We need another expert to help us, but
a dry chemical ABC extinguisher isn't used for
combustibles which contain their own oxygen. !!!

The dry powder snuffs out common fires by robbing oxygen.
But gunpowder has its own oxygen, so the fire continues to burn.

And yes, you'll spread it all over the room.
In addition, the powder will fill a small room.
It's likely to blind and choke you, while the fire burns.
That ain't good.

If you get a water or foam extinguisher - even a spray bottle of water -
in my own personal experience it puts out gunpowder immediately.
We did that on the sidewalk as kids, with Dad's blessing,
so we would know how to put it out.

Got kids in the house? Kristen maybe?
It's good to teach youngsters how to extinguish various fires, including gunpowder.


Calling all firefighters. Can you lend a hand here?

 

Having used fire extinguishers during the course of my job (I'm a Super for a large general contractor), I know the 2A10-BC extinguishers (typically a form of sodium powder or other dry chemical) that are commonly used are pretty limited in how they should be used. What I mean by that is, they completely destroy in the short term whatever area you use them in, as well as incapacitate you if you use them in a small area. They are effective at putting many kinds of fire out, but they are far from ideal. Also, as was posted earlier, smokeless powder acts as it's own source of oxygen. This renders standard dry chemical extinguishers useless.

I switched all of my house extinguishers to clean-agent Halotron (formerly Halon when it was available). It's a good compound to use in say, a kitchen fire where grease is involved. Or let's just say you actually want to continue living in the space where you had a fire.... Clean-agent beats dry chem hands down.

For the reloading bench, I keep my powder in small lots while loading. That way if the worst happens, the fire would be small. I do not endorse spraying burning powder with anything pressurized. That will make a bad situation exponentially worse. If any of my powder were to flash while I was working with it, I'd have to let it burn out then use the clean agent extinguisher on the surrounding area afterwards, most likely followed by a good dousing of water after the fact.

 

I switched all of my house extinguishers to clean-agent Halotron (formerly Halon when it was available).

Me, too. And one under the car seat (not in the trunk,
you won't make it to the trunk when you need it.)
I used it once, saved my Jeep hundreds of miles from nowhere.
Paid for itself x1000 that day, didn't leave powder everywhere
so we could fix the fuel line and get back home. Hoo Wee!

 

Nick is correct as usual, water is best for powder. You could have a single residential fire sprinkler installed over your reloading area, but resist the urge to DIY it, find a licensed contractor to do the work.

 

As noted the dry powder fire extinguisher has many drawbacks. Add highly corrosive to the list.

There isn't a lot of fire extinguishing power there for any offset. Compare the ratings with say the sort of mostly water turn over and spray often used in dorm water fights. Lots of things more effective than the dry powder for the particular application.

And remember the first rule of home fire fighting is don't do it - get your people out.

 

Somewhat off topic... Way back when... I was doing some wiring work in a computer room that was outfitted with a Halon system, they were planning a test of the alarm system for that day so we were told in advance to ignore the alarm and it was ok to continue working. Well someone messed up somewhere and actually discharged the entire system!
This was in the days when they'd have so much Halon being discharged that it would almost be like changing out all the room air with straight Halon.
Everyone got out ok and suffered no damage, but it sure was something I'd never like to go through again. If it had been a CO2 system setup to discharge the same amount I'm not so sure I'd have made it out.

 

I have a full space CO2 system triggered by a fusible link.

Just kidding.

For a powder fire. Depending on circumstances. I am not sure that you would have enough time to really get a grip on one before it just ran away and incinerated anything in the immediate area. This to include anyone trying to fight it.

We had one rocket scientist a few years ago near here that decided to get rid of some old powder. He figured that it was going to burn like it does in those old western movies where they use it for a fuse to a powder drop. Well the last I heard. they were still waiting to see how the skin grafts were going to heal to see if they were going to be able to restore vision in one eye. :mummy:

 

I wear a good pair of running shoes at all times.

 

USSM GUY - That's sort of what caused me to think about this. I just recently read that the best skeet shooter in the history of the game, Wayne Mayes, was severely 3rd degree burned over 60% of his body while disposing of old powder. One of the approved methods of destroying old powder is to burn it in small piles. The wind caught the pile and blew it into/onto him. He has been in an induced come for about 8 weeks now and is undergoing extensive skin grafts. (See the National Skeet Shooting Association website for more info) This guy had decades of experience in reloading and his life turned in an instant.

Someone above noted, the best thing to do is to get me and mine out of the building ASAP, then worry about the stuff. Probably the best advice on the page.

I will, however look into the better, more appropriate extinguishers.

 

I load in a concrete block building with a concrete slab floor. Building is about 100-ft-or-so behind my house. I bought a longer garden hose.

 

Destroying old powder?
I don't see any need to set it on fire, just sprinkle it around the yard, let the dew take care of it.

 

^ This. It's good fertilizer...

 

What steps have you considered should your powder catch fire while you are in the room?

Evacuate..

 

Water.

Nothing but water.

CO2 will not do anything except blow the powder around.

Smokeless does not need oxygen to burn once it gets started.

Just water to wet down whatever powder has not yet ignited.

The WWII canon powder at Radford Arsenal has been stored in concrete pools filled with water for years.

Maybe they have finally used it up.

 

I would think that if any powder had enough heat to burn, it would be too late anyway. If a bottle of powder caught fire on the bench (? dunno, just what if), it would prolly be consumed before you could get the fire extinguisher from it's storage place and put into play...

 

There are already thorough answers here; I've reloaded for years (shotgun) I'm new to cartridge reloading. I've done some stupid (aka fun) things with gunpowder over the years. In my opinion it burns so quickly that by the time you could even get to an appropriate extinguisher (of which I just had a water spray bottle handy) the powder would be completely burned up.

Wood is obviously flammable but it takes a steady ignition source to get it going. A pile of powder on a flat wood surface would burn so quickly that it might char the surface but would not induce a flame. Now if you have paper/cardboard on your bench (which you should not) that could possibly sustain a flame then maybe. Even so the flame would spread so slow that you could go inside get a glass of water, drink it, refill it then put out the fire in the garage.

All that being said simple precautions should always be practiced. 1) keep your reloading bench clean of anything you are not immediately using. 2) store primers and powder separately. 3) have a water filled spray bottle or an appropriate fire extinguisher nearby. 4) Only play with matches an gunpowder outside on concrete. (this is sarcasm)

 

I have 3 "COLD FIRE" extinguishers in my house, (as well as 4 other regular fire extinguishers). One "COLD FIRE" in the kitchen, one in my bedroom and one in the garage, (less than 12ft from my reloading bench).

In case your wondering;

http://coldfire.biz/index.htm

 

Still requires water.

 

My bench is 12 feet from an outside door. My plan is to use it if necessary.