AA winchester wads

glc75758@yahoo.com

while doing some inventory work in my loading room i discovered my AA12 white wads have started falling apart in the sealed bags. had to throw away a couple thousand. my rem. and pc wads were ok. bought around the same probably 10 years ago. any one else had a problem like this. thanks gary

rsnyder55

I'll go to my shop and check. Mine are in boxes and at least 20 years old.

nmyers

My product code WAA12 plastic wads are in plastic bags, but they came with twist ties, not sealed. They are > 30 years old, & I just loaded some; no problems at all.

Could you have stored yours near paint thinner or some other solvent?

Neal

Laredo Lefty

All I load are Win AA shells with WAA12 wads. I usually use them up before they are 5-6 years old and have never had any go bad as you describe.

Are they regularly exposed to fumes from car exhaust?

richbug

Odds are they were exposed to too much light at some point in their life. Heat and light kills plastic.

bobski

heat will destroy the wad. if you squeeze them, did the wads crumble or crack or fall apart and act brittle? id so...never load them. they will disentigrate when fired in the bore, causing unknown pressures. i tried some once and they knocked me down. lucky i didnt blow the gun up.

geeguy

The nature of plastic wads allow them to denigrate due to heat, solvents, UV light (sunshine), and some with the amount of moisture in the air. Like Bobski, it isn't the age, and you should check them before reloading and make sure they are flexible.

I have shot some PC Wads over 40 years old that disintegrate after leaving the barrel and some AA's over 40 years that are fine. Just depends on the storage and the type plastic when built. Most of the wad makers buy inexpensive plastics on the "spot" market with a percentage of "regrind" (sometimes total regrind) and they have a wide range "melt specification", so different lots can act different in storage.

In essence there is no one answer to your problem. As a plastic manufacture I can recommend that you store in a cool (under 120F) area without sunlight in a sealed bag.

Best of luck

He Dog

quote:Like Bobski, it isn't the age,

Actually, in Bobski's case, I think the disintegration IS caused by age.[}:)]

bobski

nehhhh...i was just a cheapskate buying a friends junk at our local club tag sale. i should have known 5 bucks for 1000 was too good to be true![:p]

glc75758@yahoo.com

the AA12 wads were in plastic bags with ties on then and in boxes of 250 each also and they were all in a large cardboard box inside a insulated room with no fume or vapor exposure. crumble very easy. threw a couple thousand away. probably just a bad batch.