Long story short is a downspout got plugged up and the gutter overflow caused a wet corner in the basement. Bad news is that I had stashed 8 boxes of Federal Champion 45 ACP in that corner. Just finished breaking down 100 rounds and 5 showed slight evidence of moisture in the powder. This means I'll be breaking down all 400 rounds.

The bullets I can re-use, the cases can be re-used. The question is what to do with the primers. Pull the de-capping pin from my sizing die and keep the cases primed or pull the primers and start from scratch. I think that if the primers were dampened it wasn't much at all and leaving the cases open to air may dry out any dampness. BTW, I tested 2 of the primers from the "damp" cases and they were very much alive. With primers running 3 1/2 cents each I sort of hate to throw them out and I am not wild about pulling 398 live primers and trying to dispose of them.

So, what is the worst case? A dud primer that doesn't fire or do I risk a potential squib? Dud's are no problem, I'll just break them down and recycle again. Really don't want to have to deal with a squib, there is the slight risk of a Blonde moment and shooting into the squib and pressing them out is a bit of a PITA.

BTW, don't know what powder Federal was using in this ammo but there were 4.6 grains per round. The pulled bullets looked to be plated from either Ranier or Berry's. Still debating on what to do with the recovered powder, right now it's going into an empty powder bottle that has been re-labeled with the usage. I have recently picked up some CFE Pistol and am thinking about using that for re-loading these rounds.

Personally, I would pull the bullets and then test fire some of the primed casings that got wet. If you don't have a problem you can reload the primed cases.

I'd still be wary firing that batch in case of a squib, but to me the best way to pull bullets is at the range (I use cheap bullets)

powder is a great fertilizer
primers are actually pretty tough as you discovered.
i would dry them out and reload, shoot carefully.
Or if that isn't your choice, just pop them in your gun




or drop them overboard when out fishing

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-jwk-
US Army '72-'95

I'd just shoot them like a single shot, one at a time, no Second round in the mag. I'm pretty sure, the safest way to dispose of a primer, is to pull the bullet and the powder and shoot the primer, using an empty case in your gun anyway.
Go with the facts, don't take chances with unknowns. Firing a squib with no chance of a second bullet following it is okay, that way they are not a total waste..you get to shoot them, then you have the case and all new stuff for the reloads.
Heck, paint them red so you don't mix them up during a grey moment.

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I'd like to agree with you BUT

If it were my decision to make, both the powder and the primers would be discarded. No doubt about it.

Years ago I was given about 500 rounds of 7.62 x 25mm pistol ammo that had been though a flood. The powder made nice colored light as it burned after dark. Primers were thrown in the garbage can (yeah, I know). Anyway, that's how I did it.

Shoot them.

If they work, all is fine.

If they are a Dud, well they will not fire.

If they are a squib, they will not cycle the gun and you will have a bullet to remove from the barrel and then do not fire any more, then break them down.

Plated bullets in factory Federal Ammo???

If you do pull them,burn the powder, primers in a a plastic bag in the trash is not a problem.

I just bought a RCBS collet bullet puller with collets for 357, 44 Mag, 40 SW and 45. It works great. I had purchased a very large box of someone else reloads.

WAY better than a wack a mole hammer!!!

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Still Running Against the Wind

^+1. "Click and no boom" means check for a squib whether firing handloads or factory. It's something you should be able to handle.

There is no way I would pull 400 factory rounds. I would shoot that ammo and do everything mentioned above when shooting. Shoot the ammo that goes bang and pull the bullets on the ones that don't...

Plated bullets in Federal factory ammo, that would be very big news.

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Freedom is never free!!
SWCA #3437

I should have mentioned that I have the RCBS Collet puller. By using a wrench to lock the puller down to the press tight it's a simple hand crank on the puller to lock onto the bullet. It's actually a rather quick operation, pulled 100 bullets last night in just 35-40 minutes at most. So, pulling all 400 isn't a very big deal.

After sleeping on it I think I'm going to leave the cases primed, I'll just pay attention when I shoot that ammo. Worst case is probably just a dud primer and that is easy to deal with.

Rule 3, Speer's bullets are ALL plated even the Gold Dots. As for Federal, I've pulled bullets from both Champion and American Eagle brands and both feature plated bullets. It's a hunch but from the tumbled with rocks appearance of the bullets I'm inclined to think they may be from Berry's. Fact is that Berry's plated look a tiny bit beat up when you put them next to bullets from Extreme or RMR.

The same way you dry out a wet cell phone, put the bullets in a gallon jar & fill with uncooked rice. Let them sit a month or so, then fire carefully 1 at a time. I imagine some will work & some may not, at least this will reduce the # you MAY have to disassemble. Still keep them separate from others & use only for targets. If the mfg used a primer sealant (is there a red line around the primers) they may be very watertight.

Maybe they thought nobody would notice, but I did! I have (had) 3 boxes of the Federal Champion 45 ammo with 230 Gr FMJ bullets (what it says on box flap). 2 boxes actually are jacketed bullets; the box I fired last weekend were PLATED bullets! Was wondering myself how Federal could get by with saying FMJ, when they were actually plated bullets?

BTW, the plated bullets were soft and damaged easily when cycled in my Ruger SR1911. I also had 2 rounds that I had to pull the bullets and re-seat/re-crimp them; as they had been pushed deeper into the case! Avg OAL of the rounds were 1.260, but one of the rounds had been pushed into the case to 1.180" I shot up the entire box, accuracy was still very good and I have the brass to reload. Anyone else notice plated bullets in any of the other Champion ammo labeled jacketed?

Scooter, let us know how they do. Its good to learn what others learn from their experiences. Thanks for sharing.

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I'd like to agree with you BUT

WW I, WW 2, Korea, and Viet Nam for certain were major military actions fought with ammo that got wet. If deeply concerned about squibs or misfires, load magazines with single rounds and fire as usual.

Water does not penetrate through gaps 0.002" or smaller because of surface tension. Oil will migrate through small gaps, like loaded .22 rimfire ammo, if given enough time.

I my opinion you are worrying about a non-problem, wasting your time tearing down good ammo, and you might find only 1 dud in the remaining 300 rounds.

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S&WHF 366

I am not sure if this is a possibility but I was just thinking could a primer that got some moisture in it result in a hang fire? In other words could a primer either not ignite immediately or bunt completely enough that the burn rate of the powder would be slow enough, especially if not fresh powder. Or is the chemical and mechanical process in the primer such that it either lights or doesn't?
Or another way to think of it is when they warn about a hang fire what causes that and how likely is it?

I have a simple solution buy a .45 ACP revolver and just shoot them as is. IF they work good, if not break them down as they fail. A 625 is my fav.

I know most people think of FMJ as a brass housing filled with lead, but since copper is a metal, and the plating process completely encapsulates the lead projectile, it could be described as a full metal jacket. Personally I don't think of plated bullets as FMJ, but I can see where advertizing(or accounting) types could justify that description. These are the same people that advertize ball ammo as "Tactical Zombie Killer Ammunition".

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Minimize the variables

If this questionable ammo is for range use (Not SD), that's exactly what I would do. That will make it so much easier to sort out which ones really need to be "broken down.

I just shot two speedloaders full of WW 158gr. SWCHP that went through a wash cycle in a pants pocket without a squib or dud. I'd relegate the ammunition for the range. Keep a brass rod in your bag, just in case.

Maybe the GIANT ATK has acquired BERRYS Bullets and they are all one big happy family along with all the other groups.

ATK Sporting Group

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Still Running Against the Wind

The best way to dispose of live primers is to toss them into a small can of light weight oil. That will "kill" them so they can be tossed in the trash with no danger.

Powder goes in the flower bed.

Priming compound is made with water, and the compound/paste is inserted in the cups and it dries, no solvents. If the primers did get wet, with plain water, a complete drying would bring them back to "as new" condition...

Call them what you want. I suppose all bullets with metal on the outside are "coated" in some manner. I have thick and thin coats. Just thicker or different process. A Gun in Nickel is also Plated A Berrys Bullet has a very thin plating of copper. Some Armscor bullets have a bronze coating. Gilding metal.

I am sure someone has cut them in half and has a micron microscope

Per Speer, Gold Dots are a bonded "jacket"

Speer Ammo - Construction

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Still Running Against the Wind

Reading that Speer description, when it says the jacket is bonded "one molecule at a time" sure sounds like a fancy way of describing "plating".

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Minimize the variables

Sell them at the next gun show to some little old lady.

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Why, I aughta.....

I don't know where the oil myth comes from. If the primer is sealed as many of them are these days oil won't do a thing to them. Oil might creep in and contaminate the powder.

When I worked the ordnance R & D oil was the standard for demilling and killing primers. GUNSLINGER

Speer bullets are Jacketed

Berry bullets are plated


The jacket is thicker and tougher than the plating. It's easy to expose lead in a plated bullet with rough handling. Plated, not so much.

Seriously guys, take a Winchester primer and drop it in oil. Load that thing in some empty brass and thumb back the hammer. POP!

A sealed primer is just that. SEALED.

The cheapy Tula's don't appear to be sealed and I'm sure others aren't. I'm just trying to point out that things change.

Why all this bandwidth wasted on primers? Shoot them in an empty case if you must, throw them away without shooting if you want, why bother trying to "Kill" them, they are practically harmless unless you correctly strike them when the anvil is supported from the bottom. It's extremely difficult to fire a primers especially outside a case unless you really try.

Just throw them in the scrap brass bucket and recycle them!

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Freedom is never free!!
SWCA #3437

Actually, I wasn't asking how to demill the primers, I was asking whether to pull the primers and re-prime the cases. After a good nights sleep I've decided to pull the bullets, save the powder, and leave the primed cases open to dry out.

As a final thought, don't be fearful of punching out a live primer. I've done it plenty of times and have yet to pop one. You would think the primer punch would pop them but I pop them out and even reuse them. I use brass until the case neck splits and when it happens I just resize it to punch out the primer and then toss the case. I was given a sack of brass once that I didn't even notice until half way through it that it was already primed. So I wasn't exactly going easy on them. I've also gone to the effort to buy cheap milsurp corrosive primed ammo and pull everything to punch the nasty primers and replace them and never had one of those pop either.

I had 10 inches of water in my basement from Hurricane Sandy. All my .22 RF was under water as well as some .38 SPL. After washing off the salt water, all of it fired without incident. Loaded ammunition is quite resistant to temperature/moisture and humidity changes.

Once, as test in searching for easier seating of primers, I applied cooking spray to them, again, without incident.

If in doubt, use it up on the range but I don't see any need to disassemble ammo that got wet.

I am sure there will be hate directed at me for reviving this old thread, but I need to kill some primers and I searched here first. There didn't seem to be a consensus - so I consulted the google. I found this link from a while back and thought I would post it.

Bottom line, at least in this small test, WD40 will kill primers if sprayed onto bare primers and allowed to sit.

The Box O' Truth #39 - Oil Vs. Primers - The Box O' Truth

Hope this is helpful - I will report back after I've tried this ... that is, if I still have a user account!!

Well even though it is a Zombie Post I am sure Scooter figured out what to do.

Primers are pretty hard to kill.

Did you read the article all the way to the end??

If I read it correctly:
Seems to me that after the oil and WD 40 dried or evaporated they all worked??

The debate continues!

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Still Running Against the Wind

Primers are really hard to kill. Soaking them in oil, WD-40, water, or whatever is no guarantee they are dead. There was a long posting some years ago on the IAA website on the topic.

Not to string this thread along any further, but the article had two sections. The first, short section addressed bare primers soaked with WD40 - they were all dead but that section didn't address allowing them to dry out.

The second, longer section described a test with primed/live rounds - and I don't think a single round failed after six weeks of soaking. The whole subject is of interest to me because I want to know for sure whether a striker-fired handgun (Kahr CM9) is as safe as it's purported to be - but, needless to say, I don't want to have a live round or live primer in the chamber!

Modern primers made with lead styphnate are pretty resilient because the compound is only minimally solubile in water. You'd probably find all the primers are fine, but I certainly understand your concern about a squib.

Personally, I would just reload the cases with the pulled bullets and the new powder and mark the boxes you put them in so you are alert to a squib when you go to the range.

If you decide the risk is too great and that $15 worth of primers is a small price to pay for peace of mind, then you can:

• Just fire each of the cases in your pistol to deactivate the primers or you can
• Push the primers out on your press. Then, soak the primers in denatured alcohol for some days (lead styphante is soluble in it) and then dispose of them by putting them in an old primer tray and disposing them in the trash one tray at a time (or however your local waste handling service requires).

I just throw live primers in a tall tin can, with some powder I'm disposing of. And then light it off. They really don't do much. I wouldn't be looking into the can, or place it near combustibles. Other than that, they're just loud caps, that might pop a few feet out of the can. Not near as loud as cheap firecrackers.

How many have seen the videos, which I believe were produced for fire departments, in which a small building containing the ammo stock, you might find in a sports store, is lit on fire. Everything is exploding, but the bullets themselves, usually wouldn't even penetrate the plywood walls, and not even do much damage to the sheet rock.

They are not just like loud caps, they are flinging small shards of metal, Pretty unsafe thing to do,

When ammo burns and goes off the case which is lighter than the bullet is what goes flying has nothing to do with the small metal primer and anvil

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Still Running Against the Wind

Shoot them. Worst they will do is not go off.

Back in the day when I worked for a major ammunition manufacturer, all primers were handled wet until they went into the case. Primers will dry out and should be just fine.

Shooting a gun can be unsafe too. Not as if I'm going to stand next to them. Kind of like spinning aircraft propellers, when part of your job is working a bit close for comfort (at least for a lot of people who don't have too). I did mention the fact that they fly out a few feet. But that's about it. They are not contained within a barrel, in which high pressure gas is directly behind them. BTW-- I wouldn't stand next to those little fertilizer/aluminum dust explosives we shoot at either. Same deal.

edit: Never said the case rupture has anything to do with the primer & anvil. Yes, the case goes first, which is why the bullet has no severe velocity.....as it's not contained.