area so long, don't have that many reloading friends around to pick up the empty powder containers. That is a GOOD idea for future, though.

Had to go to the local Wal Mart yesterday. Didn't want to go along, but someone had to load the plunder into the Blazer! :o

Wouldn't you know, the Sportsman's Warehouse was just across the parking lot! :shock:

Found the Nalgene 1 Liter wide mouth bottles in the camping section. They are kind of proud of them, aren't they? Anyway, I bought 2 in the darkest (Blue and Green) colors and put Unique in them. They seem like they'll work fine, and I like that wide opening. I'll probably get another 2 in the deep red (for the Red Dot - maybe even I can keep that straight). :wink:

I can also print out large labels and tape around the bottles to both identify and further block the light. Easy to change labels, too, once I run out of this stuff.

[carpetman]

C1PNR--You found those high dollar nalgene bottles and got dark ones for Unique and Red One for Red Dot. You hauled em home in the Blazer. Was wondering if you lets say started using IMR 4064 and IMR 4227 if you gonna have to take out a loan and get an 18 wheeler to haul those 8,291 bottles?

[carpetman]

Willbird--You have never heard of a single person in the world having powder ignite while pouring it. That's all well and good but most of us on this board are married. Scrounger and Waksupi are single but I don't think they'd want the chore of having to pour all our powder. I already overload Scrounger having him post pictures for me. Waksupi is overloaded too---don't know what with,but someone said he was full of it.

[Scrounger]

Willbird--You have never heard of a single person in the world having powder ignite while pouring it. That's all well and good but most of us on this board are married. Scrounger and Waksupi are single but I don't think they'd want the chore of having to pour all our powder. I already overload Scrounger having him post pictures for me. Waksupi is overloaded too---don't know what with,but someone said he was full of it.

As Carpetman says, I am available for powder pouring. My fee is 10% (of the powder) plus expenses (travel, food, motel, doxies, etc.).

[C1PNR]

Okie dokie, boyze! I got enough of them Nalgene bottles to hold ALL that gifted powder. Given time, we'll know if it's OK, or not, as a storage medium! :)

I well remember Skeeter's story about the boolit that bounced off the skull of the bovine his Deputy was trying to "put away." I'll keep GOOD records, and share, with all, those things that are properly shared.? :wink:

Sure hope this works! Them bottles cost more than I want to pay as a danged water bottle! :shock:

[blackthorn]

I have a friend who eats an inordinate amount of greek olives. He saves the tubs the olives come in. These are about 8 inches high and maybe 4 inches across at the widest point. they are shaped like a keg. They come in black, dark green and rust red. They have a rubber-sealed screw on lid and they bounce when dropped. I use them to store bulk powder, brass and other goodies. As for static, I wipe the outside with a sheet of Bounce. Works for me!

[swheeler]

Years ago, mid 1960's, I used to take a couple1gallon glass rootbeer jugs to the local gunsmith, he'd drop a funnel in and fill'em up. He had several large cardbord drums, 4831 and Ball-C, they ran 8.00 a jug full. I never had any problems, but it was always stored in an old desk in my parents basement. Now if I need a container it usually is a coffe can, the new ones are plastic' but so far they work fine.
Scooter

[carpetman]

Swheeler--That gunsmith that filled your glass jugs with powder must have been a bachelor. (never known a single person to have accident while pouring powder)

[swheeler]

NO; he had a wife and 2 daughters I believe, lived to a ripe old age. In 2000 I was in that end of the state and asked about Paul, someone said he had died, 99 years old I believe! Just thumbing thru Hodgdon #26 manual, gives name of 2 employies canning H Clays, one is dumping a box of powder in the large metal hopper, the other is metering it into containers. Sunday before last I picked up some H4831 bulk, 100 pound drum almost empty, set metal coffe can on kitchen scale, scooped (old metal ice scoop)powder in till it hit 5#, grabbed 2 bricks OEM primers, handed him 70.00 and was on my way.
Scooter