Woe is me!!

26guy

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 25, 2017
Messages
52
Hi guys,

Here's my story and also a couple of questions.

A couple of weeks ago my wife and I went out of town (about 11/2 hours away) for my grand daughter's graduation. We wound up and spent the night. So the next morning, my brother ( who lives down the road from me) calls and says hey you've got problems. He proceeds to tell me there was water running from underneath my garage door in the basement. he went into the basement and sure enough, the main water supply line has broken and flooded my basement, Fortunately, it broke above the water cutoff and he was able to shut it off.

When we got home that day, I could not believe my bad luck. The only water pipe on the front side of the house is the main water supply line and yep you guessed it, that is where my reloading bench was located. The water had totally covered the top of the bench and gotten everything on it wet ( dies, press, manuals, etc.). I also had every primer I own underneath a shelf on the bench and they also got wet. I had a few rifles sitting in the corner where I had left them out of the safe because I had went turkey hunting the morning we left. I was able to take them all apart and dry them and oil them and I think they will be just fine.

Now for the questions. I know the primers are most likely toast but I had all of my powder sitting underneath the bench on a shelf in original plastic hugs. A few of them were unopened including an 8lb. jug of H-1000 and a couple of new 1lb. Retumbo and RL-26's I had stumbled across. I do not think the cans of powder were directly exposed to any water. Do you think that the powder will be ok to use? I have opened the jugs and the powder looks dry and moves like it is dry.

I also wanted to ask that if there is anyone pretty close to me in western NC that has any extra primers ( SR, LR, LRM) they are willing to part with at a reasonable price or knows where I can find them, please let me know.

Thanks for listening to my sad story and any input would be appreciated.
 
Oh dear!
Yep, my guess is the primers are ruined. The powder should be fine if in good original factory containers and the tops were screwed on tightly.
So sorry for your misfortune.
Regarding primers, SR and LR have been showing up lately at the major suppliers. LRM still very scarce🙁
 
I feel for you! What a nightmare. Here is some good news; once the primers are dry, they will be fine. Just let them thoroughly dry.

Your powder in plastic jugs will be fine.

All is not lost. Hopefully you can salvage your dies & let other things dry (like reloading manuals) & hope for the best.
Totally agree
Powder in a sealed jug .. not a problem
Primers… let 'em dry not a problem
 
If you are in western NC, probably don't want to tell people you had a couple of rifles out from turkey hunting as you can't legally hunt turkey in NC with a rifle.

Your powder should be fine as long as lids on hand tight.

Sorry about your loss, that sucks. I am in eastern NC and do not have lots of primers, but I know that several of my local gun shops have rifle and pistol primers both large and small, but no magnum. There is a supply house in the High Point NC called Outdoor Limited (877) 229-0351
They have had primers in stock and can ship.

Roger
 
Sure sorry to hear of your misfortune. I think others have already weighed in with good info. If you are going to go new on primers - Sealesniper has one option, here is another:


I know they have 450's, other small rifle and pistol. I don't remember seeing any large rifle primers there today.
If main issue is large rifle - pm me and I can help with small amounts.
 
Hi guys,

Here's my story and also a couple of questions.

A couple of weeks ago my wife and I went out of town (about 11/2 hours away) for my grand daughter's graduation. We wound up and spent the night. So the next morning, my brother ( who lives down the road from me) calls and says hey you've got problems. He proceeds to tell me there was water running from underneath my garage door in the basement. he went into the basement and sure enough, the main water supply line has broken and flooded my basement, Fortunately, it broke above the water cutoff and he was able to shut it off.

When we got home that day, I could not believe my bad luck. The only water pipe on the front side of the house is the main water supply line and yep you guessed it, that is where my reloading bench was located. The water had totally covered the top of the bench and gotten everything on it wet ( dies, press, manuals, etc.). I also had every primer I own underneath a shelf on the bench and they also got wet. I had a few rifles sitting in the corner where I had left them out of the safe because I had went turkey hunting the morning we left. I was able to take them all apart and dry them and oil them and I think they will be just fine.

Now for the questions. I know the primers are most likely toast but I had all of my powder sitting underneath the bench on a shelf in original plastic hugs. A few of them were unopened including an 8lb. jug of H-1000 and a couple of new 1lb. Retumbo and RL-26's I had stumbled across. I do not think the cans of powder were directly exposed to any water. Do you think that the powder will be ok to use? I have opened the jugs and the powder looks dry and moves like it is dry.

I also wanted to ask that if there is anyone pretty close to me in western NC that has any extra primers ( SR, LR, LRM) they are willing to part with at a reasonable price or knows where I can find them, please let me know.

Thanks for listening to my sad story and any input would be appreciated.
Powder should be fine dry out the primers very well. I bet they will be fine too.
 
If you are in western NC, probably don't want to tell people you had a couple of rifles out from turkey hunting as you can't legally hunt turkey in NC with a rifle.

Your powder should be fine as long as lids on hand tight.

Sorry about your loss, that sucks. I am in eastern NC and do not have lots of primers, but I know that several of my local gun shops have rifle and pistol primers both large and small, but no magnum. There is a supply house in the High Point NC called Outdoor Limited (877) 229-0351
They have had primers in stock and can ship.

Roger
Or, he might have moved the rifles out to get them out of the way so he could get the shotgun to use for turkey hunting…. Not uncommon in my house, I don't put the rifles back every time either.
 
Hi guys,

Here's my story and also a couple of questions.

A couple of weeks ago my wife and I went out of town (about 11/2 hours away) for my grand daughter's graduation. We wound up and spent the night. So the next morning, my brother ( who lives down the road from me) calls and says hey you've got problems. He proceeds to tell me there was water running from underneath my garage door in the basement. he went into the basement and sure enough, the main water supply line has broken and flooded my basement, Fortunately, it broke above the water cutoff and he was able to shut it off.

When we got home that day, I could not believe my bad luck. The only water pipe on the front side of the house is the main water supply line and yep you guessed it, that is where my reloading bench was located. The water had totally covered the top of the bench and gotten everything on it wet ( dies, press, manuals, etc.). I also had every primer I own underneath a shelf on the bench and they also got wet. I had a few rifles sitting in the corner where I had left them out of the safe because I had went turkey hunting the morning we left. I was able to take them all apart and dry them and oil them and I think they will be just fine.

Now for the questions. I know the primers are most likely toast but I had all of my powder sitting underneath the bench on a shelf in original plastic hugs. A few of them were unopened including an 8lb. jug of H-1000 and a couple of new 1lb. Retumbo and RL-26's I had stumbled across. I do not think the cans of powder were directly exposed to any water. Do you think that the powder will be ok to use? I have opened the jugs and the powder looks dry and moves like it is dry.

I also wanted to ask that if there is anyone pretty close to me in western NC that has any extra primers ( SR, LR, LRM) they are willing to part with at a reasonable price or knows where I can find them, please let me know.

Thanks for listening to my sad story and any input would be appreciated.
I would try drying the primers out in a dehumidifier before I tossed them. Especially at the cost today. I have read stories where people tried to ruin them. And it wasn't as easy as one thinks. Would I bet my life on them ? Maybe maybe not. I would know after trying to fire a few.
 
Hi guys,

Here's my story and also a couple of questions.

A couple of weeks ago my wife and I went out of town (about 11/2 hours away) for my grand daughter's graduation. We wound up and spent the night. So the next morning, my brother ( who lives down the road from me) calls and says hey you've got problems. He proceeds to tell me there was water running from underneath my garage door in the basement. he went into the basement and sure enough, the main water supply line has broken and flooded my basement, Fortunately, it broke above the water cutoff and he was able to shut it off.

When we got home that day, I could not believe my bad luck. The only water pipe on the front side of the house is the main water supply line and yep you guessed it, that is where my reloading bench was located. The water had totally covered the top of the bench and gotten everything on it wet ( dies, press, manuals, etc.). I also had every primer I own underneath a shelf on the bench and they also got wet. I had a few rifles sitting in the corner where I had left them out of the safe because I had went turkey hunting the morning we left. I was able to take them all apart and dry them and oil them and I think they will be just fine.

Now for the questions. I know the primers are most likely toast but I had all of my powder sitting underneath the bench on a shelf in original plastic hugs. A few of them were unopened including an 8lb. jug of H-1000 and a couple of new 1lb. Retumbo and RL-26's I had stumbled across. I do not think the cans of powder were directly exposed to any water. Do you think that the powder will be ok to use? I have opened the jugs and the powder looks dry and moves like it is dry.

I also wanted to ask that if there is anyone pretty close to me in western NC that has any extra primers ( SR, LR, LRM) they are willing to part with at a reasonable price or knows where I can find them, please let me know.

Thanks for listening to my sad story and any input would be appreciated.
Another tip is to turn off your circuit breaker if you have a well. I also turn off the breaker to the water heater when going on the road. I had a clamp come loose one time while I was home. Ever since then I went over all connections but it still doesn't give me peace of mind. When I was hooked to the city water I would turn it off myself to make repairs when needed. Hint
 
However, with regards to turning the water off. My father always shut the water off in the basement before leaving for more than a day or two. Then once someone used the toilet AFTER he killed the supply. But the main actually was a tad old and had a slow trickle. So the toilet supply tried to refill the tank. but got just a trickle, and then somehow the a sh*tshow entailed. Toilet spilled water for a week or so, ruined carpets and flooring, flooded the basement etc.

Moral: Be careful messing with a functioning system. He would have been better off leaving all the systems on.
 
Thanks for all the input guys. II felt like the powder would be ok, but unsure about the primers. I did have a company come in and do water mitigation. They tore out all of the flooring and took some sheetrock and insulation from the walls. They left large dehumidifiers running in the basement for 4 days and I took the powder and the primers back down there and let them sit while they had those dehumidifiers running so maybe it dried the primers out enough. only one way to find out I guess. As soon as the work to fix everything back is finished I will load a few and give it a shot. I just was afraid to take a chance on them in hunting ammunition. I will call those companies mentioned and see what they have.

In regards to the rifles, I had set them out to get to a shotgun and thought I will put them up when I get back since we weren't going to be gone that long. . We were gone a grand total of 23 hours from the time we left the house.
 

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