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Guns in water


Rye Miles #13621

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In a story I'm reading, Bad Men Die by William J. Johnstone, the hero is going to jump in the water and swim to a riverboat to get some bad guys. 

The writer says, The water won't stop the Colts from firing but it's not good for them in the long run":o

Will they still fire after being submerged in water for 5 minutes? These are cartridge guns but black powder.

What say you?

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What CH SAID!!

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It's a myth that a gun won't fire after it's been under water.  Of course the longer it stays underwater the less the chances are it will fire, but think of it this way how many times that a gun gets soaking wet and it still works.

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A .22 revolver will! Don't ask how I found out 15 feet down in a harbor!

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It’s the ammo that is the problem, not the gun.  If the ammo is sealed well, like military ammo, it will fire even after months or even years of submersion.  Commercial ammo should survive short or moderate periods of submersion as well.  Handloads, it depends on how well sealed they are.  My Colt Commander was submerged one time for about 30 hours or so (another story for another time), and 5 of the 8 handloaded rounds fired.

 

If you are actually firing the gun under water, don’t forget that the water in the barrel has weight and that is added to the bullet weight as far as the gun is concerned.  The result is an increase in pressure.  Lead is about 8 times as dense as water so in a pistol with a 4” barrel, it would be the equivalent of having a load with two bullets.  
 

Probably not a good idea to shoot a submerged pistol with full loads.  It will fire though.

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This is why we was thought by Grandpa to put a sealant on the primer after loading .

Increase the chance of a wet round firing by 75% 

Per Grandpa .

So saith the Rooster 

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When shooting a revolver underwater, would the bullet leave the barrel, before water creeped in either through the cylinder gap, or the back part of the chamber, thus extinguishing the burning of powder, which would thus reduce the powder of said burning powder?  Would this be dependent on the pressure of the water?

 

 

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For what it's worth guys I never said the HERO was going to shoot his Colt UNDERWATER! :lol:

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2 hours ago, Rye Miles #13621 said:

For what it's worth guys I never said the HERO was going to shoot his Colt UNDERWATER! :lol:

The title was Guns IN water, not wet guns. Therein lies the diff. :D

We had a thread a while ago about submerged guns firing.

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11 hours ago, Crooked River Pete, SASS 43485 said:

under water shooting vid

check out the "smarter every day" video also

 

Did you notice that the semi-auto failed to extract the spent casing?

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12 hours ago, Cemetery said:

When shooting a revolver underwater, would the bullet leave the barrel, before water creeped in either through the cylinder gap, or the back part of the chamber, thus extinguishing the burning of powder, which would thus reduce the powder of said burning powder?  Would this be dependent on the pressure of the water?

 

 

The pressure of the burning powder is greater than the water pressure and simply blows the water away.

wWhether or not this would work at extreme depths where the water psi is horrendous, I don’t know.

 

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9 hours ago, Utah Bob #35998 said:

The title was Guns IN water, not wet guns. Therein lies the diff. :D

We had a thread a while ago about submerged guns firing.

I tried to explain that the hero was going to have his guns underwater for 5 minutes. To clear this up he was NOT shooting underwater he was swimming to the riverboat to get the bad guys. I guess I wasn't clear enough but as usual threads go their own way!:lol:

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DANG YOU RYE MILES!  The ROC will be meeting soon to discuss rules for the new SASS Underwater Category!  New costumes, new scuba tanks, and a new Handbook!  What have you done!

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UPDATE: The HERO of the story emerged from the river and climbed onto the boat and immediately starting firing his two Remingtons, all went off without a FTF!

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I read a book on the beginning of the Remington gun company.  After the invent of cartridge guns, Russia ordered 10,000 rounds of ammo , which would have been loaded with  black powder.

The ship sank right after it had left the dock, but it took 6 months for the ammo to be recovered.  Remington decided to try firing it to see how much of the ammo was ruined.  After 6 months submerged in  salt water all 10,000 rounds went off.

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