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Question for reloaders

nyforesternyforester Member Posts: 2,575 ✭✭✭
I heard of a situation that a guy was pouring gun powder through a plastic funnel and static electricity built up and it ignited.

I heard of gas cans in plastic gas jugs exploding in plastic bed liners, but never this......

Any truth to this ?
Abort Cuomo

Comments

  • nyforesternyforester Member Posts: 2,575 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Re: 30-06 Shells
    using IMR 4350 Powder @ 58 grains & 165 Sierra BT bullet
    How Far Does It Fill the Cartridge
    I'm Just Double Checking As looks To Me about 1/2 Way up the neck Does This Sound Normal ??
    My 1st time Reloading
    Yes boys A Am a Virgin[:D]
    So Laugh if You Must I Just Wanna be Able To still Laugh Later[;)]
    Thanks
    Woody
    Abort Cuomo
  • jonkjonk Member Posts: 10,121
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by nyforester
    I heard of a situation that a guy was pouring gun powder through a plastic funnel and static electricity built up and it ignited.

    I heard of gas cans in plastic gas jugs exploding in plastic bed liners, but never this......

    Any truth to this ?
    Hmm. With smokeless I rather doubt it. With black powder, perhaps. However even then most companies are now selling it in plastic jugs so again, I doubt you'd ever see it actually happen.

    The powder going through the plastic funnel is going to generate very little if any static electricity. Now if you were to rub the plastic with something WHILE pouring powder through that might cause something to happen.
  • bpostbpost Member Posts: 32,669 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    there is a spray at the store called static guard. It is in a small can and is somewhat expensive, but it sure kills static problems.
  • geeguygeeguy Member Posts: 1,047
    edited November -1
    Interesting topic. I was in explosive build up during my service years and we considered smokeless powder to be a flammable and not an explosive. "IF" static could set off smokeless it would not explode, just burn.

    On the other hand, any time we handled smokeless we were required to use a grounded "slap pad" (static elimination). So I don't have the answer, but just offer the above as a comment.

    I will follow the thread with interest.
  • flyingtorpedoflyingtorpedo Member Posts: 1,301 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I don't see it happening, or else they wouldn't make them out of plastic.
  • nyforesternyforester Member Posts: 2,575 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by flyingtorpedo
    I don't see it happening, or else they wouldn't make them out of plastic.


    You put your trust in "them".
    "Them" made the Ford Pinto didn't they. Major Gas Tank Problems and thousands of lives cost !
    Enough said on that topic !

    Thanks for your input gentlemen. I might spray the outside of the funnel with static guard.
    Abort Cuomo
  • guntech59guntech59 Member Posts: 23,188 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by nyforester
    quote:Originally posted by flyingtorpedo
    I don't see it happening, or else they wouldn't make them out of plastic.


    You put your trust in "them".
    "Them" made the Ford Pinto didn't they. Major Gas Tank Problems and thousands of lives cost !
    Enough said on that topic !

    Thanks for your input gentlemen. I might spray the outside of the funnel with static guard.


    ....or just wipe it down with an anti-static dryer sheet. Same effect but cheap, very cheap!
  • TopkickTopkick Member Posts: 4,452 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    I use the dryer sheets too.
    They work perfectly and the wife don't miss 'em.
  • nyforesternyforester Member Posts: 2,575 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Great idea.....Thanks so much !
    Abort Cuomo
  • geeguygeeguy Member Posts: 1,047
    edited November -1
    As a current Mfg. of plastic parts to the auto industry let me assure you that safety is very serious.
    1. The gas tank WAS NOT plastic.
    2. The following an engineering blurb that tells you how the Pinto had a problem. Static was not the issue, design was.

    The rush of the Pinto from conception to production was a recipe for disaster. Many studies have been concluded by Mother Jones on Pinto accident reports which have revealed conclusively that if a Pinto being followed at over 30 miles per hour was hit by that following vehicle, the rear end of the car would buckle like an accordion, right up to the back seat. The tube leading to the gas-tank cap would be ripped away from the tank itself, and gas would immediately begin sloshing onto the road around the car. The buckled gas tank would be jammed up against the differential housing (the large bulge in the middle of the rear axle), which contains four sharp, protruding bolts likely to * holes in the tank and spill still more gas. Now all that is needed is a spark from a cigarette, ignition, or scraping metal, and both cars would be engulfed in flames. If a Pinto was struck from behind at higher speed say, at 40 mph chances are very good that its doors would jam shut and its trapped passengers inside would burn to death.

    "Them" is sometimes us, and "they" never seems to be anyone.
  • OdawgpOdawgp Member Posts: 5,380 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by guntech59
    quote:Originally posted by nyforester
    quote:Originally posted by flyingtorpedo
    I don't see it happening, or else they wouldn't make them out of plastic.


    You put your trust in "them".
    "Them" made the Ford Pinto didn't they. Major Gas Tank Problems and thousands of lives cost !
    Enough said on that topic !

    Thanks for your input gentlemen. I might spray the outside of the funnel with static guard.


    ....or just wipe it down with an anti-static dryer sheet. Same effect but cheap, very cheap!


    +1
  • chhhuntchhhunt Member Posts: 1 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by geeguy
    As a current Mfg. of plastic parts to the auto industry let me assure you that safety is very serious.
    1. The gas tank WAS NOT plastic.
    2. The following an engineering blurb that tells you how the Pinto had a problem. Static was not the issue, design was.

    The rush of the Pinto from conception to production was a recipe for disaster. Many studies have been concluded by Mother Jones on Pinto accident reports which have revealed conclusively that if a Pinto being followed at over 30 miles per hour was hit by that following vehicle, the rear end of the car would buckle like an accordion, right up to the back seat. The tube leading to the gas-tank cap would be ripped away from the tank itself, and gas would immediately begin sloshing onto the road around the car. The buckled gas tank would be jammed up against the differential housing (the large bulge in the middle of the rear axle), which contains four sharp, protruding bolts likely to * holes in the tank and spill still more gas. Now all that is needed is a spark from a cigarette, ignition, or scraping metal, and both cars would be engulfed in flames. If a Pinto was struck from behind at higher speed say, at 40 mph chances are very good that its doors would jam shut and its trapped passengers inside would burn to death.

    "Them" is sometimes us, and "they" never seems to be anyone.



    Not to kick a dead horse, but, as a topic I feel very strongly about, let's not forget the Ford Interceptor. Knowing two fellow men at arms. both closely, who have serious scars from their burning patrol cars, I can state that those cars did have plastic, or poly, fuel tanks, and they still caught on fire. Design flaw or not, I'll leave that to God, those cars still caught on fire and burned with my boys inside. One was in a high speed pursuit, and lost control in a corner, pinning the officer in the burning car. Local passerbys poured whatever they had to help quench the flames, including one lady who used a gallon of milk, saving his face, perhaps. The other was stopped at a light and hit from behind by a Ford Pickup (Ironic, I suppose). The latter had a ride-along student from the academy, who is still suffering a great deal from her burns. And how long was the Interceptor designed and planned? And what could have been done to fix the problems had money not been a key factor?

    Anyway, I'd agree, after many years of reloading, that it would probably be more along the lines of blackpowder exploding than most modern smokeless powders. But then, sometimes it has to happen for some unknown reason.

    "Ours is not to reason why, ours is but to do or die."
  • 11b6r11b6r Member Posts: 16,584 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    It IS possible to generate static by pouring thru a plastic funnel. As far as plastic powder cans, there are plastics and then there are plastics. Smokeless will burn like crazy- flammable solid. Detonation unlikely unless confined.
  • OMMEGAOMMEGA Member Posts: 13 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    The biggest problem I had with plastic was the powder would stick by static charge and not always allow the bullet to receive the complete load. Keep asking good questions! Thanks!
  • nyforesternyforester Member Posts: 2,575 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by geeguy
    As a current Mfg. of plastic parts to the auto industry let me assure you that safety is very serious.
    1. The gas tank WAS NOT plastic.2. The following an engineering blurb that tells you how the Pinto had a problem. Static was not the issue, design was.

    The rush of the Pinto from conception to production was a recipe for disaster. Many studies have been concluded by Mother Jones on Pinto accident reports which have revealed conclusively that if a Pinto being followed at over 30 miles per hour was hit by that following vehicle, the rear end of the car would buckle like an accordion, right up to the back seat. The tube leading to the gas-tank cap would be ripped away from the tank itself, and gas would immediately begin sloshing onto the road around the car. The buckled gas tank would be jammed up against the differential housing (the large bulge in the middle of the rear axle), which contains four sharp, protruding bolts likely to * holes in the tank and spill still more gas. Now all that is needed is a spark from a cigarette, ignition, or scraping metal, and both cars would be engulfed in flames. If a Pinto was struck from behind at higher speed say, at 40 mph chances are very good that its doors would jam shut and its trapped passengers inside would burn to death.

    "Them" is sometimes us, and "they" never seems to be anyone.




    I know that the tanks were not plastic.
    I was trying to make an example that the best auto engineers made a piece of crap car and people put their trust in them.

    The poster flyingtorpedo wrote " I don't see it happening, or else they wouldn't make them out of plastic."

    My point was these engineers don't give a rats * about us. They only care about the bottom line ! You have to watch out for yourself....at all times, and sometimes, thats not enough.

    Sorry for the confusion.
    I bought a metal funnel. Problem solved.
    Abort Cuomo
  • sandwarriorsandwarrior Member Posts: 5,453 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    nyforester,

    I see static almost every time I pour ball powder back into a can. the static electricity is there whether it's metal or plastic. But metal will ground into what it's sitting on better.

    I would have to imagine for this to be true he had to be pouring a lot of powder at a time through the plastic funnel. Possible, but not likely it ignited under normal circumstances.
  • drobsdrobs Member Posts: 22,620 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I too had problems with powder sticking to my plastic Lee funnel till someone recommended that I wash it with Dawn liquid dish soap. That took care of the problem.
  • shooteroneshooterone Member Posts: 139 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Drobs, you hit it on the head. Just wash with liquid dish soap and do NOT rinse. Let air dry. Old trick that works.
  • CryptoChiefCryptoChief Member Posts: 100 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    After many years of loading, 30+, and loading most of the time during the worst static time of the year, dry winter, I have never had a problem with metal, plastic, rubber, whatever. However, it IS recommended that when dispensing black powder for BP cartridge firearms (Sharps, Rem Rolling Block, etc) that metal drop tubes (brass) and metal powder dispensers be used. Outside of that, I can't see where there would be a problem. A lot of good info on this thread, some of which I might try. Always willing to learn and will never to admit to knowing it all.

    CC
  • drobsdrobs Member Posts: 22,620 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by shooterone
    Drobs, you hit it on the head. Just wash with liquid dish soap and do NOT rinse. Let air dry. Old trick that works.


    I rinsed mine and dried it with a paper towel. Worked the same. [8D]
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