My apartment flooded about a year and a half ago and a bunch of my .22 ammo got wet. I dried it all out right away but the moisture has affected the wax coating on the bullets. I've shot some of it and never had one fail to go bang, but the wax is white now and seems to flake off easily, leaving wax dust on the bottom of the container they are stored in. I tried a search and came up empty, but I thought I remember reading something about not using .22 ammo that has gotten wet/had the wax get messed up. Is this true, and if so, why?
flood recovered .22 ammo
- Thread starter adam h
- Start date
- Status
My main concern would be pits and corrosion on the cases and water in the gun powder.
Obviously if the cases are corroded they will be weaker. I would toss any cases with corrosion heavy enough to cause pits.
Pull some bullets and check for water in the cases, or just go out and shoot the stuff. If the gunpowder is wet, it won't go bang.
In so far as wax, the wax is a lubricant. Helps reduce fouling and in blow back mechanisms, breaks the friction between the case and chamber wall.
You can always dip the bullets in Crisco if you want to get the lubricant back. I have used mixes of 50/50 Crisco and Beeswax on Minie balls, that will be less messy than straight crisco. I don't doubt lard, bacon grease, any thick animal fat will provide lubrication.
I would leave turkey drippings for the gravy.
Obviously if the cases are corroded they will be weaker. I would toss any cases with corrosion heavy enough to cause pits.
Pull some bullets and check for water in the cases, or just go out and shoot the stuff. If the gunpowder is wet, it won't go bang.
In so far as wax, the wax is a lubricant. Helps reduce fouling and in blow back mechanisms, breaks the friction between the case and chamber wall.
You can always dip the bullets in Crisco if you want to get the lubricant back. I have used mixes of 50/50 Crisco and Beeswax on Minie balls, that will be less messy than straight crisco. I don't doubt lard, bacon grease, any thick animal fat will provide lubrication.
I would leave turkey drippings for the gravy.
rcmodel
Member in memoriam
Why is because without some sort of bullet lube, lead bullets will deposit leading in the barrel to the point there is no visable rifling left.
Your rifle won't shoot straight, and it is harder then heck to clean it out.
I concure with SlamFire1 that you might want to relube them with something.
Lee Liquid Alox bullet lube would probably be the best thing to use.
Just dip them in it and lay out on a newspaper to dry.
It will be better lube then what used to be on it.
http://www.midwayusa.com/product/466811/lee-alox-bullet-lube-4-oz-liquid
PS: The other thing you could do is shoot every other one mixed with new ammo with wax lube.
The new lube from one will carry over for the next shot enough to prevent leading.
rc
Last edited:
frankenstein406
Member
- Joined
- Jan 9, 2011
- Messages
- 816
Buy a can of spray lube silicone, spray on let dry. I've seen people wipe off wax since there guns didn't like it.
leadcounsel
member
I might be concerned about squibs - not enough good powder to get the round to exit the bullet.
speedway
Member
How much ammo are we talking about?
A couple bricks? A couple cases?
A couple bricks? A couple cases?
bigfatdave
Member
I'm with slamfire, although I would wonder about bacon grease being salty.
Seriously, how much ammo are we talking about?
Seriously, how much ammo are we talking about?
Jim Watson
Member
Some of the guys shooting black powder .22s are dipping the bullets in melted SPG black powder bullet lube.
Muttt
Member
I wipe them with Imperial sizing wax and call it a day.
Probably about 250 rounds were effected total. I may invest in some bullet lube and make a night of relubing the bullets. Do I have to make sure that all of the old lube is off first though? - that would be a pain and probably not worth it. I'm not so cheap that I'm beyond throwing the remaining rounds away though if it really isn't worth it.
Inebriated
Member
.22LR averages to 2 cents per round (my local store had 550 bricks for $16). You're talking about cleaning/lubing/risking your firearm over.......... $5!
Get a new brick, and trash those.
Get a new brick, and trash those.
bigfatdave
Member
250 rounds?
You're talking about ten dollars worth of ammo here. It is damaged (to an unknown degree) and can't possibly be worth more per round than Fed550 bulk packs, which I get from 'Merica Mart for ~$20 per 550 rounds. $0.036/round.
Ditch it or fire it in one range session in a well-lubed gun. Or treat it as training ammo for clearing malfunctions. Or dump it all in your range's "dud bin".
Seriously, $10 worth of ammo. If you're that hard up and in my area, I'll feed it to my Henry and give you a scoop of Fed bulk of equal or slightly greater volume. Not worth worrying about. This is the beauty of cheap .22lr ammo.
You're talking about ten dollars worth of ammo here. It is damaged (to an unknown degree) and can't possibly be worth more per round than Fed550 bulk packs, which I get from 'Merica Mart for ~$20 per 550 rounds. $0.036/round.
Ditch it or fire it in one range session in a well-lubed gun. Or treat it as training ammo for clearing malfunctions. Or dump it all in your range's "dud bin".
Seriously, $10 worth of ammo. If you're that hard up and in my area, I'll feed it to my Henry and give you a scoop of Fed bulk of equal or slightly greater volume. Not worth worrying about. This is the beauty of cheap .22lr ammo.
we are not amused
Member
Don't worry about the wax coating, that is more to prevent the lead from oxidizing than anything else. That by the way is almost certainly the reason for the white powder, it is lead oxide.
If you wash your hands after handling the bullets, I wouldn't worry about lead poisoning, but I would keep it in mind to wash my hands before eating.
While the talk about Bullet lubrication have some merit, it isn't very important, as the lubricant will have very little effect upon how much leading of the barrel will occur. That is the reason we clean our weapons, (well, one of them anyway).
I would just shoot the stuff, and be done with it. I have shot worse stuff with no ill effect. I once left a brick of .22 lr lay in an old jeep for a couple of months exposed to rain and snow, it was in worse shape than yours appears to be, I just hosed it off, dried it in the sun, and shot it all up. It worked fine in the 10 round rotary 10-22 Ruger mags, but not so well in my extended 25 round "Steel Lips" mag. So I shot it the hard way, 10 rounds at a time.
If you wash your hands after handling the bullets, I wouldn't worry about lead poisoning, but I would keep it in mind to wash my hands before eating.
While the talk about Bullet lubrication have some merit, it isn't very important, as the lubricant will have very little effect upon how much leading of the barrel will occur. That is the reason we clean our weapons, (well, one of them anyway).
I would just shoot the stuff, and be done with it. I have shot worse stuff with no ill effect. I once left a brick of .22 lr lay in an old jeep for a couple of months exposed to rain and snow, it was in worse shape than yours appears to be, I just hosed it off, dried it in the sun, and shot it all up. It worked fine in the 10 round rotary 10-22 Ruger mags, but not so well in my extended 25 round "Steel Lips" mag. So I shot it the hard way, 10 rounds at a time.
we are not amused
Member
By the way, for those who advocate getting rid of it, if they have any old ammo they want to dispose of, please send it to me, I will see that it is properly disposed of.
jcwit
member
250 rounds? Even if they are some of the highest priced match ammo out there it only approx. $75 bucks.
I toss them.
I toss them.
hogshead
Member
Just shoot it. All my coon hunting ammo looks like that after about a month in my hunting coat. Beware of squib loads though you will hear the difference.
Just shoot it. Unless you are shooting in matches where accuracy is critical or some sort of miniature mammal hunting season (squirrels?) it's probably just fine. In years past on our private range I have picked up ammo that I had apparently dropped on previous shooting sessions months back and shot it with zero problems. Ammo that has sat out in the rain for months, no problems.
Though I have never done it with .22 LR I have had magazines full of 9mm go through both the washer and drier and turn out completely functional. I wasn't even sure it would fire but sure enough every round in the mag functioned just fine.
Don't worry about it too much, just pay attention that rounds go off and shoot it up
Though I have never done it with .22 LR I have had magazines full of 9mm go through both the washer and drier and turn out completely functional. I wasn't even sure it would fire but sure enough every round in the mag functioned just fine.
Don't worry about it too much, just pay attention that rounds go off and shoot it up
There is a difference between old ammo and possibly damaged ammo.By the way, for those who advocate getting rid of it, if they have any old ammo they want to dispose of, please send it to me, I will see that it is properly disposed of.
bigfatdave
Member
.22lr ammo is assembled very differently than centerfire ammunition. Particularly cheaper .22lr.
Look up "heeled bullet" to see the difference.
- Status
