Long Term Storage on Bullets

Hawk

North Central Texas
Mechanic slang. French for Big F%&#$%@ Hammer. See if the PC unlinked the nitroglycerin from the cellulose and re-combined with it to make an unstable plastic explosive by smacking one of your suspect bullets "briskly". PPE recommended.

Sooo, are you saying my boolits might act like a solid combustible fueled rocket after the initial powder charge has burned?
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
well more like the remnants of a dying sparkler but yeah.

It has to be a chemical composition thing It doesn't affect the black PVC containers.[which are similar in make-up]
I know part of the testing of a new powder is seeing how it reacts to the shipping containers before it is released to the public.
 

Eutectic

Active Member
I think it's Nitrate related....... Put a penny in some 100% Nitric Acid. Look at the pretty orange smoke! (NO2?) Don't breathe it! That orange color is common to this family and what colors wads, tubes......

Heck I worked at times in a HNO3 plant years ago...... You get small burns you don't even feel at times. You know you got them later cause the spot on your skin turns ORANGE!!!

Pete
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
I don't think so.
Winchester uses colors differentiate crush section length and cup capacity.
red. is shortest crush section and holds the most shot. 1-1/4+oz
white. is next and holds 9/8oz [but can be used with slightly lighter loads]
pink. fills in the middle and will do both 1 and 9/8 oz depending on the hull.
silver. is for 7/8-15/16oz
green. is 3/4 oz.
they also have an orange wad which is similar to the white in most all dimensions but has a thicker straighter base cup so isn't 100% interchangeable. [causes pressure problems in some places]
Remington uses a color code green/white for their fig-8 wads but not on their RXP type wads.
Federal [white/purple] to differentiate their 1 and 9/8oz wads.
windjammer [blue/white] same wad but one has another length of crush section.
one wad is for 1&9/8 the other for 1 and 7/8oz. depending on the hull [I use the lighter weight 1pz. one for 1-16 & 9/8 oz in a straight walled hull]
others use colors to differentiate from one hull style to another [tapered or straight walled] with the same basic length wad lengths, but with different outer dimensions. [otherwise you wouldn't be able to tell them apart without measuring them]
 
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fiver

Well-Known Member
there's about 50 wads out there to choose from but mostly the others [except P/C and downrange] just use a white or clear color plastic resin.

hull/wad combinations are where things really get confusing.
yeah there is some 'freestylin' goin on in the shotgun loading too just like the cast bullet world.