Wet .22LR

[max]

I had 3 cardboard boxes of .22 in the back of a pickup. Some ice melted and the bottoms of the boxes got wet. The water wicked up the sides and the boxes were ruined. These were Federal rounds and the dampness messed up the lubricant and discolored it. WD-40 on a paper towel seems to remove the discoloration. Is there any downside to this, other than the time it will take to do over 1,000 of the little devils? The boxes did not disintegrate and the rounds never were covered with water, they just got wet.

I was out in the woods and some worked fine, but some did not feed well in 2 rifles and and pistol.

 

[Engineer1911]

Don't use WD-40!

DON'T USE WD-40 ! ! ! ! The WD-40 will wick inside the case and "kill" the priming compound and powder. This is the voice of experience. Wipe the ammo off with a dry cloth and shoot it.

 

[stansdds]

Engineer1911 is absolutely correct about WD-40 killing powder and primers.

For wet ammo, I might try the same thing that is often recommended for digital cameras and cell phones that get dunked. Place them in uncooked rice. The rice will absorb the moisture and not damage the ammo... or the cell phone.

 

[max]

It is not the moisture I am worried about. The lubricant that was on the bullet has discolored and ran onto the case. This makes it difficult for the round to feed. I want to remove this watered down lubricant. I may just have to wipe each one.

 

[Peak53]

...or tumble them for a few minutes in walnut shells
?
?
Yes it is safe

 

[clang444]

Or just shoot them in your K22 revolver.

If you don't have a K22, this is a good excuse to get one (as if anyone ever needed an excuse to own a K22).

 

[gwpercle]

...or tumble them for a few minutes in walnut shells
?
?
Yes it is safe

Don't tumble them , the vibrations and rolling motion could affect the priming compound.
I have cleaned stained ammo cases with a small pad of 0000 steel wool dampened with a drop of gun oil...don't soak the ammo in oil or WD40 ...they will clean up and dry out just fine.
Baton Rouge had a bad flood August 2016, I dried out and cleaned lots of guns and ammo after that. 22LR's usually came through with flying colors. When shooting it make sure it goes bang and bullet exits the barrel.
Gary

 

[arjay]

I'd stash them away for the next time 22s are impossible to find and buy some new ammo

 

[Nevada Ed]

Even new 22 have misfires.......
as for not feeding well, it is only 150, which you can wipe down
in a short amount of time.

It is not like there is a HUGE amount of money invested in this ammo,
for you to worry about it.
Do what you can and fire it or toss it.

Good luck.

 

[Beemer-mark]

Don't tumble them , the vibrations and rolling motion could affect the priming compound.

I tumble all my bottleneck center fire cartridges after loading to get the case lube off. Usually for a least 3 hours, sometimes I forget and the run all night. I've done this for decades with no downside.

I recently had 4 cases loaded with primers get mixed up with my fired, dirty 44 spl cases. They went thru the wet tumbler with SS media for 3 hours. I found them when I was priming the clean cartridges. All 4 primed cases (unloaded) still went bang in my revolver. I've soaked primers in oil for weeks and they still go bang when put in a case and fired. Scares me, I don't think it's possible to kill a primer.

 

[Warren Sear]

DON'T USE WD-40 ! ! ! ! The WD-40 will wick inside the case and "kill" the priming compound and powder. This is the voice of experience. Wipe the ammo off with a dry cloth and shoot it.

Nope; won't happen. I know this from my own experience. Also, read here if anyone is interested in facts...

www.theboxotruth.com/the-box-o-truth-39-oil-vs-primers/

 

[BC38]

Nope; won't happen. I know this from my own experience. Also, read here if anyone is interested in facts...

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

Interesting article. I'll play Devil's Advocate though.

The fly in his ointment (as I see it) is that with the rounds all sitting in a holder nose-down, the primer cup is acting as an "umbrella" keeping the oil from reaching the priming compound even if some of it did manage to seep in around the primer. If it did it would end up in the case and wetting a little bit of the powder - but not the priming compound.

With 22lr rounds IF (and it is a BIG "if") some oil got past the heeled bullet and inside the case, there would be nothing like the primer cup to keep it from getting to the priming compound.

So for that reason, I'm not so sure that the results of the test in that article apply in this situation.

BTW Nevada Ed, I think you missed the part where the OP said that the 3 boxes in question add up to over 1000 rounds (presumably three bulk packs - not three 50 round boxes).

Personally, I'd just sit in front of the TV wiping the gunk off them one round at a time. Afterwards I'd probably roll them around in a plastic bowl with a little dry spray lube if I needed to replace the water-fouled lube that I wiped off.

 

[Beemer-mark]

Take an unfired primer, soak it in WD-40 for a couple of days. Then insert it into a case, insert case in gun and pull the trigger. It will lock a revolver up when the primer comes partially out of the case.

 

[BlackTalonJHP]

Whatever method you choose, clean 100 rounds and test. If successful use the method on the rest of the rounds and shoot as soon as possible, I wouldn't keep it around long.

 

[Ackley1952]

Nope that won't happen

 

[max]

I tumbled it for about 30 minutes in corncobs. I took some to the range and it worked just fine in my K-22.

 

[desi2358]

Some years ago some people brought a couple boxes full of assorted ammo into the shop. It had been their fathers ammo collection but they had carelessly left it on the basement floor after he had passed where it all got saturated from water leaks. Boxes were stuck together, much of the ammo was stained or showing signs of corrosion. After discovering it had little remaining value they asked us to dispose of it.

A real shame as there were many older 22 boxes from the 40's to the 70's and all the boxes were ruined as well as a lot of older center fire ammo. I took the mess home to tear down the center fire ammo for the bullets, some cleaned up enough to shoot. I pealed the stuck together boxes apart and decided to set the 22's in the sun by a window for a few days. Tried a few assorted rounds some days later and they all fired so ended up repacking them into old CCI plastic boxes (and a few plastic bags) and set them aside for plinking ammo. Over the years I have shot my way through most of them and gotten decent (tin can/metal swinger target) accuracy and good reliability. Due to my own curiosity I kept track of failed rounds when shooting these and actually had very few. A shame that some nice collectible boxes were ruined but it was surprising how well made and durable a lot of older ammo was.