Public service announcement for those that may not be aware.  

Since we were moving house a while back and I was setting up a loading/gunroom area in the basement garage I figured I should check up on the requirements for powder storage, more so since I had about 20lbs and a few thousand primers as well.

It appears that the law requires that all powder is stored in a locked shed that is seperate from the actual dwelling.  I didn't see any reference to how far from a dwelling or whatever, just that it be in a different building and not in the house.

That wasn't going to work out so well so I checked with the insurance company.  They said that it was fine to have powder in the garage that was attached to the house so long as it was under some form of lock and key so it wasn't immediately accessible by kids or whatever.  They noted on our policy that I said I would have up to whatever the quantity was that I stated, something like 10 - 15kg or something.  Can't figure why the insurance would have no issue but there you go.

If you are forced to keep powder in the house it might pay to check with your insurers, most wives would be pretty gutted if an insurance company didn't pay out on a house fire claim because her loving husband had 5 tins of powder in the spare room with his loading gear !!

I was told by the cops it was illegal to store in the house, which of course negates any Insurance claims. I store mine in the garage in an old fridge which is also locked. The fridge, being insulated helps to keep powder at a constant temperature which is all good and folows manufacturers recomendations.

Steve,

Are you meaning a seperate garage or an internal access garage ?

If the grage is a different building to the house then that is fine, if it is attached to the house I think it still isn't theoretically correct.

I ran into a lot of problems trying to track down the exact details of what was required and never did satisfy myself that an internal access garage was suitable in the eyes of the law.  Like I said, I told the insurance company exactly what the situation was and even that I had doubts about the legal aspects and they said it was fine.  I am not sure what the insurers stand would be in case oif a fire if I had not told them about it !!

Like I said to the insurers, it is less of a danger/concern that a drum of outboard motor or lawnmower petrol and who doesn't have that in an internal accessed garage ??

I raised this with FMG about 3 weeks ago during  review. They had no problem with gun powder properly stored  in an internal access garrage. Nor did the cop who did my lic renewal last week.

.243Hunter wrote on Aug 29^th, 2007 at 12:51pm:



Black powder is a lower order explosive, where the substace detonates with a propragation wavefront less than a defined limit when confined and ignited, a Higher order explosive (TNT, RDX et al) has a propragation wavefront over that limit.
Propellant powders as used for firearms burn when confined and ignited but don't detonate, which may be why the lower Black powder limit.

"detonate" and "explode" have limited legal meanings and strictly speaking as I understand it, nitro based gunpowder doesn't do eaither, it just burns at a very fast rate.

So as a young chap who can only afford 1 or 2 pounds at a time, storing that in the house is ok?

I questioned my insurance company about this, They took 1 day to get back to me as they where not really familure with this type of enquirey. I am with a larger insurance company too! Wont give out who. Anyhow... they where happy with my precautions, Ie.. Garage, not attached to main dwelling. After 15 minutes explaining to them what it is... hehe and the quintity and its burning nature they where quite satisfied. I compaired it to somone having 4 5L petrol cans filled with all sorts of mixtures and that the fire risk was the same.. and since it is not compressed or confined the resualt will be just a very very fast burn resulting on high preasure... blown out windows, bit of fire etc... nothing too different to when petrol ignights in a confined space. They have noted it on my record (What ever that means)?.

I asked the lady if I was now at a disadvantage because I declared it. She said, not at all, it just means that you are taking some very smart moves.. and it acually was +1 to me.

So what this means is that they know I have 500grams onsite, no more at any one time, and it is not stored in the dwelling. And it is used for recrational usage only. If it was comercial its a different story.. they charge you more in insurance, and also if it did cause major damage to your home you would not be covered etc..

Hope this helps.

If in doubt, Ask your insurance company, And only then they may not know how to answer your question Hehe

.243Hunter wrote on Dec 6^th, 2007 at 2:23pm:


I don't like the neighbour on that side anyway.....