WB
I know I have trust issues. I'm one of those
Friday, November 18, 2022, 13:07

pious individuals who think my loaded ammo is better than factory. Actually my mindset is more "I did it, so if it's bad it's MY fault". But I do not trust mass produced factory ammo. Scores of dud .22 LR have reinforced this over the years. I know there are some external issues, such as storage, that influence.

This late instance indeed had some poor storage issues. I'm not really for sure where I acquired them, but I didn't buy them myself. The partial box of "cheap" Remington ammo had two rounds still loaded but sporting dented primers. Several rounds had external corrosion while a round next to it in the box was perfectly clean. Some corrosion had oxidized into green powdery spots. I cleaned that off with fine steel wool. Picking a "dud" round I unloaded it with a bullet puller. Only about 15 grs. of extruded stick powder came out. The bullet itself was green on the base with some granules adhered to the green goo. I dug some powder out of the case and it was clumpy as if wet. It did not smell fowl nor did I detect a nitro smell that should have been there.

I not sure the brass should be used. It's not pitted under the corrosion though. The tumbler might restore the brass cases. I will clean the projectiles and reuse them. Were it not for the obvious duds or external corrosion I might have trusted them for an important outing. I'm happy I discovered the issue.