Where do you keep your High Power Motors?

[redsox15]

Well the title says it all. Where do you keep your stocked motors/black powder? I have seen the ads in Sport Rocketry magazine for the explosive storage magazines and checked them out but it seems that nothing is under $500. I want to store everything the right way but with those prices part of me just wants to keep them sealed on a shelf.

Matt

 

[UPscaler]

We usually just keep them in a carboard box with the rest of our rocket stuff...If you want a cheaper option, do an ebay search (or even craiglist) for ammo boxes, you could even put a lock on it. Also check local surplus or Army/Navy stores






Braden

 

[gdiscenza]

I don't keep HPR motors at all.

I buy them at the launch site. If there is a vendor with APCP motors there, I fly HPR, if all he has is Estes, I fly LPR.

Keep the launch site vendors happy, and they'll keep coming back. Ignore them and see their support for your club wither.

G.D.

 

[Rocketman248]

That's all well and good if you have a regular on-site vendor.

I don't get fancy with storing my motors. Aerotech in one box, CTI in another. The big motors that don't fit in the boxes get stacked up on the dining room table.

 

[MarkII]

The storage magazine that is regularly advertised in Sport Rocketry is the type that used to be required for storage of HP motors until the lawsuit over classification of ammonium perchlorate as an explosive was decided a couple of years ago. If you wanted to store more than, oh, a couple of reloads, you had to purchase this type of box. The item in the ads appears to be a very nice storage container, and it is certainly very safe. It's definitely a very good way to go. But it is no longer required for most of us.

I keep my reloads and my black powder motors in separate snap-lid Rubbermaid totes in a spare bedroom in my house. I haven't gotten into preparing my own ejection charges yet, so I don't have any loose black powder or smokeless powder to store.

 

[KevinDunn]

I keep them in ammunition boxes. They are portable, waterproof, they come in a variety of sizes so I can keep my motors organized, and I figure they will provide about as much fire protection as anything else. Much of the cost of the Type IV magazine comes from the requirement that it be resistant to prying the locks off. While this might make sense for explosives, I am more concerned about fire safety than theft. But if you want to build a Type IV magazine, there is a pretty good article here: https://www.dragonworksrocketry.com/http:/www.dragonworksrocketry.com/123/type-iv-magazine-construction-part-1/.

 

[Viperfixr]

2x Ammo cans...about as safe as I'll ever need, and easy to get.

 

[MarkII]

2x Ammo cans...about as safe as I'll ever need, and easy to get.

OK, I'll bite. Easy to get from where?

 

[stealth6]

OK, I'll bite. Easy to get from where?

Easiest place to find ammo cans is at an Army Surplus store - they are staple items at such places.

You can also find them fairly often at Pawn Shops - go to the ones that are really into guns.

Not sure where you live, but if you are near a river that is popular with rafters, go check at one of the outfitters - river rats love ammo boxes and they would know a good source.

Flea markets are another decent possible source. (Look for the space that's flying a big American flag, or perhaps a "Don't Tread on Me" banner - bet they've got em).

One place not to go - "outdoor" stores; at least the type that lean to the Coleman/family fishing out the back of the SUV/lots of big mounted heads on the walls type. These places often sell "ammo cans" that are in fact newly manufactured PLASTIC cans that are a shallow facsimile of the real thing - and not at all what you want. Go for the real deal, actual surplus ones (made out of steel) at the above mentioned sources.

 

[Rocketman248]

Easiest place to find ammo cans is at an Army Surplus store - they are staple items at such places.

You can also find them fairly often at Pawn Shops - go to the ones that are really into guns.

Not sure where you live, but if you are near a river that is popular with rafters, go check at one of the outfitters - river rats love ammo boxes and they would know a good source.

Flea markets are another decent possible source. (Look for the space that's flying a big American flag, or perhaps a "Don't Tread on Me" banner - bet they've got em).

One place not to go - "outdoor" stores; at least the type that lean to the Coleman/family fishing out the back of the SUV/lots of big mounted heads on the walls type. These places often sell "ammo cans" that are in fact newly manufactured PLASTIC cans that are a shallow facsimile of the real thing - and not at all what you want. Go for the real deal, actual surplus ones (made out of steel) at the above mentioned sources.

And if all else fails, there's always ebay.

 

[JDcluster]

Here's a few to choose from: https://www.jgsales.com/index.php/cases,-safes,-storage/ammo-cans-crates/cPath/1_391_406


JD

 

[sodmeister]

I keep mine in a wooden box I made.I also keep my black & smokeless powders in a similar box ,but with brass hardware (no sparks allowed)

Gonna need a bigger box soon for 54 & 75 reloads !


Paul T

 

[dixontj93060]

I keep mine in a Type 4 storage equivalent (Greenlee box with non-sparking rubberized paint coating on inside). Picked up the 2448 model at a Home Depot clearance sale for just over $200 six or seven years ago.

 

[ClayD]

under the bed.(not realy)

I have a lot more on-hand right now than i would like. I never had to store under the leup magazine situation.

I like the knack boxes and have been watching cragslist... shouldnt be long.

 

[cwbullet]

I have a US explosives box, but I store most of mine in an ammo can.

 

[UhClem]

NFPA 1127 requires:

4.19.2.5 Pyrotechnic high power solid-propellant rocket motors, motor reloading kits, modules, or any other solid-propellant motor products that are exempt under 27 CFR 55, "Commerce in Explosives," shall be stored in a reclosable, noncombustible container.

 

[gdiscenza]

NFPA 1127 requires:

4.19.2.5 Pyrotechnic high power solid-propellant rocket motors, motor reloading kits, modules, or any other solid-propellant motor products that are exempt under 27 CFR 55, "Commerce in Explosives," shall be stored in a reclosable, noncombustible container.

A.K.A. Vendors!

G.D.

 

[Aksrockets]

Does my underwear drawer count as a "reclosable, noncombustible container" :wink:

 

[GRIFFIN]

I keep most of mine in Wildman's trailer.....now I just have to pay for them.

 

[o1d_dude]

Army surplus stores? They still exist? I haven't seen one of those since the 1980's.

My two mini-gun ammo cans came to me courtesy of Uncle Sam. I used to lug my gear around in them whenever my battalion went into the field. In those days, that was 2-3 weeks out of every month. Fulda Gap weighed heavy on the minds of the NATO alliance back then and I was in a STRAC armor unit.

My most recent ammo cans came from Long's Drug Store a few years ago. Longs...Who'da thunk it?

 

[terryg]

I keep most reloads (as well as most rocketry items) in plastic cat litter containers. As well as being available in a never ending supply, they stack and pack efficiently for road trips.

 

[cobra1336]

I still stick to the old "rules". LEUP, magazine and day boxes.

 

[RandyT0001]

I use this with a lock and cable to secure it to the truck so it doesn't walk away with some unsupervised child as I'm out recovering a rocket.

https://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5y...splay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

 

[ClayD]

NFPA 1127 requires:

4.19.2.5 Pyrotechnic high power solid-propellant rocket motors, motor reloading kits, modules, or any other solid-propellant motor products that are exempt under 27 CFR 55, "Commerce in Explosives," shall be stored in a reclosable, noncombustible container.

Soooo... a cardboard box...

 

[cjl]

Soooo... a cardboard box...

Cardboard is combustible.

 

[ClayD]

Cardboard is combustible.

yes, so is steel, and every other item...

its another example of the ineptitude of NFPA. "non-combustable" is an elusive and veuge term. really it just means will not support its own combustion.

Since they dont define a criteria for flame proof. a breach of the container by fire, doesnt mean combustion.

The boxes that ship 1.4c are all "non-combustable" cardboard per dot... Good enough for me to.

:rofl:

 

[cjl]

yes, so is steel, and every other item

Combustible is pretty clear - something is combustible if it will sustain a flame under normal atmospheric conditions. By that definition, the vast majority of steel is not combustible.

Oh, and not everything is combustible. No matter what conditions you have, hydrogen fluoride is not combustible for example.

 

[[POW]Eagle159]

Does my underwear drawer count as a "reclosable, noncombustible container" :wink:

YEAH, then you do launder and have no place to put your clothes... :eyeroll:

 

[ClayD]

Combustible is pretty clear - something is combustible if it will sustain a flame under normal atmospheric conditions. By that definition, the vast majority of steel is not combustible.

Oh, and not everything is combustible. No matter what conditions you have, hydrogen fluoride is not combustible for example.

Combustible, is not a defined term in NFPA if i remember correctly. Combustible, is not a uniform definition either.
your definition is incorrect, COMBUST, able... means it can catch fire...
thats its only meaning... continuing to burn under normal atomosisfere is not a comustible material. that is a flamable material, as it can propigate its own flame front.
For instance, there are a lot of things that will combust under outide flame source but self extinquish. They are still considered "flamable", physical orientation comes into play in thier use.

I think if NFPA wants to waste breath, they need to provide "critera" for what they intend.

My understanding of it, is most DOT hazmat packing, is "non-combustible" cardboard. Although it is "combustible", it wont propigate its own flame front.

 

[MarkII]

Cardboard is combustible.

But it's OK for an approved shipper to ship them in cardboard boxes?