Would you use ammo that was inundated in a flood?
Well, I had a hundred-year flood in my rural neighborhood and one of my ammo storage areas got flooded. Several hundred rounds each of .40 S&W, .223 Remington, and 12 ga., all factory new. The flood was clean rain water that fully immersed the stuff for 12+ hours before I got back and got it out of the water.
My first thought was, "well, it's all ruined, I'll have to throw it away." So, how do I throw it away? In the regular trash? What if it's not ruined -- is there a regulatory problem with throwing away good ammo?
But all the ammo, now that I've got it in a dry room drying it out, looks to be in perfect condition. None of it looks corroded. Should I keep it, label it "water damage?" and try shooting it later?
I called 3 local gun stores. One guy said the ammo is ruined. Another said it's "probably bad". The third said, "you can probably shoot it."
What is the worst that can happen if I keep it all and try shooting it? If it shoots, great. If a couple rounds in a batch don't shoot, throw the batch out. But what if a round only goes half way down the barrel? Then if I don't catch this problem perfectly each time it happens, I risk blowing up the gun. So what to do?
Maybe test it by batch? For example, most of the ammo was in cardboard factory boxes. But some of the ammo at the top was in sealed plastic bags. Since it was at the top, it got less exposure to water. There's a little water inside the sealed bag but not a lot. So maybe some of the ammo is less compromised than the rest. Should I track that too? This could be a major project.
This is several hundred dollars worth of ammo. Do I claim it on homeowners insurance, or is that not worth the hassle and higher future rates? I'm probably not going to submit claims for anything else to the insurance company.
Any advice?
Well, I had a hundred-year flood in my rural neighborhood and one of my ammo storage areas got flooded. Several hundred rounds each of .40 S&W, .223 Remington, and 12 ga., all factory new. The flood was clean rain water that fully immersed the stuff for 12+ hours before I got back and got it out of the water.
My first thought was, "well, it's all ruined, I'll have to throw it away." So, how do I throw it away? In the regular trash? What if it's not ruined -- is there a regulatory problem with throwing away good ammo?
But all the ammo, now that I've got it in a dry room drying it out, looks to be in perfect condition. None of it looks corroded. Should I keep it, label it "water damage?" and try shooting it later?
I called 3 local gun stores. One guy said the ammo is ruined. Another said it's "probably bad". The third said, "you can probably shoot it."
What is the worst that can happen if I keep it all and try shooting it? If it shoots, great. If a couple rounds in a batch don't shoot, throw the batch out. But what if a round only goes half way down the barrel? Then if I don't catch this problem perfectly each time it happens, I risk blowing up the gun. So what to do?
Maybe test it by batch? For example, most of the ammo was in cardboard factory boxes. But some of the ammo at the top was in sealed plastic bags. Since it was at the top, it got less exposure to water. There's a little water inside the sealed bag but not a lot. So maybe some of the ammo is less compromised than the rest. Should I track that too? This could be a major project.
This is several hundred dollars worth of ammo. Do I claim it on homeowners insurance, or is that not worth the hassle and higher future rates? I'm probably not going to submit claims for anything else to the insurance company.
Any advice?
