Reloading room humidity

[Dildobaggins]

This is actually 2 questions. I went down to my basement where all my reloading equipment was last week, and my dies and other metal tools had rust on them. I went and got a humidity moniter and the humidity ranges from almost 70 to 50 percent over the past week.

Question one
My primers are just in the brick that they came in and my powder is sealed tight in the containers. Are they still good? I planned on loading over 1000 rounds this weekend for shtf ammo.

Question 2 any suggestions on how to remove the rust from the dies?

I purchased a dehumidifier. Humidity is at about 30 percent right now, and in the winter I can't imagine it getting above 20 with my wood stove running 24/7.

Thanks fellas!

 

[John?]

For light surface rust I have had success tossing them in the vibratory tumbler with corn cob media.

 

[Doom]

Your powder and primers should be fine. WD40 is good for removing flash surface rust. Haven't tried tumbling but that should work also.

 

[BuildingConceptsllc]

It's always that humidity inside the house here but I don't have rust issues and never had a primer /powder issue. I always clean my dies with brake cleaner then a little light oil though with a cloth. I did have a failure of a few rounds once but that wat actual liquid inside the case and made the powder wet, but primer still fired. That was later determined to be my kids "cleaning" daddy's stuff for him.....

 

[Dildobaggins]

It's always that humidity inside the house here but I don't have rust issues and never had a primer /powder issue. I always clean my dies with brake cleaner then a little light oil though with a cloth. I did have a failure of a few rounds once but that wat actual liquid inside the case and made the powder wet, but primer still fired. That was later determined to be my kids "cleaning" daddy's stuff for him.....

Good info thank you. Lol at least you found the culprits.

 

[BuildingConceptsllc]

Good info thank you. Lol at least you found the culprits.

It was quite a curious affair I assure you. I was almost to the point of blaming the dog when I found out what really happened. A bunch of ammo I loaded for a night shooting class no less....

 

[Dough300]

What I've found is when reloading in humid conditions is that my powder measure dispenses about .1-.2 grains less. The reason being moisture is absorbed by the powder and fluffs up or swells ever so slight, increasing the volume. And when using a powder measure that dispenseds by a set volume, means you actually get less weight. And in extremely dry conditions you end up with more weight per volume. The amount it changes is dependant upon the type of powder being used. Flake type problaby has the most change versus a tubular rifle powder.

 

[Aftermath]

I use 2 of THESE in my big safe. The other places I use them are smaller and I use just one. Of course, not going to be of much use for an entire room or floor.
I store powder in the original container, if it's been opened, I place a small desiccant bag in the bottle. That's not often because I usually use up that open container right away. I place all the jugs of powder in a cheap white styrofoam cooler and use packing tape to seal the lid. I write the contents of the cooler on a 3x5 card taped to the lid. I store several of the coolers (all of the powder) in a closet in the house that is not on an exterior wall. This serves to keep the temperature very stable. Primers, bullets and brass are stored in some metal cabinets in my gun room with one of those emitters. I keep loaded ammo in another of the metal cabinets with an emitter.
I do all of this but...I have fired surplus ammo that was over 50 years old and had zero issues. I ran across a stash of 30-06 I bought about 1978, stored in a cardboard box with other crap. It fired just fine also.

 

[RegionRat]

..."Question one
My primers are just in the brick that they came in and my powder is sealed tight in the containers. Are they still good? I planned on loading over 1000 rounds this weekend for shtf ammo."...

Odds are if you let them dry out to the baseline humidity they will be fine, but if you had to depend on that ammo you should test a small batch of random samples before you run the bulk batch. It takes some serious humidity with time and thermal cycles to ruin them, but it has been done. Lots of friends lost power for a long time after natural disasters like Katrina '05 and some stuff survived and some did not.

..."Question 2 any suggestions on how to remove the rust from the dies?"...

A wipe down with anything along the lines of a penetrating oil like WD-40 or kerosene to remove the crust and follow with a ride in the dry tumbler. Use the same tools you have for cleaning your chambers for the brushes and patches to start the bores. If it is just light surface rust, you will be okay. Follow up with a preservative oil and then wipe the inside working surfaces down again and prime them with your sizing wax so the first cases don't get stuck.
Good Luck.

 

[PB&J.]

I have cleaned up rusty sizing dies in the past with fine lapping paste and metal polish in a cordless drill. You need to make sure you don't wallow out the die, but it is possible to smooth the surface and even remove some pitting to get the die useable again.

If it is unusable in its current state, you have nothing to lose by cleaning it up. Just make sure that if it is a sizing die to run some cheap brass through it to check it is still sizing correctly and make sure it isn't going to scratch your good brass.

 

[spamassassin]

Too low humidity is a thing to be careful of as it helps static charge buildup. IIRC the rule of thumb is stay over 20%.

 

[Dildobaggins]

Too low humidity is a thing to be careful of as it helps static charge buildup. IIRC the rule of thumb is stay over 20%.

Good to know on that end of to little humidity. Been researching. People in Florida and other humid places are reloading with humidity in the 80s and 90 percents and they seem fine. So hopefully I'm good.

 

[B y r o n]

One of the best rust removers I've found with the least amount of work is Evapo-Rust. Simply soak whatever has rust on it and then rinse off. If the rust doesn't come off with a light brushing then let it soak a little longer. It will not affect anything other than rust.