cleaning loaded ammo

[ATMester]

My tumbler gave up on me, it's back for warranty repair. Normally I would have tumbled the loaded ammo.

In the mean time a loaded up some ammo (used previously tumbled-clean cases) and the first time I used Frankford Arsenal's Case Lube- generously. I found it to be much better then Hornady's One Shot Case lube.

Then I used brake clean to remove the excess lube. ( I read it here, on the towel spray them with brake clean and you good to go.)

At the range:

About one squib per magazine.

I assume the gun powder got wet. Unburnt powder was all over inside my gun.

Now I am wondering, too much case lube or the bake clean screwed me up. I have about 1000 rounds left...

Any idea Guys?

(3.6 gr of Clays .45 caliber)

[shooting for M]

I've never done that, but brake cleaner is really thin and nasty stuff. Definately soundlike the powder got wet. I have used brake cleaner on stainless black powder guns, works great to clean the action. If you were using it on a cloth it was probably too wet IMO. Just my thoughts.

Jason

[devildogmech]

DUDE!

NEVER Touch brake cleaner with your bare hands! It is some nasty stuff! Not only will it RIP the oils out of your skin, but prolonged exposure is thought to cause some cancers! Only use with gloves and in a WELL ventilated area!

It is so aquious, that i wouldnt doubt it got passed your bullet and corrupted the powder... Your lucky it didnt corrupt the primers.... I dont KNOW if the chemicals would have an adverse reaction, but I wouldnt want to find out....

Since they havent gone boom while sitting in boxes yet, your probably safe.... Now you will get plenty of practice with "imediate action drills"

JMHO

Billy

[JFD]

My vote goes for too much case lube.

Before I discovered rubbing alcohol on a towel, I used brake cleaner on a towel with my loaded ammo for a few months. I never had a problem.

I use One-Shot, but use a box a pair of boots came in. All cases are knocked over so I don't spray any inside the cases. I don't care what anyone has to say about it, it doesn't make sense to me to spray anything inside a case I'm about to dump powder into. Definitely not with the pump One-Shot, I've never used the spray can, so it may be totally different.

[yoshidaex]

+1 on too much case lube. I lube cases and let them dry for a day (a bit overkill). The dillon spray lube works really well but leaves a very heavy film. I spray a towel with brake clean, drop a handful of completed rounds in the center, grab all four corners of the towel and roll the bullets around. cases come out with all the lube removed. Using Hornady one shot, i just leave it on and not worry about it.

[blkbrd]

Spray silicone and a towel works great. Cleans the lube off and leaves the rounds slick with no squibs.

[bpowe]

I would suspect primer comtamination from the brake cleaner rather than powder contamination from the lube. Someone did some experiments with case lubes (there's a thread here somewhere) where he loaded cases with varying amounts of lube inside the case - as I remember he had to get a fair amount of liquid in the case before ignition of the powder was adversly affected.

There are lots of varieties of brake cleaner out there, the ones without a water based formula are probably less likely to contaminate your primers. I'd just make sure you use a DAMP, not wet towel to wipe the cases.

Bill

[JThompson]

I had this issue with another lube some time back. I was spraying it directly on the cases and some of it would get in there. I would then load and shoot right away... squib city. Here's what I do now: I use a plastic container (something like a dish tub works well) I then spray the bottom of the tub with lube. Next, I dump in the cases and take hold of the tub and bounce the rounds in short crisp up and down motion. After you get the hang of it it will spread the lube evenly and little, if any, gets inside the case.

[Kingman]

I have had an issue with Midway's spray on lube. I had some squibs. Quit using it and back to every round goes bang.

[Greg in VA]

Hornady One-Shot, Get a 1 gallon zip lock bag spray the inside of the bag with the One-Shot and then put your cases in and seal it up, do the Shake and bake thing pour out your cases and load them up........this is easy, fast and clean. I don't even bother to clean off the lube after loading. As too your question I would supect the brake cleaner as the reason for the miss-fires.

Greg

[Larry White]

Better than one shot? Dosent sound like its better. Use one shot correctly( read that very lightly), load and shoot. Save the cleaning for the guns.-------------Larry

[ATMester]

for the record: over lubricated cases

I went shooting today. I used the previously made ammo, cleaned them with rubbing alcohol and a towel, using extra care not to use too much.

Same problem.

I'm gonna use the tumbler, slow but it does the job.

Edited September 16, 2007 by TheHun

[yoshidaex]

aside from pulling them all apart, i say set those loaded rounds aside and use them as slow fire, group shooting ammo.