cayugad

Well when Semisane said his scope fogged over moving from the truck to the outside.. that is humidity. And that might have just as well formed when the barrel being cold started to heat up in the sun.

We have such strange temperature fluctuations where I live, you can never trust what it is going to do to rifles, and especially powder. One reason I am so careful with how I treat my rifles.

Semisane

Let me also note that I didn't have anything over the muzzle at any time - no tape, no finger cot, etc. I just have to wonder if the problem would have been avoided had I taped the bore after loading.

cayugad

That over the muzzle thing.. I want to tell of an experience I had. I was testing powders to see if I could leave the rifle loaded. All the talk on the forum and all. And I had a Black Diamond XR loaded. It had a finger cot over the muzzle. I came in from hunting with it. And set the rifle in the garage and forgot that muzzle mitt. Well the next morning the rifle did not fire. And under where that muzzle mitt sat was rust. Just that light color rust, but rust. It came right off. But after having rust show up and then the rifle not firing.. that was the last time I left a rifle loaded to hunt with.

Semisane

I'm not a fan of finger cots or balloons for that very reason. They can hold moisture against the barrel. But a disk of electrician's or masking tape at the muzzle does not seem to do that. Perhaps the tape's adhesive prevents it.

ronlaughlin

It was written before in this thread by 7.62NATO, that BH is not hygroscopic i.e. it does not absorb moisture. Thus in normal conditions BH will never be damp, which is why it wouldn't have 'poofed'.

In a previous post in this thread i wrote that i had 'stoopidly' allowed rain to rain right into the barrel of my loaded X7. The rain water definitely got to the powder and definitely rusted the barrel where the powder column resides. I can't imagine the powder would have ignited the morning after, but it did ignite weeks later without my realizing/remembering it had been wet.

Sweat/condensation won't dampen BH; BH is non hygroscopic.

Yes, yes, this is just one old carpenter' opinion.

Breechplug

I just read what Dave (cayugad) said about the muzzle mit over the end of his barrel. I think the muzzle lit is'nt a secure seal as the masking tape I use. I make sure the masking tape has a good seal, I clean and make sure the end of my barrel is completely clean, then I take a big piece of masking tape and put it on the end of the barrel then pull it off, then do it again and again making sure it grabs and holds well. Then I cut a piece the size of a quarter and apply it. It holds through rain and snow and has never let any moisture in at all. I think a muzzle mit and a finger cot just does'nt secure the end of the barrel good enough and make it 100% water and moisture resistant. There lose and slide off and on so there's no way they can prevent moisture form getting under them.
Like I said befor I hunted in the Pouring Rain for 3 days straught, I was soaked to the bone even with my Goretex Clothes, yet after I removed my BP to inspect the powder and barrel it was completely dry and the inside of the barrel was shinny and dry.
I swear by the masking tape, it works, and I've put it through more test and conditions than I can remember with excellant results.
(BP)

Breechplug

This is what the end of my MLer Barrels look like after applying the Masking Tape.
(BP)

Breechplug

I must also say that this pic was taken after me and my wife hunted with our MLer's for a few days with the masking tape on. The tape in the pics does'nt look like it is on that great, but it snowed and rained on them for a few days. I did remove the tape and apply some new pieces to them. If I had a better pic of the tape on right after I applied it you see a better example of how it holds on. This just shows how I apply it, but this is darn good for what it went through befor I took this pic.
(BP)

7.62NATO

I stoooooopidly did the same thing. Carried my gun muzzle up at times while still hunting in steady, steady rain. Decided around 1pm it was time to take a break, and I wondered if the gun would still fire. Boy I am glad I hadn't seen a deer yet, because I literally saw the bullet exit the muzzle and plop to the ground 20 yards in front of me. So yeah, if you let water pour down the bore, your BH209 load will get very wet and it will not fire.

I believe you would have had that same experience, but find your results from weeks later not surprising. I am not sure who did it (maybe Sabotloader...maybe Randy Wakeman!), but someone measured a BH209 load by weight, soaked it overnight in water, then let it dry, and then weighed it again later and it weighed the same as it did originally. I can't remember if they tried to fire it, but my guess is that it would have gone bang.

Semisane

I agree. Wetting and drying does not change the physical properties of BH - or of Black Powder. Black powder that has been wet then dried out fires just fine. But I suspect it may take longer to dry than BH.