Waterproofing Handloads with Imperial Sizing Wax?

Check this out! Russian war horse ammo is seal from one end to the other end!

I had a flood in my basement and a plastic storage been filled with water. It had several hundred rounds of my hand loaded 308 rounds in it. I didn't see it was flooded for a couple weeks. I air dried the ammo and tried it. All shot fine. I had done nothing to waterproof either the primers or bullets.

Sealed ammo with green stuff. Look how hot this ammo is: 124g @ 1230fps. That’s +P+ or Major load, that’s why it need the green seal on the primer

With sufficient neck tension and primer pockets that are not loose, moisture should not be a problem. If you are truly worried just use nail polish. The dollar store has it in plenty of colors to differentiate loads even.

My smart a$$ answer was to advise to solder them but I’ll refrain from offering that as an alternative.

I'm one of the finger-nail polish guys, but I use it only around the primer more to identify specific groups of cartridges than as a water-proofing system.

Lubricants are fluids. By definition, they 'deform infinitely under shear'. As a practical matter, lube has the potential to move during storage into places where it shouldn't be. Using a lubricant to "seal" cartridges seems to be a potential misfire waiting to happen.

Shouldn't be an issue either way, but you only need one squib to have a life-changing accident.

I should add that in the early 1980's my father accidentally immersed a number of reloaded rounds in our lake. After being dried off, all functioned flawlessly.

hdwhit said:

I should add that in the early 1980's my father accidentally immersed a number of reloaded rounds in our lake. After being dried off, all functioned flawlessly.

Click to expand...

I accidentally had a pair of loaded 9mm slip in with my spent brass. They ended up getting tumbled for over 6 hours in my wet tumbler with the fired brass after I got invited to go fishing with the neighbors. As I was sifting out the pins and getting them ready to be dried, that was when I noticed the two loaded rounds that had slipped in there. I pulled them out, marked the base with a sharpie, and figured I would still try shooting them. To my surprise, they fired the exact same as any other ammo from that batch. One ended up being 5fps over the 20 shot average, and one was 3fps under the average, so they were well within a normal spread.

Long story short, properly prepped and loaded brass is pretty waterproof. The neck tension is acting as a seal at the neck, and the primer pocket tightness is acting as a seal around the primer. Adding any form of sealant is just being extra cautious and adding a second layer of protection.