cold cartridges

[TJ91]

i left a couple of boxes of cartridges in the garage last night (1 of them flimsy thin walled ones with no insulation)

 

the temp dropped below freezing during the night, so it would of in the garage..

 

will this affect the cartridges at all?

[super sharp shooter]

hi there

 

i was out this morning with cartridges on my belt in -conditions all fired fine

[Beardo]

it's more prolonged damp that will affect them - but overnight in the garage will be fine

[TJ91]

what i thought, but better safe than sorry

 

thanks again!

[EMT]

One of the shooting mags did an article a while ago about the reduction in performance of very cold cartridges. From memory I think they degraded by about 10% in terms of fps.

[Harnser]

Its a known fact that cold cartridges will perform marginally below the norm ,as hot cartridges will perform marginally above the norm . This is due to the temprature of the propellent . You would have to be very diserning to notice the difference .

 

Harnser .

[MJN]

it's more noticeable , in the amount of unburnt powder flakes left in the barrel, cold damp cart leaves more c r a p in the barrels,

is what I've found.

M.

[docholiday]

Its a known fact that cold cartridges will perform marginally below the norm ,as hot cartridges will perform marginally above the norm . This is due to the temprature of the propellent . You would have to be very diserning to notice the difference .

 

Harnser .

 

 

and that forum members is why I keep missing

[Beardo]

i've never noticed any difference in shotgun carts, but very cold CF rounds do sound different (that may just be to do with echo bounce from frozen ground though!)

[Redgum]

A powder charge produces less pressure at cold temperatures, with a 12gauge you will not notice, in matter of fact they might even have a tighter pattern. With a centrefire cartridge you will notice the differance. I was given some homeloads from my father who is in his eighties, he was cleaning out the attic, they must be at least 20yrs old and exposed to extreme temps, all worked fine.

[clayman]

Temperature storage of carts is a bit like wine, keep them at the right temperature if you can i.e. 15-25 centigrade would be fine, but above / below that expect performance differences. Hot carts from a closed car on a hot day may have less progressive detonation and blow the pattern a bit, cold ones are liable to absorb moisture and lack performance due to incomplete powder burns ( and leave lots of sawdust looking residue in the chamber / barrel). Humidity is the real killer, damp carts definitely under perform, so keeping dry is the most important thing.

[Guest cookoff013]

as alot of folkes live in colder climates than here. reloading for temperatures is an issue.

 

loads above 9,000psi are not as temperature sensetive as loads below this. if the powder is a rempreature affected one. keeping the psi up is always an issue. blue dot in shot shells is very famous for this. often going from a "hot" primer, to a "magnum" shot shell type can help. but always follow loading data directly.

 

i`ve even heard of guys using 2grains of red dot to get the psi high enough for complete burn. ( DO NOT DO THIS. EVER !)

 

light cartridges like 12gauge 21g loads need a good 10000 psi to burn well in every weather condition.

 

normal loads loaded safely here in uk, can and may be too much pressure in spain / italy etc. where the starting temp is hotter.

 

ps temperature cycling of powders can make them irratic.