RepackboxMidSouth Shooters SupplyLoad DataTitan Reloading
WidenersRotoMetals2Inline FabricationReloading Everything
Lee Precision
Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 20 of 26

Thread: Tiny desiccant bags

  1. #1
    Boolit Grand Master
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Location
    Kaneohe, HI
    Posts
    5,561

    Tiny desiccant bags

    Three questions.
    Those small bags the come in food, vitamins and other stuff.
    1) Can they be rejuvenated???
    2) if so, how?????
    3) Can it be put into a powder bottle to help keep it dry???

  2. #2
    Moderator


    Winger Ed.'s Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2007
    Location
    Just outside Gun Barrel City, Texas
    Posts
    9,480
    I've heard you can warm them in a oven and the water will evaporate back out.

    You might also be able to just put rice in a plastic bag, punch holes in it with a needle and put it in a powder bottle.
    It should work like when people put rice in a salt shaker to keep it from clumping in high humidity.

    Also, if moisture affecting powder was a big problem,
    I think we'd hear more about it or powder would come with desiccant bags in it.
    In school: We learn lessons, and are given tests.
    In life: We are given tests, and learn lessons.


    OK People. Enough of this idle chit-chat.
    This ain't your Grandma's sewing circle.
    EVERYONE!
    Back to your oars. The Captain wants to waterski.

  3. #3
    Boolit Bub
    Join Date
    Jun 2022
    Posts
    59
    I've put them in the microwave for 30 seconds. Turning them over halfway through
    Got to be carefully tho, some of the packages have melted.

  4. #4
    Boolit Master

    pworley1's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2013
    Location
    Mississippi
    Posts
    3,252
    I don't think damp powder is a problem n many places. I live in the south and most days in summer 75% humidity is a low day and I have never had an issue.
    NRA Benefactor Member NRA Golden Eagle

  5. #5
    Boolit Master

    Land Owner's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Location
    Mims, FL
    Posts
    1,864
    They are for the elimination of moisture, or perhaps its "control", though I have never seen one moist and question whether they are of any value. Our packaging has gone through a warehouse or two or three, been trucked into and out of cold and warm weather, some at high altitude, some at sea level, in the air, and across the sea. You name it and not once have I seen one moist. That begins to beg the question of its usefulness...

    I've got hundreds of them, big, small, rectangular, circular, fiber bag, plastic, etc. Been saving them for years! Pick them up in clothing, shipping boxes, Appliance Centers, Department stores, etc. Don't use them, though I'm certain they can be rejuvenated. Try low heat in the toaster oven used for PC'ing boolits with care not to melt the packaging, or just put it all in a ceramic bowl.

    I would NOT put them in with the smokeless powder. Concentrating moisture at the desiccant bag would tend to put the powder in that vicinity at risk of greater moisture and create a "moisture gradient" throughout the powder container, such that the powder consistency might become suspect.
    If it was easy, anybody could do it.

  6. #6
    Boolit Master

    dale2242's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    SW Oregon
    Posts
    2,466
    Keep the lids on your powder containers tightly sealed.
    Nothing else needed.

  7. #7
    Boolit Buddy Newboy's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    South, by God, Carolina
    Posts
    224
    Most of the cautions I see concerning smokeless powder storage concern temperature and not humidity.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

  8. #8
    Boolit Master

    Join Date
    Feb 2012
    Location
    Foothills, NC
    Posts
    2,223
    Had 2-3 large ones, maybe a cup of beads each, that I nuked on low occasionally and kept in the safe. Probably not worth the effort. Golden rod is much easier.

  9. #9
    Boolit Grand Master

    Wayne Smith's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    Hampton Roads, Virginia
    Posts
    13,617
    Guys, ball powders at least are made in, and kept stable in - water!
    Wayne the Shrink

    There is no 'right' that requires me to work for you or you to work for me!

  10. #10
    Boolit Buddy
    Join Date
    Jul 2010
    Posts
    321
    Like dale2242 said, keep the powder can lids tightly closed, that is not a good application for this stuff. A convection oven, set at around 150 degrees F for an hour or two, will do pretty well to get the moisture out of the packets.

  11. #11
    Boolit Master Handloader109's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2014
    Location
    NW Arkansas
    Posts
    2,505
    Not for powder, but they do absorb moisture. I have several that I put in my safe. Been there a year or so, I've a new dryer for my 3dprinter filament and I dropped them into it to see what humidity reading I can get and see if they could be dried. Yep. It took a few hours at 180f ,but humidity went from in the 60s to the 20s. Back in the safe....oven will work too.low temperature

    Sent from my SM-S908U using Tapatalk

  12. #12
    Boolit Master WRideout's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2009
    Location
    Butler, PA
    Posts
    2,605
    I wouldn't know about reusing them; I just eat them. That warning on the package is stupid.
    Wayne
    What doesn't kill you makes you stronger - or else it gives you a bad rash.
    Venison is free-range, organic, non-GMO and gluten-free

  13. #13
    Boolit Master

    Electrod47's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2016
    Location
    Mississippi
    Posts
    638
    You can buy 100 count bags (same size) with color crystals to rejuvenate on Amazon for about 10.00= .10 cents ea
    I buy a couple bags annual for ammo and primer protection.
    “You should tell someone what you know. There should be a history, so that men can learn from it.

    He smiled. “Men do not learn from history. Each generation believes itself brighter than the last, each believes it can survive the mistakes of the older ones. Each discovers each old thing and they throw up their hands and say ‘See! Look what I have found! Look upon what I know!’ And each believes it is something new.

    Louis L’Amour

    The Californios

  14. #14
    Boolit Master
    Join Date
    Apr 2005
    Location
    Emory,TX
    Posts
    942
    Like Wayne said, Hercules powder had an add in the magazines showing a original batch of Bullseye powder that was kept in a bottle of water the add said. It was taken out occasionally dried and tested. They claimed it tested as good as new powder and the original sample was about 100 years old when the add came out.

  15. #15
    Boolit Master
    poppy42's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2017
    Location
    Virginia
    Posts
    1,540
    Quote Originally Posted by dale2242 View Post
    Keep the lids on your powder containers tightly sealed.
    Nothing else needed.
    ^^^^^ this!
    Long, Wide, Deep, and Without Hesitation!

  16. #16
    Boolit Master

    Join Date
    Feb 2012
    Location
    Foothills, NC
    Posts
    2,223
    Quote Originally Posted by WRideout View Post
    I wouldn't know about reusing them; I just eat them. That warning on the package is stupid.
    Wayne
    Crunchy!

  17. #17
    Boolit Buddy
    legend 550's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2012
    Location
    NW Ohio
    Posts
    114
    I have 275 gram and 50 gram silica gel dry packs. I put them with my primers and primed cases in ammo cans. Powder just keep the lid on tight.

  18. #18
    Boolit Grand Master


    GregLaROCHE's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2018
    Location
    Southern France by way of Interior Bush Alaska
    Posts
    5,286
    I always heard you could put them in the oven to rejuvenate them, but why bother. They are really cheap by the hundreds on EBay.

  19. #19
    Boolit Master

    Join Date
    Apr 2005
    Location
    Montana
    Posts
    1,822
    Quote Originally Posted by WRideout View Post
    I wouldn't know about reusing them; I just eat them. That warning on the package is stupid.
    Wayne
    Quote Originally Posted by Silvercreek Farmer View Post
    Crunchy!
    and less filling
    ..

  20. #20
    Boolit Master

    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Location
    NC Arkansas
    Posts
    1,394
    After rejuvenating a bunch, an empty powder bottle would be good for storing the ones you do not want to use right away.
    Spell check doesn't work in Chrome, so if something is spelled wrong, it's just a typo that I missed.

Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  
Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check