My son's girlfriend talks about gun powder not being safe in the house. She's been watching too many western with black powder.
It's the freaking movies anyway. Cans of modern day smokeless gun powder just doesn't blow up on its own. People just say anything when they have nothing to say that's intelligent. I been reloading since '75. I been safe for all these many years.

Every have stupid people say stuff they don't have a clue about?

When I first started reloading in about 1979, I called the Fire Department's fire prevention hotline to ask "What type fire extinguisher should I have on my loading bench?" The idiot on the phone says I will be blown up and won't need a fire ext. I tell he knows nothing and find someone who does. It takes an hour of transferred calls through the bomb squad until finally a Major (he reloaded shot shells) that was visiting the fire academy heard the question and got on the line ans says, the smokeless powder burns fast and is self oxidizing and house hold extinguishers won't work on the powder but a bucket of water will, then have the stand ABC extinguisher on hand for whatever else might have caught fire. When I ask about the dumb answers I got he said, "Firemen watch too much TV." I talked with a friend of mine that retired from the same department as a Battalion Chief about this about 10 years later. he said he didn't know and maybe (and doubtful) the arson squad might know. So he called the State Fire Marshal's office, and their people didn't know. Talked with a retired Dispatcher from a small town Department, he was/is a reloader he knew and as a test pulled out a cell phone called the captain on duty and posed the same question, got an emedite answer that was correct, and tested a fireman on duty to see if,he could get it right (he did). Some people are not taught to think things through, some are! Ivan

This will probably be a recurring problem for you, no matter who he dates/marries.

You might tell her she's pretty brave riding in a car . . . she's *really* close to a bomb there.

But you're probably better off saying nothing - she'll just take it out on your son.

And you can't fix stupid, not even with duct tape. Though it does muffle the sound some

It could be worse, some women say that they will not allow a gun in the house period. Last month the TV news said a building was on fire and the fire dept. had to wait because of ammunition in the burning building. In case anyone here missed it there is a govt. video on youtube that explains that it is not hazardous to firemen.

30 years ago this February our house had a fire that took out the kitchen and the bedroom above it. We weren't staying there because our water had been froze for several days. I had bought fuel oil and had started the furnace for the first time since we bought the place. A flu fire started in the wall and came through the wall into the kitchen. Before the freeze out I had been reloading on the kitchen table and there was a can of IMR 3031 sitting on the table. It was there during the whole fire and paper products all around it were scorched. The powder never ignited and around 8 months later I finished using that can of power. There were no signs of deterioration in the powder and the 300 Win mag rounds I loaded performed as well as those loaded before the fire! Ivan

Ignorance can be fixed. Stupid is forever.

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Semper Fi until I die

You probably should refer this lady to the published info about powder storage in the front of about every reloading manual in existence (and on the web), but, on the other hand, see above.

Take girl friend and son out side, put 1/4 teaspoon (don't need much) smokeless powder like Bullseye, Red Dot or Unique (ball powders are harder to ignite) place it in a ceramic or metal container and light it. Show her it does not explode just sort of fizzles and burns.
These people believe everything in the movies, on TV and on the net is Gospel Truth....like my daddy would say, " they eat up with a case of the screaming stupids."
I fear a stupid person's Attorney a whole lot more than the stupid person.
Gary

She got the misses upset and the misses asks me if it's unsafe? I tell her it's very safe until you pull the trigger. That's when the kaboom happens.

Good lesson, but it won't have any effect. If she's convinced that any gunpowder will blow up the house, her fear will be very difficult to overcome...

My favorite is when a movie/TV show etc has a lab - especially a genetics lab such as I worked in - and every glass container has some vividly colored fluid in it. When I worked in a lab most of the glassware was empty - sterilized and ready for use - and of those which had any sort of fluid in them - the most colorful was growth media which was kinda beige. They do at least generally get pictures of DNA comparisons right.

While I haven't seen any videos of an entire bottle of gun powder set on fire - there is this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvlkeK7UF_Q which shows a small bit of gun powder lit up and it does burn quickly and brightly - but no explosion - of course to get any kind of pop you would need a container. What makes a firearm so effective is that the container in which the gunpowder is ignited is strong enough to trap ALL the combustion products inside the case / chamber / barrel behind the projectile. Any other container such as a plastic bottle is going to rupture or split open or melt long before you have enough o the combustion product produced to cause an explosion as you would expect to see with a high explosive.
This video is at least closer with a full pound - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6hOWo2h-dg - but uses black powder taped into a cardboard tube - although not quite professional at least an attempt was made to contain the black powder during combustion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SlO...ature=youtu.be

Found this video produced by SAAMI q while back. Answers a lot of questions. PASS IT AROUND!

That video of W231 being burnt was too painful to watch...

Probably could have saved yourself a lot of trouble and just called the powder manufacturer. They had better know how to deal with that particular issue.

Under correct storage conditions powder is merely a flammable solid. Even being in the plastic container doesn't cause an explosion because the container melts. And powder doesn't run all over the place like charcoal lighter fluid does.

Don't look at the stupid MSDS. It classifies smokeless powder as an explosive. From a safety standpoint of industrial quantities it's right to class it as an explosive, but PROPERLY stored in your home, it ain't. The last time I think it could be classed as an explosive is when it gets off the truck at a gun store and is no long packed, stacked cases.

Nail polish, hair spray, oils (vegetable included), bug sprays, alcohol. The list of flammables in your home is very lengthy. And just like gunpowder, if they are contained they can be EXPLOSIVE.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

Hating people (and doing it really well) takes a lot of effort. I find that hating people solely for their ignorance or stupidity is an unnecessary waste of my time and energy. There are too many of them and much bigger fish to fry. Save your really serious hate for those who truly deserve it.

47 of 63 posts deleted because they are off topic, irrelevant, or just plain stupid.

I'm convinced this thread inspires stupidity.

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Regards,
Lee Jarrett