Question about ammo viability after house fire

[Meta]

Several years back we had a fire that severely damaged our home. While some of the ammo in the attic did `cook off' in the fire, a great deal of it did not and was only exposed to high heat. In most cases it was a matter of location, things located on the floor of the attic were far less damaged than things located on shelves, etc. The aluminum bullet trays on the Dillon presses melted as they were located on benches and exposed to very high temps near the celing where heat accumulated. Down on the floor, where the bulk of the ammo was located in plastic cases and boxes, the heat was often just high enough to slightly melt the plastic. Even many of the plastic powder bottles were only slightly melted and the powder looked fine.
The question is, will a short time (an hour or so?) being exposed to heat that was at least a few hundred degrees cause enough harm to loaded ammo to make it unsuitable for use? I know heat causes smokeless powder to degrade, but is 100 degrees storage for years in an ammo bunker or attic really any better or worse than a few hundred degrees for a very short time? I'm not sure anyone has really ever given this much though, but I'm willing to bet that more than a few folks here at The Highroad will have some good input.

 

[youngda9]

Send all of it to me for testing. I'll write up a report when I'm done.

 

[mljdeckard]

I wouldn't use any of it.

HOWEVER, I know that if it was the military, they would eyeball it, and anything that didn't cook off or get discolored, they would probably call it good and put it back into the pile.

 

[youngda9]

I don't think it would get more powerful with heat exposure. There should be no chemical reaction until it goes bang.

I am not a scientist but I have stayed at a Holiday Inn Express before.

 

[mljdeckard]

I should add, that if I don't trust it AS IS, I still might take the components, pull the bullets, pop the primers, and re-use the brass at least, and maybe the bullets. At least the ones I wasn't loading for accuracy. (230 gr .45? Use them. 168 gr .308 BTHP match bullets? Use them, but don't plan on great accuracy.)

 

[kingmt]

I would use it. Actually I will use it if you want to pass it along.

 

[hammerklavier]

Sounds like you are a reloader. Pull the bullets on a random sample from various locations. Visually inspect the powder. Does it look good? If so, then take proper safety precautions and fire a random sample through your chronograph. Does it preform within acceptable ranges?

 

[Beelzy]

If it didn't cook off and looks decent shoot it up!

 

[rugerman]

I would try it, at least for targets, if you have problems pull the bullets and at least use them.

 

[fireman 9731]

I would say that as long as its clean, it should be fine to shoot. I doubt it got hot enough to cause any annealing or weakening of any kind.

 

[wishin]

Based on what you're saying, I would use it.

I believe the military measures or bases ammo degradation from extreme temperatures on a cumulative hours of exposure factor. Measured in hundreds of hours.

A one time high temperature condition that does not show any visible damage to the ammo would generally not cause the ammo to be withdrawn from use. Constant, even temperatures during storage are the more important consideration in the military.

But that said, I don't know what the absolute maximum allowable one-time high temperature might be -such as from a fire. Cumulative, excessive (?) heat from extreme temperatures in the desert for example does cause a degradation that would be more reflective in a match ammo.

 

[EP1990]

visually inspect it. if it looks okay just go ahead and shoot it.