Damp issue

[tikka_madras]

I thought it worth putting this on here and seeing what people think.

I went to make up some target rounds. Tumbled cases, fl resized and decapped, for some reason decided to wash the lube off in warm soapy water instead of just wiping it off. It didn't work so I ended up wiping off the residue anyway, then left them for three days to dry. I checked a couple were completely dry before starting to reload.

Primed and started putting in the powder. I weigh repeatedly until I'm getting the exact charge I want, then mostly trust the powder thrower, weighing the odd one, until I've finished then afterwards pouring a few out and weighing to check. Throughout I got some somewhat random results. Supposed to be 42 grains but I got 41.7 to 42.5 which was unusual with some spot on and had to pour some of them several times until I got a consistent result. On the final check some were still out. A few minutes of investigation showed that some (not all) of the cases were damp and small amounts of powder were sticking to the inside.

I didn't know if the damp would affect the powder or the fact that some were slightly over and some under would affect the accuracy. I worried about squibs or pressure spikes. I ended up pouring the lot out and disposing of the all the powder plus all of it still in the thrower. I'll leave the cases a couple more days then try again.

What do people reckon? Was that sensible or have I just poured a load of perfectly good powder away?

 

[Klenchblaize]

Powder granules; some types more than others, will adhere to the inside of a case without dampness present.

In respect of dampness retention if you leave cases in an upright position without having induced centrifugal force to expell the bulk of water it can remain at the base of a case for many days, depending upon ambient temp' and attendant evaporation rates.

K

 

[User00033]

I had exactly the same problem after I washed my brass to remove dust from the tumbling. I also left the brass to dry for at least 3-4 days and yet it was still damp internally and I found out exactly the same way that you did by checking the first few cases cos the scale calibration was wandering. I took some ear cleaners and wiped around the inside of some of the cases and they were still damp, I couldn't believe it.

So I dried to the cases in the oven at 60° for a few hours and that sorted it out.

However somehow one damp case managed to sneak through my rigourous quality control and it presented itself as a dud failure-to-fire whilst pointed at a big black billy goat. Very annoying. When I inspected the cartridge to find out what happened the powder had congealed into a blob inside the case. So the damp had ruined the charge.