Traditional Muzzleloading Association
Shooting Traditional Firearms and Weapons => General Interest => Topic started by: Sjfriend on March 19, 2017, 12:02:24 AM
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I did a little checking around but didn't find real info. How does BP handle repeated freeze / thaw cycles? I've seen info stating it can freeze fine but what about over and over. If I store in house, no problem. If I store in shed (locked away from kids and wood stove heat) it could experience a whole lot of freeze / thaw cycles in just a few weeks let alone in a year or 5 (if buying for future)
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As long as it is sealed in the original containers it should be alright. I have had some go through deep freezes and thaws during transportation without any issues. Powder mags I know are not heated. BP is not heated during transportation either.
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Mine is stored in an outbuilding. No problem in 20 years. Each can is sealed in a ziplock bag before I put it in the magazine.
Ironhand
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Mine handles South Dakota winter's just fine freezing and thawing
I have had a couple cans of some old pyrodex get kinda rusty but that's about it
I'm pretty sure that was caused by the humidity and moisture in the summer months though
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Thanks for the responses. From what I had seen and read I kinda figured it should be ok. Some years we can go thru the freeze/thaw cycle like 50 times in a month with our wild temp swings.
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I store mine both in and outside. Never have had a problem with it.
When I lived in Ohio (a very long time ago) it was normally the humidity that sometimes played a little havoc with me when sometimes I would get some chunks in my powder horn or can, but some shaking of either one brought it right back to a usable condition and I don't believe it effected my accuracy,,, least I don't recall it doing that.
Since living in the northwest part of Nebraska for the last 30 years (give or take a year), I've not had this problem regardless of where I store my black powder as our humidity here, is nothing like Ohio's humidity. We have it, but not to the same long extended seasonal periods.
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Mine is stored in coolers, and since it doesn't get very humid or cold in the little basement room; It is just fine. I still have a can of Dupont nearly 50 years old that's been stored just sitting on shelves, etc, for decades and it's as good as ever.
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When I was in the Fairbanks, Alaska area, poor as the proverbial church mouse and trying to stay warm at -40d in a 1953 vintage, 28' trailer, EVERYTHING froze. :laffing But Hanshi has me beat with 50 year old powder....
~WH~
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I have some old Dupont powder in an original 1/2# can that I found in an old barn 30 years ago. The can has a price tag of $.50 from a hardware store that went out of business more than 50 years ago. No heat in the barn, so this powder went thru many cycles of freeze/thaw, heat and humidity. I tried the powder in my .45 Hatfield and it went off just fine. I could tell no difference from new powder.
As I recall, the frontier mountain men sometimes got their powder wet when crossing rivers. They spread the powder out on flat rocks in the sun to dry, then put it back in their horns. Black powder is very forgiving I guess.