Pardon My Flip-Flop (on Leaving a Gun Loaded)
#31
Dave,
Do you think Humidity has more to do with it then the temperature changes from hot to cold when you get moisture in your barrel or powder?
(BP)
Do you think Humidity has more to do with it then the temperature changes from hot to cold when you get moisture in your barrel or powder?
(BP)
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.
#32
Boone & Crockett
Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: River Ridge, LA (Suburb of New Orleans)
Posts: 10,918
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.
#33
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.
#34
Boone & Crockett
Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: River Ridge, LA (Suburb of New Orleans)
Posts: 10,918
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.
#35
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Rapid City, South Dakota
Posts: 3,732
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.
#36
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)
#38
(BP)
#39
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.
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.
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.
#40
Boone & Crockett
Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: River Ridge, LA (Suburb of New Orleans)
Posts: 10,918
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.