Based on a recent post by car541 about his wet gun and ammo performance during hurricane Harvey rescue duty, I was thinking about ammo in wet weather in general. My question is, is all centerfire pistol and rifle ammo basically waterproofed, at least from the large brand name manufacturers ? I've heard some waterfowling shotshell ammo is sealed against water intrusion, but I'm wondering if this is the case with standard ball and/or defense ammo for pistols and revolvers, and also for rifle ammo in general from the major manufacturers.

If this isn't common knowledge, does anyone know the inside scoop on this part of ammo manufacturing ?

https://sigforum.com/eve/forums...590091034#2590091034

Think LE/MIL. Their ammo gets rained on and snowed on. Still works fine. They don't run back to base after a rain storm to swap ammo.

Premium SD ammo often has some kind of water sealant over the primers and case mouths. I couldn't say about other types of ammo.

There's a difference between a bit if rain or snow verses immersion under for a week+, it all depends. Then no biggie if the shell doesn't go off while hunting waterfowl.

Length of time before drying out matters, ammo can become corroded, the old paper shotshells would 'swell'.

For all of this, the usual answer is ROTATION, shoot the old stuff 1st. If more compromised, one may get a 'squib' at the range. If it looks to funky to shoot, dispose if required.

I reclaimed several 100 rounds of military 308 ammo recently. It had been in an unheated garage for years, damp at times. I wiped & cleaned each one with an oily cloth. Even doing that, almost 10% were to corroded to shoot. I did pull any serviceable bullets for reloading. The rest of the recovered ammo went to the front of the line for range use. It's all shot off now.

The only nonmilitary ammunition I’ve seen reference to with sealant around the bullets is the Speer Gold Dot “Dive” load (see below). Decades ago Army CID agents were issued 38 S&W Special ammunition with sealed bullets, and the sealant left a hard-to-remove residue in the chambers. I have never encountered such sealing in nonmilitary ammunition, and not in all military stuff.

Primers are more commonly sealed, but for brief exposure to water and even immersion it seldom seems to be any problem. Several times I’ve run ordinary handgun ammunition through machine wash cycles and those abused rounds always fired normally. Based on posts I’ve read here, many other people have had similar experiences.

I often find live ammunition on my range that’s dropped by officers during training drills, and as long as it’s not been there so long as to be corroded, I always fire it myself and have never had problems despite its being exposed to rain and melting snow. If ammunition has been immersed in water I wouldn’t rely on it for serious purposes if I had any choice in the matter, but I don’t worry if it gets wet.

Speer Gold Dot Dive ammunition description:

Designed to operate in environments where other loads can never go -- deep in the water. Speer's Dive Ammunition features the legendary Gold Dot® hollow-point bullet. This Special Operations Cartridge (SOC) is specially sealed to withstand everything from sewer water to saltwater. Special primers ignite the propellant in the most demanding of circumstances and consequently yields extremely uniform velocity and exceptional accuracy. Tested to a depth of 115 feet for 90 minutes.

http://www.le.vistaoutdoor.com...handgun/default.aspx

Bullets and primers fit tightly enough in the cases that it would take probably days, more likely weeks, of complete immersion to penetrate them. You can always buy sealant to put on yourself.

A lot of the ammo salvaged after my house fire was bad. Exposed to smoke, fire hose water, and rain through the burnt out roof, it did not hold up well.
S&B with the pretty red stuff around the case mouth and primer was useless, as was Blazer aluminum. I pulled them down for the bullets.
Other commercial ammo was usable for practice with an occasional misfire... until one squibbed and stuck the bullet.
Real USGI with the asphaltum seal fired 100%.

quote:

Originally posted by Jim Watson:
A lot of the ammo salvaged after my house fire was bad. Exposed to smoke, fire hose water, and rain through the burnt out roof, it did not hold up well.
S&B with the pretty red stuff around the case mouth and primer was useless, as was Blazer aluminum. I pulled them down for the bullets.
Other commercial ammo was usable for practice with an occasional misfire... until one squibbed and stuck the bullet.
Real USGI with the asphaltum seal fired 100%.

I guess this is where a steel ammo box comes in handy.

Yes, the stuff in ammo cans was fine.
Guns in an uninsulated steel case were fine.

quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:
I often find live ammunition on my range that’s dropped by officers during training drills, and as long as it’s not been there so long as to be corroded, I always fire it myself and have never had problems despite its being exposed to rain and melting snow.

^ I have found cheap FMJ rounds that look like they have been there for several years, case and jackets are brown. Wipe it off, it fires with no noticeable loss in accuracy.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: 10-7 leo,

So it appears the answer is no, manufacturers don't seal their ammo generally, because it's not really needed.

So for ammunition that is truly waterproof (like the speer "dive" ammo discussed), how is that sealing process done ?

There used to be a sealant marketed to reloaders. It was something like Ben and Jerry's (ice cream) or Tom and Jerrys (cat and mouse).. Anyway, two mens names. It came in different colors if you wanted. I have a bottle someplace, purchased before my moves 7-8 years ago. So its easy to seal after the fact, too. I've read that even nail polish works the same way. You might want to thin it.

For bullet sealing, I don't know. I've read that some surplus ammo was sealed with asphalt of some type. Caused some cleaning problems in the past. Back then the military had cleaning solutions that pretty much took care of it. That and lots of idle hands to spend hours cleaning their rifle. Kept their hands off their gun.

A properly sized case is a snug fit for the incoming bullet. A tight metal to metal fit. Same with the primers on new cases. I'd guess that as you re-use a case at hot load pressures, the primers or primer pocket might get too loose. I've read of primers so loose they fall out. Those aren't water tight.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: rburg,

I've found ammo in the dryer when the alarm went off. Yours may have the alarm installed also. It's a repetitive clanging sound when the dryer is running and you left ammo or a Swiss Army Knife in a pocket....

Anyway, I've never had a round that went through a cycle in the washing machine fail to go off. And, that's soapy water that should make it "wetter" and sneak into a round more easily.

I do have a case of the NATO 124 milspec 9mm that I suppose would be my choice if I Knew it was going to exposed to water for a while.

There was a recent discussion about swimming with guns. I'm one who has done it. I always swap the ammo afterwards, but shoot the old stuff after rinsing. Never an issue.
FWIW>

I went to the dungeon where I keep some of my crap and found the sealant. Its named George and Roy. It needs some thinning now, but all a user needs to do is drip a tiny droplet at the edge of a primer and then allow it to run its way around. You can help by tilting the round so it runs downhill. Little if any is needed and I guess it will last forever, or as long as most shooters last anyway.

Well I look around on the internet, and some dudes are asking the same question. Answers are all over the place, along with some interesting comments on what the military uses to seal their ammo.

I also found this from the box o truth, they did some tests with penetrating oil:

https://www.theboxotruth.com/t...h-39-oil-vs-primers/

I think I'll start an experiment. I'll put about 5 rounds in a jar of water, let them sit for a year, then see if they will shoot. If I can't find this thread to reply, I'll open a new one a year from now. Yes, this topic is academic for me, I don't "need" waterproof ammo, but I find the topic fascinating, partly because the facts about any so called waterproof ammo are so hard to come by.