Jump to content
SASS Wire Forum

APP residue in shotshell hulls stays wet if shot in the rain


Hellgate #3302 L

Recommended Posts

Saturday before last I attended a shoot with the delightful Molalla River Rangers of Canby, Orygun and shot up some of my shotshells loaded with APP. It started to rain on the last stage or two and a few sprinkles got into some of the empty hulls. Generally a week or so of dry storage lets things dry out pretty good but I noticed that there were a few "beads" of powder fouling down in the hulls that looked glistening under a bright light during preloading inspection. Running my little finger down into the hulls the whitish and blackish flakes were actually wet spots. These hulls were not soaked by any means. What I can tell is some of the remnants of burned powder got wet and formed a residue that does not evaporate out the water. I tossed a bunch because I didn't want a wet charge of powder (BP commandment: keep your powder dry) in the hulls. We're just talking beads (one to several) of wet black or grey material in the bottoms of the hulls. There was no wetness anywhere but on the flecks of residue inside the hulls. Just a warning to APP shotshell shooters/reloaders to check your hulls before restuffing them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The primary composition of APP is ascorbic acid. As a mild reducing agent, ascorbic acid degrades upon exposure to air, converting the oxygen to water. Ergo, the more moisture in the air - the more it degrades to water which is a mildly acidic acid solution. So clean the bore!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yup. Is your APP fairly old? Just curious.

 

http://www.curtrich.com/bpsubsdummies.html

 

Thanks for the link. By the way- the very first pic in that link has a caption that says in part that the Tin Star Ranch is now defunct. That range is very much alive and kicking.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the link. By the way- the very first pic in that link has a caption that says in part that the Tin Star Ranch is now defunct. That range is very much alive and kicking.

 

Two Spurs, it was defunct for a while when the good Captain wrote that. Thanks to Mickey and his lovely bride, it's now a going concern again.

 

Might be a good time for Captain George to update some of his old stuff, though....-_-

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.