Two questions. One doesn’t really belong in this forum but I’ll ask anyway…
What types of ammunition are waterproof? I mean waterproof. Like, “I’m gonna bring my gun in the ocean with me and swim around for 10 minutes with the gun fully submerged” waterproof.
M855? M193? Gold Dot? Any of these water proof?
If not, how can you make ammunition waterproof? Specifically CCW pistol ammo and 5.56mm
What kind of effect does water have on the operation of a firearm after it has been removed from the water? Not shooting under water, not even shooting immediately while raising it out of the water, but does water “collect” anywhere in say a Glock or revolver that would affect function? (Not referring to reduced reliability due to lubricant being washed away)
My personal experience with Geco 9mm ball and Remington 12g 00 buck and slugs submerged in dirty sewer and river water for 48 hours in my basement. Every round fired and functioned as normal. I did notice the slugs did 6inchs at fifty yards as compared to the previous grouping of 3 inches.
Unless sealant is applied around the bullet and primer when the ammo is made not much can be done,but most modern ammo is what i would call (water tight) especially if given time to dry.
As far as getting a glock or revolver wet it wont hurt a thing. In the case of the revolver i would just spray some sort of spray lube on it till you could strip and clean. Not as lube but as a rust preventive.
As for the glock,the days just getting started for it. Lol , unload , shake the water out , due a fast function test , reload and go on about your business. If its fresh water all you did was wash the dust outa the glock.lol
Once you get to a safe place i would break down and relube ,wd40 can be used to remove water quickly BUT application of a good lube is still needed.
PS. You have to keep in mind that WW2 rounds on sunken ships are still considered extremely dangerous. You cant get more wet than that. Ive soaked ammo in wd40 over night to see what affect it would have. The rounds fired normally the next day. I wouldnt want to trust my life on it , but dont think that they will be dead rounds either.
Mil surplus ammo (m193 for example) have sealant around the case mouth/bullet and primer. This would be as waterproof as you can get. Someone did a test here not too long ago and had some issues with pistol rounds iirc sitting in a cup of water. Sealed would be preferred if you expect it to get wet.
I know some divers, maybe I’ll have them take some rds down with them and test them after. They routinely go 60 to 80ft down.
Last year…I accidently washed a Speed Strip full of Gold Dot .357’s or .38’s…cant remember which. Anyway…took em to the range and they shot perfectly. I too was shocked.
For real submerge water proofing, you’d need to get REAL M193/M855. A lot of the XM stuff is hit and miss on sealant. (I pull a lot of it down and see much of it has no neck sealant)
If it doesn’t have a cannelure, then its not M855/M193.
The cannelure isn’t the entire length of the neck. Its the neck to bearing surface that makes the seal. Look at anyway cut-a-way picture of a cartridge that has been sectioned.
Theoretically… yes. This is something the guys on Accurate shooter try to avoid. A certain amount of inner neck texture is preferred so that neck tension isn’t inconsistent or excessive.
But as bp7178 pointed out, there’s enough bearing surface behind the cannalure to work with the tar sealant.
Pulled a couple of bent xm193 i found at the range to see,and no neck sealant. I forgot about the nail polish stuff or just plain old nail polish trick.
Honestly me either ive never had a problem with waterlogged ammo. Even being forced to stand in pouring rain all day,ive never worried about pistol or rifle ammo getting bad.
I was shocked to read the post about the submerged shot shells still working,i thought it would have ruined them for sure. Modern ammo is pretty tough. I pulled another bent LC13 today,no sealant around bullet but the primer was sealed.
Federal HST and Speer Gold Dot 9mm can take being submerged for about a half hour, shot off a couple mags without issue after hiking/swimming with the dogs last week.
Lol, true, i should have thought of that… Being from south texas i only shoot white wing dove, not much duck hunting here just hot and dusty. Duck hunting is something ive always wanted to do.
On a cold windy day : Wake up at 3 am, go outside and soak yourself with the garden hose. Sit in your yard holding still for a couple hours. There, you’ve been duck hunting.
But, I love it. Hard on every piece of equipment and yourself but it’s worth it.
Duck load shells are super resilient. If a round is too muddy to chamber, I don’t think twice about dunking it in the lake.
Lol good one, like deer hunting down here. Pay a grand,get up at the buttcrack of dawn,sit in a freezing blind for hours,shoot deer, (maybe) haul its tick infested carcass back to the truck, gut it , then pay for processing for 45 pounds of meat…lol, you could buy a deepfreeze and pretty much fill it with beef for what it cost to get that free deer meat…
I got 40 pounds of meat on the last doe i took to make sausage. Bought 60 pounds of Boston butt pork roast and made 100 pounds of sausages. Was good though,and totally worth it. My wifes family processes their own game so i saved a few dollars in processing fees and i know the quality will be great.
Let me just add a few things. This is all in the context of centerfire handgun ammunition (not rimfire or shotgun ammo):
Generally, the concern is the seal between the primer and case, not really the case and bullet.
I have done informal testing of random brands and styles of handgun ammunition, and it all passed my waterproof tests. I think I left them submerged for several days or maybe even a week. I even cycled some of the rounds do get the bullet set back and possibly compromise the seal between the bullet and case before submerging them.
You occasionally hear stories of someone accidentally putting ammo through the wash with their dirty clothes, and it shoots fine afterwards. I believe it.
From what I have seen, most modern U.S. made self defense ammo will be sealed and considered waterproof. One thing to be aware of is that the sealant could be colored (like red or black) or clear. If it’s clear, you have to know what you are looking for to know it’s there.
It seems like foreign made ammo (self defense and plain practice ammo) uses sealant more frequently than U.S. made ammo (self defense and plain practice ammo). But I still don’t trust the foreign made ammo in this regard.
As someone mentioned above, you can buy sealant to apply to your ammo. I don’t really trust that either.
If you just want an easy safe answer, just get 9mm NATO spec ammo. I think this (Magtech 9BMIL) may be the best deal right now, and it is sealed at both the primer-case area and case-bullet area:
I can’t speak to all guns, but Glocks have a drain hole for the firing pin channel. So they are pretty good choices if you are shooting a gun wet. Some people use marine/maritime spring cups with their Glocks. But I’m not so sure they are necessary.
Someone I know who had a lot of experience swimming (with guns) and shooting told me that you just need to make sure your barrels (riffle and handgun) are pointed down when you come out of the water (so the water drains out of the barrel). I’m sure it’s more complicated than that, but I don’t think there is any magic to it. By the way, the handguns he used were primarily Sig P226s (9MM).