Wet powder

[CK_32]

Finally got my 168 Amax's in today after work. Set my stuff up and went to town..

Tumbled, Resized, Tumbled again, Trimmed, Primed then put a charge...


Then During my random case inspection I noticed 2 of my first cases were really short... Only like 41.5gr instead of the 42.7 I've been throwing. Huh.. Threw it back in the thrower and thew a few in a cup and measured still seemed spot on.. Look in the case..

NOOO!!!!! They still had some moisture from the tumble!!

And I just threw it in the batch of powder.. You guys think its anything to worry about? Most fell free, but the little globs I threw away. I feel I'll be fine but what do you guys think? A few left over drips kill a load?


Again I didnt load these I cleaned them out and ran all my cases under a dryer and Q-Tiped them before I threw again and again the little globs of wet powder I threw out.

Always seem to get one fu** up per batch

[alfred1222]

If you only lost two, trash them and dry the rest

[elemenope]

I'd personally toss the powder as well. Not like it's that expensive or you loaded 100 rounds of wet powder.

I dry my cases in the oven at 200 degrees for an hour. I picked up this stainless steel basket from Lowes that is made for the grill and stick a shop towel on the bottom and then pile on the cases. Cases come out nice and dry and not too hot to handle after a couple minutes.

[Wrangler John]

I recall an article in one of the gun magazines decades ago wherein the author visited the Hercules Powder plant (now Alliant). He was doing an article on Unique powder and described how they had a large sealed glass jug of the original 1898 batch of Unique stored in water to preserve it. He remarked that the chemist opened the jug, took a measure of the powder out of the water, dried it, loaded it into a few revolver cartridges and they proceeded to fire them in the test range. Said the old 1898 stuff was as good as ever, because of being stored in water that excluded oxygen and maintained a constant temperature.

Unless we're talking about black powder, which may dissolve in water. That's why the navy used brown prismatic powder until the advent of smokeless powder. Brown powder was made from toasted wood fiber not quite cooked to charcoal, which made it a brown color. Pressed into a prism shape that compacted easily into silk bags, it was said to be less prone to moisture contamination in shipboard magazines.

So I guess I wouldn't worry about a little dampness, the powder should be good to go after drying. But then that's why I gave up tumbling with wet media or using an ultrasonic cleaner, too much hassle getting everything dry.

[bsumoba]

some will argue, thats why you dont wet tumble. i wet tumble, but im patient. i have a wine fridge that throws out some heat on the top of the fridge, so i stand up the brass on there and it dries it much faster. i usually leave it there for a whole day before loading them or storing.

just make sure to use a flashlight to see if you have moisture in there.

with that said, id say to toss it or dry it.

[74c5]

Time is short for your wet powder. You can bake it at 120 ish without any ill effects if you do so before any chemical reactions run from the water. You also need to worry about any Fl or Cl reactions for tap water. I don't know what those are off hand.

[CK_32]

I had another question too. Since today I'm just going to function fire about 20 rounds through my AR before I start load development. I used mixed brass (PPU, Win, PMC and fed) at a medium charge.

I noticed the 4 FC cases I had flattened the primers when I sat them. Also sit slightly under flush of the head stamp primer rim. Bad?

I'm sure it was because of the crimp but I thought I removed it but it was still pretty hard to seat and again when they finally went in they were a bit flat.

[Enfield47]

If the primers are flat you'll be ok as long as they are fully seated. I've had the same issue because of primer pockets that I didn't fully get out the crimp. Since its only four though, you could remove the primers and put new ones in no time if it offers you peace of mind.

[CK_32]

Ran all the loads today. Had some rifle issues... I think.. But for the most part all went ok.

Had a Amax tip actually jam in a barrel lug/feed ramp and stop my AR cold. Kinda frustrating.

[Wrangler John]

I had another question too. Since today I'm just going to function fire about 20 rounds through my AR before I start load development. I used mixed brass (PPU, Win, PMC and fed) at a medium charge.

I noticed the 4 FC cases I had flattened the primers when I sat them. Also sit slightly under flush of the head stamp primer rim. Bad?

I'm sure it was because of the crimp but I thought I removed it but it was still pretty hard to seat and again when they finally went in they were a bit flat.

Sinclair's Primer Pocket Uniformer sets the depth of the primer (of course this depends on the primer being within tolerance) to .004" below the case head. This is the ideal depth as it avoids failures of the semiauto action to lock and slam fires, or a stiff lockup on a bolt action. Flattened primers on seating is usually a sign of too much force, over sized primers (Russian primers usually are a bit tight), a primer with a weak cup, under sized pockets, failure to remove the crimp on a G.I. case, or any combination of these. As long as the priming pellet isn't crushed due to squeezing it between the cup and anvil, it should fire. However, that doesn't mean that it will perform the same as the others, if the bullet jumps out of the group, or shows an increase of Extreme Spread in velocity on a chronograph, then the pellet may have been squished.

I use primers with cups designed for the .223/5.56 specifically the Remington 7-1/2 BR and now the Wolf .223 Remington Primer. The Wolf .223 Remington Primer is a standard small rifle primer that uses a variant of the European Sinoxide priming mix that is reportedly more consistent than even the Federal Match primer mix. They looked different and checking them under magnification they appear to have a slight radius to the bottom edge of the cup, which makes them easy to seat. My groups with a custom AR in .204 Ruger ran between .25" and .5" for 10 shots using the Wolf primer. For the .308 Winchester and other large rifle primer cartridges, I use Wolf Large Rifle Primers (they use the Sinoxide mix), Remington 9-1/2 primers, or the Winchester LRP. Each load is a law unto itself, requiring some experimentation with which primer will provide the best accuracy.

P.S.: While I don't wet tumble, I still hydraulically form cases in special order Hornady dies. This means the cases are filled with water, placed in the die, a piston is inserted and smacked with a large dead blow hammer, forming the case to fit the chamber matched die. These wet cases are blown out with compressed air and allowed to air dry. If you want to make a drying rack check this out, all that is needed is a piece of peg board and some hooks that will hold the cases at a downward angle so the air circulates. http://www.amazon.com/SEOH-Drying-La...056671-0215943 I used these for drying test tubes in a water plant laboratory.