I was shooting some approximately 25-30 year old .270 Win Hornady Custom factory loads, and had a blown primer. I didn't fire my rifle after that, and took it to a gunsmith. He checked the chamber with a go/no-go gauge and said it was fine, he chambered several rounds he had in his shop and said the rifle's chamber was a little tight, but certainly not out of spec. We were discussing what led up to the blown primer, and I told gim I had been sighting in my rifle and had tried multiple recently purchased brands of ammo and had no issues when firing the new rounds. But when I switched to the old Hornady ammo, I had the blown primer issue. He asked me where I had been storing this ammo, and I told him in a metal military ammo can in my garage. He then speculated that my ammo had cold welded, which was a term I had never heard before. He stated that sometimes ther copper jacket of the bullet and the neck of the brass case can have a chemical reaction brought about by moisture, where the two metals fuse/weld together. He said firing a round that had cold welded could have caused excessive chamber pressure, resulting in the blown primer. He recommended not shooting my old ammo, and instead using modern ammo.
I am just curious if anyone has ever had any experience with ammunition cold welding before, and if so is just the natural humidity enough to cause the chemical reaction over time, and are certain manufacturers more prone to cold welding than others. Last year I found a couple of boxes of .243 Win Remington Core-Lokt rounds that had green corrosion where the brass neck and bullet meet, and also around the primers. The Hornady rounds did not have this issue. I do remember getting trapped in a rainstorm while hunting back in the 1990s, and everything in my backpack got soaked, including a box of the Hornady Custom .270 Win rounds. The following day after I got home, I dried everything out, including the ammunition. Not sure if the blown primer round was one of those old rounds or not. Just trying to determine if normal humidity can cause the cold weld to occur, or does the round actually need to come in contact with water. Any help or advice is appreciated.
I am just curious if anyone has ever had any experience with ammunition cold welding before, and if so is just the natural humidity enough to cause the chemical reaction over time, and are certain manufacturers more prone to cold welding than others. Last year I found a couple of boxes of .243 Win Remington Core-Lokt rounds that had green corrosion where the brass neck and bullet meet, and also around the primers. The Hornady rounds did not have this issue. I do remember getting trapped in a rainstorm while hunting back in the 1990s, and everything in my backpack got soaked, including a box of the Hornady Custom .270 Win rounds. The following day after I got home, I dried everything out, including the ammunition. Not sure if the blown primer round was one of those old rounds or not. Just trying to determine if normal humidity can cause the cold weld to occur, or does the round actually need to come in contact with water. Any help or advice is appreciated.
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