Having to abandon fighting a fire or having to tell responding firefighters that there is a large amount of powder in the house or workshop and then having them abandon fighting an otherwise extinguishable house fire because there is powder stored there and consequently lose everything, is a decision I had to make twice and I never want to have to make it again!
For several years now I have stored my powder deep below ground in order to keep it cool and safe from accidental ignition. At one time I used seven-foot deep storage wells dug with a power pole hole auger and lined with 8” corrugated plastic drainage pipe. Where I live now the ground is too rocky to easily excavate holes with my power pole auger, so I dug pits six feet deep with a skip loader tractor and buried stacks of seven or eight 18-wheeler truck tires in the pits. Truck tires are usually 22.5” or 24” rim size, which leaves a pretty big space down the middle of the stack when filled in with soil around them. Most tire stores will gladly give you unusable truck tires so they don't need to pay to dispose of them, but they will usually ask you what you are going to do with them to make sure they get disposed of properly since in a lot of places the tire stores have to account for all tires that get thrown out. I tell them that I use them for driving my bulldozer across paved roads (which I also use them for), which is standard operating procedure for driving Caterpillar bulldozers across paved streets. When filling in the soil around the tires they should be stacked up one-at-a-time and then the soil filled up to the top tire before adding another one to the stack. The tire on top needs to be securely clamped to the one beneath it with big C-clamps to prevent the dirt from pushing the tire off to the side and spoiling the alignment of the stack. It is a lot of work to dig up a tire once surrounded with soil in order to move it over if it gets offset, so clamping it to the tire beneath it in the stack to keep it in alignment is a good idea. The air space inside the tire bodies can be used for one pound powder cannisters if short pieces of 2x4s are inserted between the tire beads to hold them apart and then several water drainage holes cut into the tire walls, otherwise if water ever condenses inside it will collect and pool in the tire bodies. I leave the bottom of the hole open to the ground in case rain ever runs down inside so it will immediately soak into the ground. Soil is normally a bit damp, so the powder containers need to be water-tight plus have the powder designation, date, and lot number written on the container with Sharpie permanent marking pen in case the paper labels ever get damp and the ink runs, which I have had happen. My storage pits are not any worse than keeping powder in a basement since basements are usually a bit damp, too. I never keep my guns or tools in underground storage because they would immediately rust. Primers need to be kept in air-tight steel ammo boxes, if you do that make sure that the rubber lid seals are in good shape. If the water table is just a few feet below the surface where you are, then making a large above-ground mound will also work as long as the mound is big enough to block solar heat that builds up in the soil in the summer months. In the summer, soil temperature will usually reach 85°F at 18-inches depth, which is too hot for powder storage, so above ground mounds need to be substantial enough to provide adequate insulation from solar heat build-up in the soil.
On October 26th of 2003, a huge arson-caused brush fire swept through the area where I lived at the time and all the fire departments in Southern California were so overwhelmed by the whole southern part of the state going up in flames from arson I had to fight the fire myself in order to save my house. Even though I had 200-foot wide fire breaks all around my house and barn it was not enough to fend off the firestorm of burning tumbleweeds that rained down on me from miles around. As I was fighting the 60-mph wind-driven-inferno that was raging all around scorching the paint on my house, all I could think about was the two cases of surplus powder sitting in the normally cool dark storage closet in my work room. I was pondering at what point I should abandon fighting the fire that was burning the east end of my house and leave so as not to get burned to death by the sudden conflagration from 96 pounds of powder if it that part of the house where the powder was kept caught fire while I was around the other side out of view of what was going on there. I know that smokeless does not explode, but it does burn quite rapidly and generate a huge volume of red-hot gas one cannot outrun. Having to abandon fighting a fire or having to tell responding firefighters that there is a large amount of powder in the house or workshop and then having them abandon fighting an otherwise extinguishable house fire because there is powder stored there and consequently lose everything, is a decision I never want to have to make again! Fortunately, I was able to monitor the fire situation well enough to know that my powder stash was safe from outside ignition and I was able to save my house, but I did lose my barn that contained enough stuff to stock a mom & pop hardware store. That hurt! Storing my powder away from the house in a place where it will never, ever, be subject to ignition from an accidental fire in or near the house/workshop solves that problem.
Storing powder underground keeps the powder cool and in the dark, and immune to ignition from outside sources such as brush fires. Properly done without any metal by avoiding steel belted tires it is also immune to lightning strikes, and if you live in a place with a lot of lightning ground strikes or tornadoes, underground storage may be the answer. If you stocked up on a lifetime supply of inexpensive surplus powder while it was available, you can make sure it stays good for decades by storing it in a cool dark place. Another thing that may be quite important is not storing powder in the house or garage even if it is perfectly safe there since fire insurance policies may be voided by its presence in large amounts even though it has nothing to do with causing fires. Insurance companies are always looking for ways to get out of paying off on policies.
The biggest factor in long-life for powder is keeping it cool. A second important thing is keeping it in the dark since the blue-violet end of the visible light spectrum on up into the invisible ultraviolet light spectrum has enough energy to cause decomposition over time since the shorter wave-lengths of light carry the most molecule-damaging energy. Think of getting sun burned, or plastic shopping bags that fall apart when left out in the sunshine for a few days, or the light-sensitive adhesives used in dentistry that are rapidly set-up by intense blue light. When light and ultraviolet light photons run into the valence electrons that hold molecules together, the imparted energy released by the photons to the electrons breaks the molecular bonds created by the electrons and the powder molecules come apart, forming new highly reactive compounds that further tear apart more powder molecules. Heat does approximately the same thing by physically shaking the molecules apart, the higher the temperature the more violent the molecular shaking becomes. This is an over-simplification, but it covers the basics of how powder decomposes from these particular forces.
I have some Finnish 7.62x53R cartridges (7.62x53R is the Finn designation for the Russian 7.62x54R) that were loaded in 1939 by VPT using powder made in Nazi Germany. They are still okay after 70 years because for a good part of their life they were stored in Finland, which has a rather cold climate most of the year, and I have kept them stored cool ever since I bought them in 1964. Being kept cold is a good part of what is responsible for the powder remaining stable for such a long time. Other factors are using preservatives that neutralize the destructive decomposition products.
rl555
|
   
   
|
|
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by BD
