CoalCrackerAl
Member
I got my ammo project done. It was only them few.
Verdigris, a.k.a. copper(II) acetate. Indicates the presence of a weak acid. The weak acid (low molar acetic or nitric) breaks down the copper and leaves verdigris behind. The grey fluffy stuff is zinc being liberated from the brass. Bad powder. Not good. Build a campfire and toss it in.The inside of the casing had the mold looking stuff. Next one i come across i'll take a pic before i get it ready for the scrap. I had my wife smell the universal that i pulled. Then some from the powder bottle. She said the powder i pulled smelled foul. I can't smell well myself. Did some image search. They grey stuff looks like the second casing from the left. The green looks like the rifle rounds in the other pic. But it was at the case mouth. And some was on my copper coated bullets.
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Green is usually copper corrosion.
Bullet jackets (AKA 'gilding metal') are NOT the exact same materiel as brass cases.
There is significantly more copper in the bullet jackets.
The slightest moisture (or other corrosive material) will create a primitive battery with
tiny amounts of current flowing between the different alloys.
The acids used to make nitrocellulose (nitric and sulfuric) are never completely removed.
The tiny amounts remaining are one of the things that determines the lifetime of the nitrocellulose.
Wartime production often is left 'dirtier' than ammunition intended for long term storage.
Why waste expensive solvents when the stuff is very likely to be consumed within a shorter period.
Long term storage of nitrocellulose powder is done under water.
Radford Army Ammunition Plant was a primary nitrocellulose facility built in the 1940s to support the war effort.
Way back in the early 1980s you could still see the outlines of the wooden buildings used for long term storage of nitrocellulose.
Each was a lightly built 'log cabin' style of constriction with a basement 'swimming pool' to hold water.
The partially completed powder was placed in the basement room, and then submerged in water.
It was dangerous work..
Occasional explosions occurred all the way into the early 1988s from reprocessing.
The old stuff was around 25% nitrocellulose.
It was reprocessed to far higher level (closer to the mid 90%) to make solid rocket motors.
Ejection seats used those rocket motors.
As an EE I had a few contract jobs to try and measure, and minimize, the explosion hazard.
A 'cake' of 90+% nitrocellulose was about 16 inches in diameter and 8 inches thick.
I do not remember the exact weight, but it was pushing near 100 pounds.
We developed some measurement techniques that allowed for easier monitoring of the purity and relative danger.
There was not a lot left of the truck or driver when one went off accidentally during transport from one part of the factory to another.
You could hear the occasional boom in Blacksburg at Virginia Tech, a couple mountain ridges away.
Is sounded like remote thunder.
My pager would go off a few minutes later.
Time to go and figure out what the H happened.