HOT loads

[Dick Hosmer]

I have acquired a small quantity of 70s/80s vintage .30-40 ammo which was improperly stored (100+ temps).

It's all brand-new, original boxed, minty-clean, never fired.

But, I'm worried about the powder. Should I break it down and re-charge? What about the primers?

[waterman]

I've messed with cartridges like that several times. Here's what I would do. Take a few cartridges at random, maybe 5, one from each box. Pull the bullets. Collet puller works best, impact or hammer type if that's all you have.

Look at the base of each pulled bullet. Move the bullet around. Tap it gently. Did any powder stick to the base? If so, powder is suspect.

Dump powder from each case on a separate sheet of white paper, copy machine or similar. Inspect the powder in bright light. Smell it. If you are NOT taking any sort of heart medications, maybe taste one grain. Trickle some in a line on another piece of paper, all the grains touching. See if it burns. If it flashes, pour it on the roses. Or if something seems amiss, if it's clumpy and the grains stick together, it's bad. Your eyes, face, fingers & rifle are worth more than a few boxes of cartridges.

Then take a flashlight and look in the cases. They should be shiny brass & completely clean, free of powder. If not, the powder may have started to decompose. If that's the case, you can salvage the cases, the bullets, and the cartridge boxes, but that's it.

Test fire all the primers. If they fail, there's your answer. Look at the primer residue in each fired case. If the residue looks normal, maybe the ammo is OK.

[Culpeper]

I am on board with Brother Waterman when he says "Your eyes, face, fingers & rifle are worth more than a few boxes of cartridges." But were it me I would break it all down, dump the powder, maybe or maybe not pop the primers, and start as if it is new brass. I like the idea of knowing better than not knowing.

I've never read where primers go bad. Of course just because I have not does not mean it cannot happen. Your call.

[Whig]

The ammo is probably good to go. But, anytime you question something like this, you should always do the safest thing. You never want to regret taking a safer route if something goes wrong. Can you imagine regretting not doing the safest thing?

[waterman]

My adventures started about 1992 with some dandy looking 7x57 ammo from Chile, with headstamps dated 1972 and 1973. Only 20 years old, looked perfect. Offhand match, 200 yards, shooting a like-new 1895 Chilean Mauser. Blinding flash, brass fragments in my cheeks, blessings upon the makers of my safety glasses. Pulled down the ammo. Powder had decomposed, some of it liquid. Stuck to base of bullets and to the inner walls of the shiny new brass cartridge cases. Berdan primed, so a squirt of WD-40 into each case to kill the primers. Then everything went into the scrap pile.

[Dick Hosmer]

Ouch, but, don't worry, I DO plan on being careful!

[psteinmayer]

I'm with Waterman and Culpeper too... make sure it's ok. We sure don't want to lose you Dick!

[larrys]

I lurk here regularly, and post hardly ever.
+1000 on what others say about pulling down some rounds to see what shape they are in. I recently went through a bunch of old 30.06 reloads (300+) I got from an old guy. Found good stuff, and some really bad stuff. What it looks on the outside is not an indicator of what is inside.
Larry