Your primer/powder safety ritual

[mewachee]

What are your rituals that you use to keep you ,your family and your home safe?

I am setting up a new hunting/loading office. I have concerns about primer/powder ignition. Last week, while loading trail boss, I noticed that the powder was sticking to everything plastic. Which got me thinking about static electricity.

I am planning on putting a grounded wire outside of this office, that I might grab it before I go in.

I have seen a thread here called something like, "show me your loading bench;" but generally I see powder stored on the shelf, in the open.

Also, I noticed that sportsman's warehouse has recently removed full bottles from the floor, and I was told that they store them in a safe now.

 

[zxcvbob]

1. Only one can of powder on the bench at a time (it matches what's in the powder measure.)
2. Primers stored away from powder.
3. Only one pound of black powder in the house at a time.

That's about it for me.

 

[jfh]

1. I do NOT store powder in a tight, closed area--that creates a bomb, so to speak, should the powder ever start to burn.

2. I do NOT have more than one powder container on the bench at any one time.

3. Powder Measures in use are labeled with the powder in them--I use masking tape and a fine point permanent marker.

4. Primers are stored separately from the powder--the powder is in the base cabinet, and the primers are on the shelf above the bench.

Static electricity is a non-issue in my house--even in the wintertime, and even with powders like Ramshot True Blue and / or Silhouette, which is / are almost flour-fine and does show some 'cling' to my (Lee) hoppers.

Jim H.

 

[WayneConrad]

Your Sportsman's Warehouse keeps the smokeless powder in a fire locker because fire regulations requires it. Not because there's any danger from spontaneous ignition from static.

I don't think smokeless can be touched off by static. Smokeless is hard to ignite: I was unable to light smokless using even flint and steel. To see if smokeless could be used as tinder, I used a SparkLight Firestarter (a one-hand flint-and-steel) to try to touch off a pile of smokeless. I was unable to get it to touch off.

If you try this, use gloves, and do it outside on a non-flammable surface, in case it works for you. Smokeless burns very hot. But don't be surprised if nothing at all happens.

You may note that the instructions for your powder measure probably contains a prohibition against its use with black powder. That is because black powder is sensitive to ignition from static. Smokeless is not.

 

[Sunray]

"...hunting/loading office..." Geez, an office? Sounds like work to me. Relax. Static electricity won't light smokeless powder. It might ignite BP though.
However, if you live in a place that regularly has thunder or lightning storms, ground the whole house with lightning rods. A lightning strike on your house will fry any electronic devices. Your TV, PC, stereo, etc.
"...recently removed full bottles from the floor..." Security, not a safety issue. Mind you, some local government twit might have made a glib decision.

 

[mewachee]

I'm not worried about my practices. However, I want to incorporate everything I can. For instance, I don't separate my primers and powder very much, but this is great advice.

I have never looked at the properties of powder in non-pressure burn situations; is it like c4, in that it burns like a candle if not pressurized? As a side note, I remember an instructor demonstrating how c4 will burn, and insisting that no one try to stomp it out. For this reason, is it best to store powder on an open shelve?

Sunray, I have children 8 and down, so I need a locked place for my reloading materials, and if I store my hunting equipment and clothing in my house it ends up smelling like a bath and body works. Worth the effort. Plus, reloading is like zen to me, and I need my space for my zen.

 

[KD5NRH]

I have never looked at the properties of powder in non-pressure burn situations; is it like c4, in that it burns like a candle if not pressurized?

It will spark and fizz a lot. If you've ever watched a flintlock fire, it looks a lot like the priming powder burning, but somewhat slower. A line of most powders will burn slowly enough to watch the flame front, but will put off a lot of heat and smoke.

Whenever I have pulls with the impact puller, due to the possibility that there may be some Bullseye or Unique stuck under the pad that I don't want mixed in with Blue Dot or 2400 for example, I burn off the powder. I generally pour it on a board and make a thin line off to the side, then touch off the line with a cigarette, making sure that my face isn't over any part of it. It looks pretty impressive, but overall it strikes me as far less dangerous than folks who light campfires or grills with gasoline.

I guess I should point out that this is all with smokeless; DO NOT try it with black powder. Black is best disposed of by finding someone with a cannon, or by just sprinkling it around the yard; the oxidiser is very water soluble, and all three components are good for plants.

 

[Dumpster Baby]

When charging primed cases I put 50-60 in an RCBS loading block UPSIDE DOWN (primer up), then as I fill them with the powder measure I put each one back in the block right side up.

The block is then visually inspected to see that each case has the same level of powder in it. Only then is the block moved to the press to seat bullets. I never charge more than one loading block of cases at a time.

This makes it nearly impossible to lose your place and double charge a case or leave a case empty. Small charges of fast powder in a pistol case don't take up much room, and it's possible to get 2 or 3 charges in them.

Those with progressive and turret presses probably have other methods, or are rigidly trapped into the method the press dictates.

 

[The Bushmaster]

I don't hit the primers with a hammer and I don't light a match when the powder is out...

 

[snuffy]

I don't hit the primers with a hammer and I don't light a match when the powder is out...

That about sums up my procedures with primers and powder.

Primers are NOT going to jump off the shelf and attack you. Powder is not going to explode or start burning by itself.

 

[mewachee]

We had a cop here a couple of weeks ago shoot an xd at the range, apparently ammo loaded by someone else. I was told the assumption was that that round had 3 or 4 times the intended charge. Blow the gun, but no perminant damage to the hand. This is why I am looking into an xd.

I am systematic about prepping brass to. The brass is flipped up or down when a significant, not obvious, change has occurred. I don't have a progressive press, so I weigh my powder, grab the brass, put the powder in the brass, then seat a bullet. Then I move to the next. I know it seems to be a little work, but I don't look at reloading as a chore.

 

[Idano]

Like the others I only have the powder I am using, 8 lbs keg, on the bench at the time I am loading but I have the primers sitting in the tubes sitting about a four feet away.

I personally have never had a primer detonation while reloading or known anyone who has, but I have read here where some have. I guess it has to be under just the right conditions and so far in 30 years of reloading those conditions haven't been met.

Your Sportsman's Warehouse keeps the smokeless powder in a fire locker because fire regulations requires it.

That is only your local ordinance, here in Idaho (Okay in theTreasure Valley) they are the open shelf along with 8 lbs kegs.

 

[mewachee]

Idano, not in idaho falls. I was sometime last fall, I think, that they started to store it off the shelf. The have empty containers for display, so you have to go to the counter to request what you want.

 

[rcmodel]

Concerning static electricity and reloading equipment.

Get yourself a can of this:
http://www.walgreens.com/store/prod...=frgl_657172&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=sku304260

I use it on scale pans, powder hoppers, funnels, anything plastic that powder clings to.

Also great stuff to have around when you open a box full of plastic packing peanuts!
Keeps dust off the TV screen, and keeps me from getting zapped when I get out of my truck and slide across the seat.

Heck, it even keeps my slip from clinging!

rcmodel

 

[PecosRiverM]

Heck, it even keeps my slip from clinging!


I don't even want to touch this one

 

[sublimaze41]

One powder out at a time. PERIOD.

Check my chosen charge by several resources.

Verify scales are true with a check weight.

Keep a fire extinguisher in the reloading area.

 

[The Bushmaster]

Careful rcmodel...You might be giving up family secrets...

 

[mewachee]

as far as fire goes, I could install a couple of sprinklers. In this room, I am not concerned about accidentally opening the sprinklers. However, I am more concerned about explosion than I am about fire.

So far, it doesn't sound like I do to much different than anyone else. I think I will store my primers and powder on opposite sides of the room. I will not prime with powder out. For the sake of caution, I will install a ground to the door handle. Thanks for any good advice.

 

[Mr White]

I never cook up batches of meth in the same room that I reload in, and I never store my meth-production supplies with my reloading supplies.



disclaimer: I do not make methamphetamines nor do I condone the manufacture, sale or use of any illegal drugs.

 

[snuffy]

However, I am more concerned about explosion than I am about fire.

Smokeless powder does not explode, it burns. The more it's confined, the faster it burns. So to protect yourself, don't confine it.

The containers it comes in are purposely weak in construction to allow the gases to rupture the container so the pressure can escape. In order to explode, it has to be totally enclosed in a steel casing, in other words a B.0.M.B.!

Primers have to be purposely struck with a LOT of force to detonate. Sitting on a shelf will not lead to them suddenly exploding. In a fire if they get hot enough, they will explode. The packaging isolates each one, so they can't all go at once

disclaimer; I do not make explosive devices, nor do I condone their manufacture.

 

[donttellthewife]

First I find a female virgin of appropriate age, then construct the alter of.......... sorry wrong ritual

 

[mewachee]

Ok, I know that primers don't just go off, they do however when loading them. Not sure why they do, but I have read about it. Again, I know they don't ignite on the shelf.

Also, I understand that true explosion is not what we are talking about, and that rate of burn is. I am just interested in your safety practices, with primers and powder, if you have them.

 

[KD5NRH]

I personally have never had a primer detonation while reloading or known anyone who has, but I have read here where some have. I guess it has to be under just the right conditions and so far in 30 years of reloading those conditions haven't been met.

Try the old Lee loader - the thing you use with a mallet. I seemed to detonate about three in every hundred with that thing before I decided it was just easier to carry the Autoprime around with it. Never had one detonate in the Autoprime, though.

The detonations in the loader were surprising, but not deafening, and even though my fingers were less than an inch away and got covered with soot, there was no actual heat or blast injury.

 

[PTK]

I have only one box of primers and one can of powder in my workshop at a time. The rest are kept in two different storage rooms, though I keep blackpowder and smokeless together.

 

[K3]

I finally separated my primers and powder last night. I still need to build or find a wooden cabinet for my powder. I only keep one jug of powder on the table, and and when I am not priming, there are no trays of primer on the table. I use the Lee hand priming tool. Here is where I do not follow written safety advice. Lee advises that Federal primers not be used in it. They also limit the number in the feed tray to 10 for Winchester I believe. I do use Federal in it, and I put 20 or 30 at a time in it of any primer I am using.