Do you think it is safe to store powder in the house bearing in mind it has to be locked into a containor to keep kids away from it.

I can store in a recessed wall cupboard (thick wall in north facing room - very little temperature swing constant humidity ie a tad damp)in a little used room where the force of any explosion would go out through the wooden cupboard door or an outhouse with temperature swings from -1c to 25c.

Amount of powder stored is up to 12kg.

Storage in the house should be no problem.

Assuming you are talking modern smokeless powder and not black powder, the stuff is probably safer to store in the house than a lot of other things you hadn't thought of.

Explosion risk is almost non-existant. Modern gun powder must be TIGHTLY confined (like in a pipe bomb or rifle cartridge) before it will explode. Otherwise it is nothing but a bit of a fire hazard.

I have NEVER heard of an accidental explosion from normal storage and I doubt anyone has. So don't start building blast proof doors in your house. You won't need them.

1894,

I know that tins with a bit of powder left in them will "pop" open in a fire. Same deal as throwing them into a fire with a bit of water in them.

I like to keep powder in one of those lockable steel lockers because I figure if ever it does let go for some reason, it won't burn beyond the locker, but with wood it would set fire to it.

Mine is in the garage on a concrete floor and nothing is next to the locker.

Mike

In my town, a local benchrester managed to get his house on fire last year. A couple of kegs (8 lb ers) did create a bit of a "fire hazard" when they went up. Big "woof".

Take a look at the storage requirements they have for powder distributors. They are all required to use loose fitting wood cupboards, so many feet apart.

As mentioned above, the WORST thing is to confine the powder and create an explosion hazard. JMO, Dutch.

Gun powder containers are tested for being "explosion proof." I've seen the pictures of where they put detonators inside cases of gunpowder and all they got was a bit of a poof and fire.

If everyone who worries about storing their gunpowder would take a careful look around their garage, they would MOST LIKELY find far greater explosion and fire hazards. I know I've got a gallon of lawn mower gasoline in there and all the waxes, polishes and solvents in there are fire bombs waiting to go off. And of course we haven't talked about poisons.

I think of gunpowder about like I do my chainsaw. Both are dangerous, but I'm going to have to deliberately start them.

As a hellion kid, I remember trying various ways of igniting gun powder. Never got a very spectacular fire, much less an explosion. Thank goodness I wasn't smart enough to figure out HOW to make it go bang.

It's not so much the starting a fire as the reaction in a fire that I worry about!

Inside it will be providing house insurance isn't an issue....

1894:

Your storage place sounds near perfect.

As long as you keep powder out of a tightly confined space (the worst place to store powder would be something like a safe), and preferably insulated to a degree by a material which is a poor heat conductor (wood is better than metal for cabinet material, obviously), then you should be just fine.

1894 - I wouldn't bring the subject of gun powder up with the insurance people. Those idiots wouldn't have a clue about it's combustion properties. You will only panic them. If you have a house fire, there will be enough other combustable things going WOOOSH to entertain the firemen. A few pounds of gun powder won't make any difference.

I should think your biggest storage concern will be humidity. Keep it as dry as possible...for the powder's sake.

One inch thick (minimum) wooden box in a cool dry place....

http://www.hodgdon.com/data/general/nfpa.htm#top

Bill

I keep mine in a plastic cooler with a loose fitting top inside of a wooden cabinet in the garage. Nothing to contain the powder so it explodes in a fire, and the cooler seems to prevent huge temperature swings.

Now if I could just figure out about the 10,000 rounds of ammo in the basement.....

SMOKELESS POWDER, PYRODEX, AND OTHER FLAMMABLE SOLIDS: Inside house in cool, dry, place not near any source of fire, excessive heat, or static electricity, is OK!! Black Powder: Requires extra storage precautions!! Is best kept in wooden containers in a wooden building, 50 yards or more away from any occupied buildings, or in an underground ammo bunker!!

ammo bunker? haha ok. Will you go with me to the local township office to fill out the permit to build a 'blackpowder bunker'

I bet we could time the ATF agents and make a betting pool here for $5 per time. Procedes to bail us out