Reloading Ammo and Burning Coal

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Ky Speedracer
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Post by Ky Speedracer » Thu. Aug. 20, 2015 9:20 am

I'm looking for some feedback regarding ammo reloading and the proximity of a coal stove.
I'm a hobby reloader ( handgun and .223/556). I currently have my presses setup in my basement. They are setup in a room that is 20' plus from my coal furnace in a separate room.
I load with smokeless poweder only (no black poweder). My understanding is that smokeless powder is not anywhere near as volitale as black powder. It has been explained to me that it's like diesel fuel and gas ( the smokeless being the diesel...). I'm considering moving my presses and ammo to my detached shop. The shop is currently not heated. It's about 300 square feet.
I would like to find a small stove to put in the shop.
What concerns should I have about reloading while the stove is in use burning bit coal ( besides the obvious that it's gun powder around burning fuel... Lol). The powder is not dusty. Never seems to be airborne. There is some spillage of powder when charging the cartridges but nothing that dusts up.
Anyone reloading in a small area around a solid fuel stove?

 
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Post by gaw » Thu. Aug. 20, 2015 9:36 am

I have done some reloading within about 15’ of a coal stove. As long as you’re not reloading on top of the stove and as long as you’re not a klutz throwing powder all over the place I would not worry about it.

If you feel uneasy about it then don’t, you’re the guy that has to sleep at night.

 
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Post by fifthg » Thu. Aug. 20, 2015 9:46 am

If you do it,the most dangerous time would be during or just after tending fire,when a puff-back could occur.Is your stove prone to puff backs?At a minimum,stay well out of range and direction of the potential puff back.I am sure the "manufacturer",for liability reasons ,would say hell no,in so many words...


 
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Post by SWPaDon » Thu. Aug. 20, 2015 9:55 am

Being 20 feet away in a seperate room ( as you are set up now) should pose zero risk in my opinion.

 
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Post by Ky Speedracer » Thu. Aug. 20, 2015 12:18 pm

fifthg wrote:If you do it,the most dangerous time would be during or just after tending fire,when a puff-back could occur.Is your stove prone to puff backs?At a minimum,stay well out of range and direction of the potential puff back.
Aww, good thinking about the puff-back potential. I don't have a stove yet for the shop so I'm not sure about the likelihood of a puff-back yet. I will probably find something relatively inexpensive to use for this area since it's not very big and won't won't be used daily. Maybe even a small old potbelly. Point being that it won't likely be too air tight. Ky bit coal is nice as it's easily started with a little kindling and heats up fast. So if I'm going to work in the shop on a day or weekend I can start it in the morning and it will heat up that 300 square feet in an hour.

gaw wrote:I have done some reloading within about 15’ of a coal stove. As long as you’re not reloading on top of the stove and as long as you’re not a klutz throwing powder all over the place I would not worry about it.
The shop is 20' long. The stove will go in the corner on one end. the work bench where I'm considering putting the presses is at the opposite corner on the opposite end. So, no closer than 15'.
SWPaDon wrote:Being 20 feet away in a seperate room ( as you are set up now) should pose zero risk in my opinion.
Yep. No doubt Don. And I may keep it that way. I was just wanting to free up that area in my basement for my wife to expand her craft shop. BUT, I don't want to do it at the risk of safety obviously.

 
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Post by fifthg » Thu. Aug. 20, 2015 1:10 pm

I think that ol' Kentuck coal is higher vol. stuff.That makes puff-back more likely.


 
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Post by Sunny Boy » Thu. Aug. 20, 2015 1:22 pm

Question I'd ask myself is what would happen if the loading room stove got out of control. Would you still have enough safe distance from a too hot stove ?

Would the loading room stove be going all the time, even when your not there ? If it's just going to be used occasionally, considering the time to get it going, maybe it would be better to figure out how to get heat into the loading room from the other coal stove?

Maybe something as simple as an electric fan placed above the other coal stove and pointed toward the loading room doorway ?

Paul

 
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Post by Ky Speedracer » Thu. Aug. 20, 2015 4:54 pm

fifthg wrote:I think that ol' Kentuck coal is higher vol. stuff.That makes puff-back more likely.
It can for sure be more volatile but but in my experience, I only have had a couple of puff-backs in the house when you choke out to much air. As long as it's getting enough secondary air to feed the initial burn off I've never had any issues. Something like a cheap stove is usually full of air leaks. Then my biggest concern would be to not add to much fuel in during a reload.
I'll certainly experiment with any stove I add to the shop to fully understand its characteristics before throwing any charges into cartridges.
Sunny Boy wrote:Would the loading room stove be going all the time, even when your not there ? If it's just going to be used occasionally, considering the time to get it going, maybe it would be better to figure out how to get heat into the loading room from the other coal stove?

Maybe something as simple as an electric fan placed above the other coal stove and pointed toward the loading room doorway ?

Paul
This shop area is about 100' from the house. It has a small electric service. Primarily for lighting. Any Electric heater that would generate enough to heat make it comfortable would probably overwhelm the service.

 
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Post by Ky Speedracer » Sat. Aug. 22, 2015 8:53 am

For what it's worth (if anyone cares) --- I did some more research into smokeless gunpowder and open flames. Basically I posed the same question on a couple of re-loader's forums to see what feedback I would get;
Smokeless gunpowder is not explosive. It is flammable. It takes high temperature or high pressure or a combination of both for it to ignite. According to a powder manufacturer, a safe rule of thumb is to treat smokeless gun powder like a box of matchbooks...flammable, but no vapors or fumes to cause it to ignite.
Basically "gaw" was right on;
gaw wrote:As long as you’re not reloading on top of the stove and as long as you’re not a klutz throwing powder all over the place I would not worry about it.
If you feel uneasy about it then don’t, you’re the guy that has to sleep at night.


Keep in mind that my research is regarding SMOKELESS gunpowder only! Black powder is a different animal.

Take this info for what it's worth. Do your own research to make yourself comfortable. Reloading ammo with smokeless powder has plenty of inherent dangers. But, from what I understand, an open flame a safe distance away is not one of them.

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