So I've been carry DPX in my Little Copied Pistol for a year. I accidentally washed the spare magazine, and dried it. Obviously I'm not going to carry this ammo, but it has spent half of its life in use in the pistol and the other half as backup (One mag w/ finger rest, one w/o). Is it safe to shoot? Seems like a good endurance test but I don't want to mess with a compromised primer...
If the primer or charge have been compromised, the highest proablity will be a squib fire resulting in a bullet stuck in the barrel. this problem rapidly becomes a barrel burst if you fire a round with out clearing the barrel, a wooden dowel and hammer should be available. very bullet impact on every attempt since there is always a small probility something unrealistic can occur at any time, and this is increased following random acts unrelated, you might want to wear these when firing ;D
Corbon ammo is especially weak when it comes to protection from water. I'd definitely dispose of those rounds in a safe manner so you are sure they aren't used by anyone. I'd use a bullet puller to remove the bullets, dump the powder, then fill the case with water to kill the primer before sending them to the trash can.
I would pull the bullets, dump and burn the powder, pop off the primers in my gun, then reload that brass.
i'd just shoot it and report the results back to this board. i bet it will still be fine. do check for barrel obstructions if in any doubt at all - a lodged bullet followed by a second shot is the only objective risk i can imagine.
I wouldn't want you to damage your gun trying to get a squib round out of the barrel, but this could be an interesting test. Too bad you don't have an old Saturday night special in .380. I'm really curious about this one. DPX is definitely the cats meow in .380 expansion. One of our KTOG members got a squib with Corbon's jhp, I received a box of DPX where the bullets weren't seated properly, and Brassfetcher recently commented that the lack of a waterproof sealer on the DPX was a concern. Your test could be a confidence booster as far as Corbon's ignition reliability. If your rounds fired we would know that any issues were just a fluke and not a result of complacent QC. I've done my own .380 wetpack testing and nothing even comes close to DPX in terms of expansion.
I'd just go to the range and shoot 'em up. I'd also carry a squib rod with me, though. You won't damage the barrel any knocking out a lodged bullet as long as the squib rod is made of something softer than steel. Mine's brass rod. Also I'd be willing to bet that 100% of them will go bang properly. If you're in the greater Phoenix Az. area I'd be glad to meet up and shoot 'em through my P3AT.
By the way, the CorBon DPX survived a washing with double rinse, a long dry cycle banging around, and shot perfectly. Not that it really matters, but the primer and neck are obviously sealed fine. This and Winchester Ranger are my two favorites for any small pistol. Been awhile since I logged on...back to the archives!
I don't know about DPX, but I believe most good quality factory ammo is sealed against water intrusion but is still vulnerable to oil intrusion. If it were my gun/ammo I would try a few rounds, and if they fire OK I would use the remainder of it for practice ammo. Nothing would happen that could pose a danger to you unless you get REALLY stupid and/or careless and fire a live round after firing a round that had a live primer but dead propellant and thereby left a bullet lodged in the bore. I once came within a fraction of a second of doing exactly that myself while practicing rapid fire with a .38 revolver and one of my handloaded wadcutter rounds somehow missed getting a propellant charge. But that can't happen with a semiauto because the slide won't cycle if only the primer fires, and you would have to operate the slide manually in order to get a live round into the firing chamber. So don't do dat and you won't get hurt.
