Shockey's Yukon Gold powder storage?

[BCRider]

So at the big Canadian Nationals last weekend I tripped over a guy at the swap meet selling SYG at roughly half the price I can buy proper black for. I figured that I'd find SOME sort of use for the stuff so I bought 3lbs each of the ffg and fffg equivalents.

Looking around at reviews on the stuff I suspect I'll use it for my BP cartridge and shot shell reloading and save the real black for my flintlocks.

I'm also seeing that it prefers to be compressed quite heavily. No problem there either.

What I also saw is that it likes to suck moisture out of the air and become lumpy. So this is where my question comes in.....

I'm thinking that I'll store it on the top shelf of my rifle safe which is warmed by a Golden Rod. That should aid with pushing out moisture. In addition as I open the bottles up I'll put a freshly dried sack of silica gel into the bottle to aid in pulling moisture from the powder.

Anyone see anything wrong with that? Or anyone have any notable "horror tales" about the stuff I should know about?

I'll be using it for my 12Ga reloads and .44-40 reloads used for cowboy action.

As I mentioned above I got this at our Canadian Nationals where I shot in Frontiersman. I didn't do as well this year coming in third out of four in the category. But part of that was because I chose this meet to get used to shooting my new Uberti Henry clone. The extra smoke compared to my usual rifle did slow me down a little as did the weight and getting used to the follower toggle tapping me in the hand with the reminder to shift my grip. The roughly 12lb trigger pull did not held much either.

But it was a lot of fun and fit right in with my goal of shifting over to period correct firearms to match with my cap and ball guns.

 

[whughett]

Well it violates every principle for safe powder storage. In the event of a fire your safe is now a bomb. Powder should be stored in a wooden cabinet arrangement where the side wall are stronger than the top. Just pointing that out for consideration, not being derisive.

 

[BCRider]

That's a good and wise point I had not considered. I'll stick with keeping it in the powder storage cupboard. I'll toss in the "dried" silica gel pack to try to keep the moisture content down.

 

[whughett]

That's a good and wise point I had not considered. I'll stick with keeping it in the powder storage cupboard. I'll toss in the "dried" silica gel pack to try to keep the moisture content down.

Some one will correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think black powder in its granulated form is all that hydroscopic. The fired residue is however. Kept in its original container tightly capped it will out live you. Just dawned on me though, you were talking about a substitute so I'm mute there.

 

[Driftwood Johnson]

Yeah, black powder, even before it gets fired, is fairly hygroscopic. It will absorb moisture from the air. But there is no need to throw a little silica bag in with the powder. All you have to do is keep the bottles tightly sealed and they will be fine.

The same with the Shockey's stuff. Just keep the bottles tightly closed and they will be fine.

If you throw the bag of silica in there, eventually you will have a soggy bag in the bottle with the powder. I have stored powder for years in the original tightly capped bottles and never had a problem.

 

[BCRider]

I wondered about the moisture thing since there's more than a few accounts of the Shockey's becoming a little clogged up in the bottles after using it in apparently humid conditions. But it's easy enough to try it. Besides, my basement where it's stored seems pretty dry. No issues with any other powders so I'll just treat it the same until I learn if it needs any extra care.

 

[wmgeorge]

But it already has moisture. I would wait for a nice sunny hot day and set those containers outside in the sun for a few hours and then cap. Putting a bag of desiccant in the bottle and then removing when needed should not be an issue either.

 

[BCRider]

These are new bottles. So no, it doesn't have any moisture in it yet. I was concerned over it because of the reports I read about clumping up from moisture while checking around to see about any loading issues or other peculiarities.

 

[wmgeorge]

These are new bottles. So no, it doesn't have any moisture in it yet. I was concerned over it because of the reports I read about clumping up from moisture while checking around to see about any loading issues or other peculiarities.

Ok, then I just store my powder inside the house and in the factory bottles, never had an issue.