You NEED to keep this in your reloading area.

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Orkan

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If you don't already, you are just ASKING for trouble if you don't have one of these in your reloading area.

http://amzn.to/29l9nYN

This is especially true if you anneal, but you really should have one in there anyway. It could save your life, lives of your family, and possibly everything you own. For $50, that's some pretty damn cheap insurance. I just recently got one, and I feel like a complete moron for not having one around for the last 20 years. For some reason, it just never came up.

At the very least, get this little one: http://amzn.to/29l9mE9
 
I have a 20 LB CO2 extinguisher within the reloading room---and one in the kitchen by the stove as well.;) Lots easier to clean up CO2 IMHO.:) Fire alarms and extinguishers are a must have IMHO. Lots of safety with minimal cost to you comparatively.
 
have several placed around the house including on on the reloading bench
 
Orkan, glad ya finally got around to it! :D

Now, don't forget to replace or refill them as needed. Nothing worse than an extinguisher that goes "phht' when you need it to go "BWHOOOOOOOSH".
 
Ever use a dry chemical extinguisher? We used up six of them that were getting pretty long in the tooth in our company fire training years ago when we went to CO2 extinguishers. Shot them off way out in the back of the property and man did they make a mess. CO2 is my choice hands down, and they are refillable.
 
Yeah, I kind of felt like:
:D


One in the kitchen, one in the reloading room, and one in the shed. I'll have to admit, I haven't always had one in the reloading room. I had the same "wake up" moment you just did a few years back.

Fortunately I have never needed any of them. My boss had a fire start in his kitchen, spread up the wall, and it would have done a great deal of damage had he not had one handy.
 
Ever use a dry chemical extinguisher? We used up six of them that were getting pretty long in the tooth in our company fire training years ago when we went to CO2 extinguishers. Shot them off way out in the back of the property and man did they make a mess.

Fellows that I race cars with that have had car fires put out with dry chemical fire extinguishers never, ever get all the chemical out of their cars.:)

Probably is a good idea to have an extinguisher around, but know how to use it and know its limitations.
 
14 years as a volunteer firefighter and I have seen several garage and kitchen fires that started very small and got out of hand. most could have been put out with a small extinguisher if one had been available.
 
So which of the two should we have in the reloading room, water or chemical?
 
Chemical is going to be the most versatile of them. Some things will go crazy if you hit them with water... but chemical usually will take care of most anything.
 
Water is the best for powder fires. Powder creates it's own Oxygen when it burns so Co 2 will not help much as the powder is still making O2..
If enough powder burns it will start wood, paper fabric whatever in the room on fire.
 
I have one extinguisher at the reloading bench, one 20 paces away, one in the kitchen upstairs, and one in the attached garage. And I doubt it will help, but most of my powder sits between two 5 gallon plastic jugs of drinking water. I figured if I'm storing an emergency supply of drinking water, I might as well store it around the powder.
 
I reload in my garage which has three extinguishers. 2 on the walls and one commercial type on the floor. Couple more live in the house. Cheap insurance for sure. Never had to use one though(knock on wood).
 
Guys, be careful with what type of fire extinguishers you use. Consult the Manufacturers Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) for each powder type you use. I load with Ramshot, Reload Swiss and Bullseye powders and one fire extinguisher type does not cover all. You can find these on the powder manufacturers website:

Reload Swiss recommend water spray (powder, CO2, foam and sand are unsuitable)
http://www.reload-swiss.com/media/e...iss/sicherheitsdatenblaetter/rs60/RS60_GB.pdf

Ramshot recommend large volumes of water (i.e. fire hose) and do not recommend the use of water jets.
http://www.ramshot.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Double-Base-gunpowder-SDS-Ver.-120115.pdf

Alliant recommend for Bullseye to vacate the area - do not firefight
http://www.alliantpowder.com/downloads/sds/30-40_Smokeless_Powder.pdf
 
Got three.

Unfortunately, they're all about the same age and will come up for replacement at the
same time.

I should buy a new one. Then take one of the older to the mountain and use it in practicing outting fires in the burn pit at the old home place.
 
Maybe I am not as prepared as I thought?

Maybe I am not as ready for a house, garage or pole building fire as I thought.

I have located fire extinguishers in each level of the house in the stairwells. I also have one in my garage. In my pole building, I have one by the service door and one across by the far garage door. I did this since my neighbors tractor caught on fire and burned up due to a leaky fuel line. I also have one attached to the side of my reloading bench.

So why am I not ready.
1 - No consideration to type of extinguisher, all general purpose, I bought on price, not purpose

2 - Age of extinguisher, some are very old, no thought of replacement.

3 - Use, I have never actually used one in practice.

4 - Family awareness. I have never shown my wife and kids the locations and purpose of the extinguishers. Never had a conversation.

Thanks for the thread. I can fix this.

Swanee
 
Thanks for the thread. I keep one and a fire blanket in the kitchen - simply hadn't occurred to me to keep one near the loading press.
 
I know I have one in the basement where the reloading stuff is, but reading this thread makes me realize I don't know exactly where it is. I think it's halfway between the powder and the gas furnace, but when I get home I plan to find it.

I keep my powder in a wooden magazine I built just for that purpose, and it's stored directly under where the plastic water line enters the house. I'm hopeful that if I ever have a powder fire that it will melt through the supply line and deluge the powder (and everything else) before it burns the whole place down.

There was an article in one of the Hodgdon reloading manuals about the construction of their Pyrodex plant. I remember them specifying that for something that contains its own oxygen supply the best firefighting system is a water deluge because it cools and disperses the material.
 
I highly recommend the ABC extinguisher in a reloading area. I don't care about clean up near as much as I do about knock down in the incipient phase of a fire. JMHO

The Dove
 
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