[Terrapin]

Hey All, I couldn't find anything else on here dealing with this, so if I missed it I apologize. After participating this week in the "Back To P32" thread, I got an urge to fire my P32 again. I know this was wrong to do, but I've had it sitting in my car's center console loaded with 6 Fiocchi 73gr for probably a year and a half, pocketed only occasionally. Today I was at the range and decided to fire the 6 rounds that have been in it. The ammo had actually GONE BAD. Out of the 6, which all sounded strangely weak, I had 4 FTEs. I went inside and bought a box of what they had, which was Magtech 71gr. I then fired off 30 with the nice "pop" we expect to hear, and not one misfeed. I live on the eastern seaboard, so it definitely gets hot and humid here in the summer, and freezing in the winter. IDK why I never considered that not only are those horrible conditions to be storing the pistol, but also that if my car had been broken into the possibility of kids getting a loaded firearm in their hands could have been disastrous. I'm not doing that anymore, but to the point, I didn't think storage under those conditions would've made factory ammo go bad. It sure seems to have done so though. Any feedback or similar experiences?

 

[Steve912]

I fired off a round recently (night time armadillo control), which had been my 'chamber round' in my P3AT for several years--four years, maybe? I'll usually expend the chamber round after it's been cycled in and out of the gun several times to avoid bullet setback, but the P3AT hasn't been my regular carry gun for several years--so the BB was still in there.

It went "pap-fishhhhhhhh", with a bit of flame from the muzzle, and didn't even eject the casing.

I fired about half the 20 round box when I purchased it, and all the test rounds fired as expected. I decided to just use one BB round as the chambered round, and not expend dozens ($$$) to see if they reliably chambered. That chambered round either was bad from the start, or something went wrong over the years. Oil seepage and powder contamination, perhaps?

 

[Terrapin]

Strange, IDK. Like I said 30 out of 30 from a brand-new box of Magtech were flawless after that group of 'duds'. I think those had come from a box that I got at a gun show that looked antique already, so it could be that they were old and possibly weren't sealed at the primer well enough to withstand a couple seasons of harsh weather extremes. It just dawned on me too that they may have not been well stored by the dealer either, probably being displayed and re-stored over many gun shows, since .32 Auto isn't a super popular round. Oh well.

 

[Pinstriper]

I'm skeptical of the heat/humidity and more suspicious of possible oil/solvent contamination of the primer/powder. 18 months is not all that long.

Did you inspect the fired cases, and were there any signs of corrosion ?'

How about your magazine cleaning lube practice ? I would expect clean and dry to be the norm - with possibly a dry lube like froglube or such, fully dried before loading.

How much lubrication do you think you had on it when you loaded it and stashed it ?

 

[Dukes4Aces]

Good thread-all the reasons to burn through your carry ammo every 6mos.

 

[Terrapin]

I'm skeptical of the heat/humidity and more suspicious of possible oil/solvent contamination of the primer/powder. 18 months is not all that long.

Did you inspect the fired cases, and were there any signs of corrosion ?'

How about your magazine cleaning lube practice ? I would expect clean and dry to be the norm - with possibly a dry lube like froglube or such, fully dried before loading.

How much lubrication do you think you had on it when you loaded it and stashed it ?

No corrosion. I normally wipe everything down after cleaning with a shop rag I've sprayed with Rem Oil, so there wouldn't be any 'standing' oil, but probably a fine film. I also wipe the bullets down to leave a fine film to help prevent corrosion. Now that you mention it though, as the pistol sat in my console in it's pocket holster all that time, the bullets would've always been slightly facing downward, so it could well have been possible that the oil film on the bullets in that heat may have run down around the primer, then over time going from extreme heat to freezing temps there could've been some expansion and contraction that would've allowed it to 'sneak' into the powder. As far as the barrel and magazine, once I've cleaned them and wiped them down I run a dry cleaning patch through them to make sure that I'm only leaving a slight film - no standing oil. I never leave any part of the gun with enough oil that you could see it.

 

[Terrapin]

Update: This post refers to 6 Fiocchi's that seem to have gone "bad" from sitting in my car's center console for the last 1.5 years. I found the box that they came out of and took them to the range today. They all worked perfectly, which confirms that the ones I had in my car did indeed somehow go "bad" from sitting in my car. Lesson learned - if I were to leave my loaded P32 in my car for extended periods of time (which I've decided not to anymore), at least "rotate out" what's in it at reasonable intervals. But out of this experience I've decided that the only time I'm going to leave it in my car will be if I'm going somewhere that prohibits carrying, otherwise I'm bringing it in when I get home. The only thing that did happen is after a few rounds I noticed my takedown pin had worked itself about halfway out. I'm thinking that it just wasn't secured firmly after I last cleaned it. I probably fired maybe 10 rounds before I noticed it, good thing because my slide may have flown forward. Now I'm cleaning it and notice a very small little chip on bottom part of the barrel where the pin goes through. Does that look like the pin could've done that? Should I do anything like smooth it or just leave it?

 

[Pinstriper]

Update: They all worked perfectly, which confirms that the ones I had in my car did indeed somehow go "bad" from sitting in my car. Lesson learned - if I were to leave my loaded P32 in my car for extended periods of time (which I've decided not to anymore), at least "rotate out" what's in it at reasonable intervals. But out of this experience I've decided that the only time I'm going to leave it in my car will be if I'm going somewhere that prohibits carrying, otherwise I'm bringing it in when I get home.

I totally agree about not leaving a loaded gun in the car. And certainly the ammo went bad - whether due to the heat, or the fact that you wiped them with oil. Either way, don't to those anymore.

 

[TheKuduKing]

Oil or moisture contamination of the primer or propellant would do that, although some Fiocchi ammo has sealed primers and case mouths to prevent it. In any event, ammo and magazines should not be lubricated.

Another explanation is that high heat can damage the priming compound, or effect the integrity of the propellant - it's burning characteristics or causing it to clump. If the interior of your car went through many cycles of high heat and cooling over the course of 18 months, this would be possible. This would lead to inconsistent ignition and pressure.

Best practice for all these reasons is to rotate carry ammo with the change of seasons... or at least annually.

I'm curious: the standard magazine holds 7 rounds. Do you normally short-load the pistol?

 

[Terrapin]

I'm curious: the standard magazine holds 7 rounds. Do you normally short-load the pistol?

Actually I do only put 6 in the mag, so when I'm carrying there's one in the chamber and 5 in the mag itself.

 

[kar98]

Actually I do only put 6 in the mag, so when I'm carrying there's one in the chamber and 5 in the mag itself.

You don't top off your mag and re-insert it after chambering a round?

 

[Terrapin]

You don't top off your mag and re-inserted after chambering a round?

Kind of a weird habit, I always had a 6-shot revolver for nightstand use, so I guess I just wanted to have a number in mind that I could remember.

 

[SHOOTER13]

I've got from my Grandfather...and have fired... .45 ACP GI Ball Ammo from Frankford Arsenal dated '43.

It has everything to do with the way it's stored...

 

[Terrapin]

I've got from my Grandfather...and have fired... .45 ACP GI Ball Ammo from Frankford Arsenal dated '43.

It has everything to do with the way it's stored...

I'm convinced of that now, Shooter13. I'm definitely going to be more careful in that regard from here on out.

 

[SHOOTER13]

I'm in the middle of switching out all my pictures from that #$%^&*!! Photobucket to other more user friendly sites...so I couldn't find the pictures of all the ammo boxes he gave me...save this one: Frankford Arsenal circa Sept 1937 (Lot FA 937)...

Didn't fire any from this box because they are all present and are worth some $$ to collectors of such things. Note the condition of the box...

 

[kar98]

I've got some 8mill Mauser, stamped Turkey 1942, still shoots fine.

Also, I _store_ my pics on photos.google.com because it tags and sorts them very nicely, and for sharing, I rehost them to imgur.com

 

[SHOOTER13]

Yea...thanks kar98

I'm dumping mine to IMGUR and Post Image:

http://imgur.com/
https://postimage.io/