Very dirty .22 ammo. How to clean?

StrelokM38

StrelokM38

CGN Regular
Rating - 100%
11   0   0
So, went with my buddies to the farm the other weekend, had a couple .22's and bulk ammo sitting in the back of our ATV. Long story short, the dust we kicked up throughout the day got all over the .22 since the lid had come off from a bump or something.

So, i've got a 'lot' of dusty .22 rounds sitting here and i'm unsure how to go about cleaning it all off. thinking of using compressed air to blow the dust away if anything.
 
I had a box of cci blazer that had a abnormal amount of wax in it and i was gummin up the action on the rifle pretty bad so I took all the ammo and put it into a wire mesh strainer and put the hot water to it then dried off all the rounds with a towel. Good as new and no wax.
 
Today I learned: you can wash .22LR ammo. I never knew that. I figured 22 ammo wasn't waterproof?

With cci mini mags, the bullet feels good and tight, but other ammo I have had, you can definitely feel a wiggle and the bullet feels kinda loose. remington if i recall correctly.

you guys wouldn't wash bullets that were loose or wiggled would you?

On a slightly related note, my buddy put a 270 round though the washing machine and dryer one time. the polymer tip was melted off! lol lucky bastard nothing happened imo.
 
wd123 said:
On a slightly related note, my buddy put a 270 round though the washing machine and dryer one time. the polymer tip was melted off! lol lucky bastard nothing happened imo.
Click to expand...

It's probably not what you think - probably the worst case scenario would be damaged laundry.
 
wd123 said:
On a slightly related note, my buddy put a 270 round though the washing machine and dryer one time. the polymer tip was melted off! lol lucky bastard nothing happened imo.
Click to expand...

I have put .22's through the washer and drier several time with no issues other than a pissed off wife when she burned her hand taking them out of the drier...
 
cdill said:
No. Do you realize that may grind the powder of the rounds down and increase burning rate and thus pressure.

One of the things mentioned in reloading manuals is never to tumble loaded rounds in order to clean the brass.

CD
Click to expand...

Old wives tale. It's done all the time, with no ill effect.
 
cdill said:
No. Do you realize that may grind the powder of the rounds down and increase burning rate and thus pressure.

One of the things mentioned in reloading manuals is never to tumble loaded rounds in order to clean the brass.
Click to expand...
I'd like to find out which manual started this silly rumour. It is quite annoying that it's been reprinted so many times without anyone actually testing to see if it actually happens (hint; it doesn't).
 
A lot of bulk rimfire ammo has loose fitting bullets. I'd be very reluctant to wash such ammo down with anything. Too easy for the liquid to get in through the loose crimp. And too likely that at least some rounds don't have a good crimp.

Instead I'd just lay out a handful at a time on an old bath towel, fold the other side over the ammo then work the towel over to rub the dust off the ammo and into the towel. Repeat with a good handful at a time until they are all rubbed clean. Shouldn't take more than about 5 minutes to do the exposed box this way.
 
LUTNIT said:
I'd like to find out which manual started this silly rumour. It is quite annoying that it's been reprinted so many times without anyone actually testing to see if it actually happens (hint; it doesn't).
Click to expand...

Perhaps it depends on the powder. I do not see this happening with flake powder obviously, but what about some extruded varieties? Maybe back in the day extruded powder was of a different softer composition than it is today and more vulnerable to this. Another thought is that someone put rounds in a tumbler and then forgot them for a seriously long period of time and it occurred? Or maybe it is just pure unproven hypothesis. I was just repeating what I have read many times, and the admonishment I received from my father once for starting to do it before he came along.

CD
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom