22 Long Rifle ammo question

[ddeaton]

How waterproof are 22 rounds? Anyone ever got any wet, dried them out, then shot them? I know what the right thing to do would be, but its hard to throw 1500 rounds of 22 away in these times.

[Bert2368]

Modern .22 ammo is quite "water resistant". Unless it was deep under, it probably is fine. Make sure it's CLEAN of any grit, sand or whatever that might have been in the water?

[DLCTEX]

I've fired rounds that have gone through the washing machine and just this week fired a round that I found lying in the yard that had been there long enough to be tarnished black. Just how wet did your ammo get? Just test them and if you get a squib, check the barrel. You aren't likely to do damage to the gun even if you fire a round on top of a stuck bullet, just some really stuck bullets.

[ddeaton]

Actually, I threw it all in the tumbler. My brother in law's basement flooded a couple weeks ago. 5 inches of rain in an hour and 4 foot of water in the basement. I took the ammo to get rid of it safely for him, brother is local cop, they dispose all kinds of stuff. Then I looked in the bag and it was all 22's. I am still on the bubble of even keeping it.

[Charlie Sometimes]

Clean it off, dry it out, and then try to shoot it.
If it doesn't fire or sounds like squib loads, then pull all the lead for melting and dispose of the rest. Heck, pull a few and check the powder just to see if it has been wet.

22 LR ammo is very waterproof. Even though the boxes are cardboard (most of the time), this protects the ammo from most of the silt in flood water.

I had about 1000 rounds of CCI go through a flood 10 or so years ago, and it was stored in a box with lots of other ammo, and got over looked for a few days. I hosed it off, let it sun dry, and fortunately continued to shoot all of it up with no problems- unless you count tarnished cases.

What posessed you to put LIVE rounds into a tumbler?

[JDFuchs]

I wouild shoot it. Wost case it strikes the primer and dose nothing most of the time, Tho ive had new box's of bulk 22lr do the same. :roll: Just watch it and have fun..

[lreed]

Hello, A stuck bullet in a .22 ,if not removed before fireing another round will get you a ringed barrel. I still have my first .22 with multiple rings caused by using ammo that had gone through the washing machine,didn't know any better. lreed

[MT Gianni]

Is it your personal defense ammo? If not don't worry about it. Yes you may blow a shot an a Boone and Crockett Squirrel but life goes on.

[reddog]

You know, only way to tell for sure is to try it all. Most bulk .22 i've ever seen the projectile has been loose in the case. A bit of water i wouldn't think would hurt them but if they was under for a while, I'd wonder about them. I agree, if you aint countin on them for self defense, have fun shootin them up. If one misfires, lay it in a pile and make a boolit out of the lead. We got to recycle you know. My little bit. Reddog

[briang]

I'll take it if you don't want it.

[chevyiron420]

i bet there aint any lube left on the boolits after tumbling.[smilie=1:

[ddeaton]

I am sorry for not being precise in me statement. I vibrated the rounds in walnut media for about an hour to dry and clean them off. The walnut was due to be changed, so I threw it out after this session. The 22's are the copper plated Remingtons. I wasnt going to rinse them off and get them wet again and they smelled like sewer, so I vibrated them. I think they will just go to the recycle pot.

[WILCO]

I think they will just go to the recycle pot.

Dude,

Just shoot em up and have fun.

[beagle]

Shoot 'em up.

The only .22 I've ever lost was when my mom ran it through the old wringer washer in my pockets in hot soapy water. That did the trick.

I've canoed for days with .22s in my pockets and got it wet and it still fired all right so it's pretty hardy stuff./beagle