Ammo salvage operation

[SSBotanyBay]

I woke up Thursday morning to 2 feet of water in my basement. I bet you cannot guess where my reloading room is at. Suffice it to say that I have several thousand rounds that found themselves underwater. Rimfire, shotgun, centerfire...all of them soaked. I never had any water problems in the past so I was not too terribly careful with storage. Should I pull all of the components on the centerfire cartridges and pitch the rest or is there a chance (however slight) that they may still be good?

[BBeckwith]

I have had rounds go through the washing machine machine before. If they are factory rounds if be cautiously optimistic.

[Dakotared]

I would try a few first to see if they are good. If they go band good chance the rest will.

[Deputyhiro]

Sorry for your loss sir.

[Seismic Sam]

My sincere condolences - that really sucks

Obviously a stout metal set of shelves with the ammo at least 3 or 4 feet off the floor would be a prudent investment

[SSBotanyBay]

My sincere condolences - that really sucks

Obviously a stout metal set of shelves with the ammo at least 3 or 4 feet off the floor would be a prudent investment

And/Or remembering to close and latch my ammo cans. I am claiming 50% environmental factors and 50% negligence on my part. Live and learn.

PSA: go latch your cans.

[hard h2o]

What would fail first, the primers or the powder?

If it was the powder going bad form water intrusion then I would be a bit more worried about a pop with no bang.

[Seismic Sam]

What would fail first, the primers or the powder?

If it was the powder going bad form water intrusion then I would be a bit more worried about a pop with no bang.

I at least don't know the answer to that question, and I've really never heard of this exact situation coming up in person. I suppose you could Google "flood damaged ammo" and see what comes up. Oil will definitely kill a primer pretty quickly, but there are no references I've ever read about water.

Water will kill black powder damn fast, but smokeless is another matter, and the non-polar solvents like ether used to make powder do not mix with water at all well. Considering that the primer is a tight press fit and the bullet is also a tight fit, 12 hours in 2 feet of fresh rather than saltwater may not do much of anything. The saltwater is only a more severe test because sooner or later it will eat through the brass for sure. Try some of each round WITHOUT using a mag if it's an autoloader, and see what happens.

[benny]

Powder will fail first, the primers are actually water proof if you dry them out after getting wet. The factory stores them wet for safety reasons then blasts them dry right before they are put into the cases.

Benny

[Seismic Sam]

Powder will fail first, the primers are actually water proof if you dry them out after getting wet. The factory stores them wet for safety reasons then blasts them dry right before they are put into the cases.

Benny

Thank you benny, I never knew that!! I suppose having a store room with 100,000,000 primers in it could be considered a bit of a safety hazard...

[forcefed]

Powder will fail first, the primers are actually water proof if you dry them out after getting wet. The factory stores them wet for safety reasons then blasts them dry right before they are put into the cases.

Benny

Assembled primers aren't stored wet. The priming compound is stored wet before it is put into the cups though.

[Seismic Sam]

Powder will fail first, the primers are actually water proof if you dry them out after getting wet. The factory stores them wet for safety reasons then blasts them dry right before they are put into the cases.

Benny

Assembled primers aren't stored wet. The priming compound is stored wet before it is put into the cups though.

Well, with this revelation I will share something I read a LOOONG time ago in some reloading manual, or at least at this point I thought I saw this: In an article dealing with Hodgdon 4831 powder back in the 70's, I think I remember reading that this stuff was originally WWII 37mm Okerlion AA powder, and it was being stored UNDERWATER to keep it from aging. Made no sense at the time, but if the priming compound is kept wet in the factory then maybe the powder is too.

[DanM]

Powder will fail first, the primers are actually water proof if you dry them out after getting wet. The factory stores them wet for safety reasons then blasts them dry right before they are put into the cases.

Benny

Assembled primers aren't stored wet. The priming compound is stored wet before it is put into the cups though.

Well, with this revelation I will share something I read a LOOONG time ago in some reloading manual, or at least at this point I thought I saw this: In an article dealing with Hodgdon 4831 powder back in the 70's, I think I remember reading that this stuff was originally WWII 37mm Okerlion AA powder, and it was being stored UNDERWATER to keep it from aging. Made no sense at the time, but if the priming compound is kept wet in the factory then maybe the powder is too.

Sam, I don't have the reference handy but I think that the underwater storage was in the form of sealed canisters submerged to slow oxidation of the powder. How much more slowly a submerged sealed container oxidizes versus a non-submerged sealed container I don't know. But someone may have thought so.

Can't imagine how awkward wet smokeless powder would be to handle in production! A manufacturer would have to add the process steps to dry the powder before dispensing it. I'm skeptical of that concept.

I concur with the clarification of the priming compound being dry once extruded into the cup under the anvil. Dry processes for performing ammunition manufacturing are more practical.

[Seismic Sam]

Yeah, the sealed cannisters being underwater makes more sense, but as you note, but if the water can't get in then how could air get in?? Who knows what they were thinking 40 years ago??

[Rip Van Winkle]

Unlike Black Powder, Smokeless Powder is not water soluble. You can store it indefinitely under water and it won't break down or dissolve.