Just how waterproof is a revolver?

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BigBlock

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I tend to baby my guns...if a drop of water hits it, it's immediately wiped off. Dirt is UNTHINKABLE! Anyway, I've been wondering lately just how waterproof a revolver is, let's use my Blackhawk as an example.

Let's say you end up in a situation where you're in the lake, and you need to shoot somebody. Could I pull out my Blackhawk and expect it to fire all six rounds? Mechanically I don't think it would be much of an issue...but what about the ammo?
 
No problems. Just give the barrel a second to drain of water. Modern ammo is sealed. The pistol on the other hand would need to be stripped down and dried ASAP. A cookie sheet and an oven, with the door slightly open at about 120 drives the water out well. A big spray of WD40 would work too but would need to be cleaned out before it caused gumming problems. WD40 is not a good cleaner/lube for firearms.
 
If you plan on being in the water a lot seal your ammo at primer and case mouth. The tried and true "modern ammo is sealed" works most of the time. I took my P3AT, now sold, whitewater rafting, including a mile or two of me floating down the river sans raft. Three days later the ammo in the gun was 3/7 firing while the spare mag that dried out better was 6/6. Cor-bon ammo. Nail polish is your friend.
 
MILITARY ammo is sealed. Look for new cartridges with NATO's "cross-in-circle" headstamp and/or U.S. arsenal headstamps. Commercial may or may not be. Lacquer at the primer is critical. The bullet/neck seal is less so but often difficult to observe.

Ditto the nail polish idea for your hand loads. Choosing a neck seal material is tough as it can affect combustion and may foul things excessively. I've not bothered with neck seals but I'm sure some other member has. . . .

You didn't mention whether the Blackhawk was chrome-molly or stainless. All of my "Gee! We're gonna be out in the rain for three days!!" guns are stainless or have milspec materials/coatings. Nothing is perfect but stainless steel provides a great balance of corrosion resistance and cost. My 1973-vintage Model 67-0 Smith is, excepting the springs, completely stainless -- including the sights.
 
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I picked up some brass on our range after qualifying in the rain and picked up several loaded rounds. Once back at home I pulled the bullets and dropped the powder (frangible rounds, gold dots, and fmj rounds). Every one had water seepage into the powder.

Nail polish will work. I have always thinned it some prior to use. Thinning it helps it creep into the crevices a little better.
 
Yeah, my blackhawk is stainless, my big bad camping gun with the highest chance of finding it's way into a body of water. I like the nail polish idea...though not sure I want to be seen buying it. :uhoh: Too bad the military doesn't make 44 mag ammo. :)
 
Premium self defense, military and some hunting ammo is waterproofed. Don't count on CCI Blazer firing after it gets wet. (personal experience)

The Blackhawk should be fine, give it a shake.

I use alox lubed lead bullets, and I believe the alox is a pretty good sealant on its own, but I will seal primers on hunting/outdoor ammo.

(MidwayUSA will deliver sealant in a plain brown wrapper)
 
Any gun is 'waterproof'.

That said, if any gun, even stainless, gets wet or moist (frost), it should get a thorough cleaning inside and out. All metal should be exposed and oiled. Don't think water won't get under a stock, it will. Take the stocks off, too.

Had an officer, part-time, who once came to me and said he could not get his gun open. All the years he had it, he never took it out of the closed end holster to wipe it off after being out in snow or rain. It was rusted shut. Old 38 M&P w/6" barrel. When I finally did get it open, the action would not work, and the cartridges had verdigris all over. That, is a worst case scenario.

The Doc is out now. :cool:
 
I have all ways carried Speer Gold Dot factory ammo (Department issue). I spent two years on a mountain bike and got my gun and ammo exposed to rain, sleet, extreme heat and sweat. I never had a single misfire due to ammo that was corrupted. It was mighty hard on the gun though, had to clean it almost every day.
 
For the revolver itself:
3gun said:
A big spray of WD40 would work too but would need to be cleaned out before it caused gumming problems.
Click to expand...
Has anybody used alcohol to pull the water away from the surface of the metal, then followed it with normal gun cleaning solvents and oils? We used to use alcohol as an intermediate solvent in a chemistry lab where I once worked.

Anybody tried it?
 
Any ammo is relatively water resistant just from the tight seal of the primer in the pocket and the bullet against the case wall and will remain functioning if not left standing in watter for days. The usual ammunition and firearm exposure to water is rain. When I lived in Washington state it was normal to get your gun wet when hunting, esp. duck and geese. I'd wipe the wet off gun when I got back to the truck and when I got home I'd pull it all apart, dry anything that was wet with a hair dryer, clean the barrel and then use a spray lube like LPS to prevent rust and lubricate moving parts.
 
For the revolver itself:
Quote:
Originally Posted by 3gun
A big spray of WD40 would work too but would need to be cleaned out before it caused gumming problems.

Has anybody used alcohol to pull the water away from the surface of the metal, then followed it with normal gun cleaning solvents and oils? We used to use alcohol as an intermediate solvent in a chemistry lab where I once worked.

Anybody tried it?
Click to expand...


I used to work as a bicycle mechanic, and sometimes people would use wd40 on their bikes. It caused problems. When you first use it, it is fine. But as soon as it loses its lubricant properties(which isn't too long) all it will do is keep any better lubricant from sticking to that area. It will also dissolve any grease or oil that it hits.
 
Yup. I didn't write that very clearly. I was asking about skipping the use of WD-40, rinsing the moisture from the metal with alcohol first, then going to nonpolar solvents and oils.
No WD-40 at all. :)
 
Waterproof Revolver

I would also be inclined to wipe down a waterlogged revolver with alcohol as a cleaning solvent. Absolute ethanol would be preferred since it readily forms an azeotrope with residual water and would be very effective in drying water from the wet revolver.
 
Nail Polish

Greetings,
I can agree to the method of sealing cartridges with nail polish; works fine. I had some .45 LC cartridges sitting in loops in a leather belt for some 6 months once. Three out of 20 misfired when I finally came about to rotate them. Primer didn't go bang. As Bigblock hinted, I was a bit embarrassed buying nail polish, so I told the woman clerk about my intended use. Judging from her reaction, I shoulda said nothing instead.

Solvent for nail polish is same as the ladies use to clean their nails, i.e. acetone, if that is indeed the proper english term for it.
Remember to seal both around the case mouth and the primer pocket.

Sail safe
Lafeswede
 
Being stationed in Central America in the USMC , My M16 as well as my 92f were sometimes submerged for hours at a time. We would use Breakfree ,and soak our weapons down ,I had a couple of missfires ,but thats military ammo,my weapons always stayed rust free with a proper cleaning , and a good bore punch. just my 2 cents.
 
I seem to recall a story of a torture test of the Ruger SP101 where 5,000 rounds were put through it by a team of people who only stopped to dunk it in a bucket of water on occasion to cool it so they could keep shooting...

As for sealing ammo, just don't spray it with wd-40, as it will kill the primers...


gp911
 
I dunno about nail polish but I can't believe a grown adult man would be worried about buying it, LOL. Every year for Christmas I buy my wife a bottle of red nail polish, I never felt weird or got any odd vibe from a saleslady. If I did I would simply ask them if they thought it would look good on my toes:neener:

I bet it would work fine to seal ammo.

I never worry about my guns getting wet. I am sure in wars guns get wet and they function fine. A few days of wet ain't going to hurt them
 
My experience with deliberately soaking ammo in WD40
sealed in a ziplock bag is that it will slowly weaken the
powder by contamination and will eventually kill primers,
just not all at once. (Used .38 Winclean, Mil Surplus 7.62x25
and .45ACP.)

WD40 is like a wax in a solvent. It will desolve gummed label residue,
oil, grease tar, and when wiped off leaves a thin waxy protectant.
WD40 is not a lubricant and as a gun cleaner, if you cant wipe
the part off, dont WD40 it: it will gum up the mechanism. The only thing
that dissolves WD40 wax is ... WD40. Then blow it out with aerosol
Rusty Duck or brake cleaner outdoors. WD40 does have the
advantage of being cheap and readily available.
 
No firearm is "water proof", too many holes and cracks and crevices. Drop any of them in water and they flood but remove them and they drain. Nothing in any weapon is water soluable so the water does no harm if it's removed and dryed before rusting or electrolosis begins.

All commerial and handloaded ammo is water resistant to some degree simply because the two entry points, front and rear, are snuggly fitted with a bullet and primer. Just how long they can resist penatration will vary with the individual round so there is no definitive answer to that question.
 
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