Washed in Pocket, ammo

[kenemoore]

So...
Left a speed strip of .38 Special Hornaday XTP in my trousers. Went through the washer without a hitch.
When I put them in the dryer, there was quite the racket. Discovered the speed strip. So it did not go through a dryer cycle.

Question: Is the ammo okay? It looks fine, no verdigris, I think I will remove it from my EDC, and shoot it next range trip, out of my .357 Speed Six, just to be safe.
Has anyone else washed their ammo by mistake? Any issues?

[berettabone]

I'd say those trousers are shot....................

[Bawanna]

I'd wager the ammo is fine, that being said I'd do exactly what you said. Replace it with new stuff and shoot it next range visit. We'll be waiting to hear the results.

While at the PD the guys would open boxes of ammo and dump them in a 5 gallon bucket at the range so they were'nt always opening boxes which can be a chore. Just take the bucket with any left over back to the station. Often times it was raining and the bucket would get several inches of water in the bottom. Of course no one but myself would ever bother to empty the water and sometimes that was days after the range session. It was all training ammo but I never heard of any issues of it not firing.
Again if it had been duty ammunition, I would have taken it out of service. (usually brought home for myself) Not worth the risk of a failure.

[NeilWise]

Whoops! Sounds like your laundry day took an unexpected turn! At least it didn't make it all the way through the dryer, that could have been a real headache.


Thankfully, .38 special ammo is usually pretty tough stuff. If it looks good to the naked eye - no dents, cracks, or weird discoloration - you're probably okay. I've never personally washed ammo before (knock on wood!), but I have heard of people finding old rounds in the dirt or something, cleaning them up a bit, and they still fired just fine.


Now, since you're planning to shoot these in your .357 Speed Six, that's a great idea to err on the side of caution and test them out at the range first. Just start with one or two rounds and see how they perform. If they cycle and fire normally without any issues, then you should be good to go with the rest.