My reloading area is in my basement. Dryer than most, but the humidity is 70 to 85%

With the internal (under the cap) factory seal intact - should the powder be okay?

How about after the seal's open?

Primers?

Short of an air-tight gun safe, is there anything I can do to insure dry powder and primers in the basement - or should I just store it upstairs in the house?

TIA

Mike TBC

Your sealed powder should be unaffected by the relatively high humidity of the basement. Unsealed powder could begin to "clump" after a week or two of extremely humid weather, but it won't be adversely effected for years, provided it has a chance to dry out. Primers are relatively impervious to high humidity, so long as there is no actual condensation. On the plus side, I would assume that the basement temperature is fairly constant, oui?

Your reloading equipment is probably more subject to damage from the humidity than your components. Rusty dies and powder measure drums can be disheartening.

Have you considered running a de-humidifier when the weather is "sticky"?

Our average humidity here on the Ca. North Coast usually runs in the high 80's to low 90's. I store the powder in the factory containers and the primers in milsurp ammo cans. Never had a problem.

You could try storing your valuables in ammo cans with silica gel in pantyhose "bags." I think you can buy silica gel at chemical supply houses; don't have any idea where you'd get pantyhose...

have had primers in my basement for 40 plus years,and only had 2 non fires-but i destroyed the remaing 600 just to satisfy my nerves. thank goodness the nonfires occured at the range and not hunting.