Ammonia smell

[Arickosmo]

So I take some friends and family out to shoot in the backyard. We HAVE to shoot the "army" gun.

I am clueless as to why the gun smells like Ammonia after shooting. Literally, it seemed like the rounds were charged with liquid ammonia. I was shooting bulk Remington in the yellow box. If I remember correctly, the last time I cleaned it was with Hoppes 9. I've never experienced this before.

Any ideas?

 

[IndianaGTI]

What kind of gun were you shooting? What caliber?

 

[Arickosmo]

Sorry...forgot that.

By "army" gun I thought I hit it. It was a .223 Ar15. RRA Mid Length with a YHM Phantom QD.

 

[03A3]

Well that's right smart of Remington. When they were making the ammo they wondered if it might be corrosive, so they just went ahead and added some Windex to it.

 

[Dead Duck]

Where do you store your gun?
My guess is an animal (cat) peed on the barrel and when shooting - and it started to cook.

 

[indyjohn]

Well that's right smart of Remington. When they were making the ammo they wondered if it might be corrosive, so they just went ahead and added some Windex to it.

Soooo.... Corrosive ammo smells of Ammonia?

 

[Leo]

I have shot some ammo that had sort of an ammonia smell. I have also noticed that smell in some of the powders I used in reloading, like Winchester WST powder. I do not think it hurts anything.

 

[Wolfe28]

It's the powder

Smokless powder generated the necessary force by deflagration (burning rapidly and generating a lot of gas and heat as the powder burns). The gas that is given off, and where the power comes from is by breaking nitrogen bonds in the powder itself. Some of that nitrogen is going to join up with hydrogen, making ammonia.

So, it's the powder. Clean your gun after shooting, and have fun.

D

 

[indykid]

I read "army gun" and immediately pictured a Garand.

 

[Clay]

I notice the ammonia smell really bad when doing 2 things:

1) shooting russian ammo, like wolf, silver/brown bear, golden tiger. its there, but not terrible.
2) when shooting something with a suppressor. Lots more gas in your face with a suppressor.

 

[sloughfoot]

Somebody on the firing line was passing gas and didn't want to admit it...

Seriously, and don't tell anybody, but frequently in a highpower match I try to smell the various odors as people are shooting. Some smell pretty good, some are kind of rank. I have no explanation for this.

Everybody is shooting safe non-corrosive ammo. It just is, I guess..

 

[Indy_Guy_77]

Smokless powder generated the necessary force by deflagration (burning rapidly and generating a lot of gas and heat as the powder burns). The gas that is given off, and where the power comes from is by breaking nitrogen bonds in the powder itself. Some of that nitrogen is going to join up with hydrogen, making ammonia.

So, it's the powder. Clean your gun after shooting, and have fun.

D

Pretty much this.

Also, just because it smells "like" ammonia, it doesn't mean that it IS ammonia.

-J-

 

[Arickosmo]

Cool. Thanks guys. I just have never noticed it before and was wondering.

 

[Leo]

Somebody on the firing line was passing gas and didn't want to admit it...

Sorry sloughfoot, I was hoping you wouldn't notice..........

 

[Deadly Z Driver]

Ammonia was discovered in China when they "invented" gun powder... Ammonia is NH3 so one part Nitrogen 3 three parts hydrogen. Gun powder has potassium nitrate which has you N your H could come from charcoal. oh I found this while researching gun powder chemicals from wikipedia,

"The burning of gunpowder does not take place as a single reaction, however, and the byproducts are not easily predicted. One study's results showed that it produced (in order of descending quantities) 55.91% solid products: potassium carbonate, potassium sulfate, potassium sulfide, sulfur, potassium nitrate, potassium thiocyanate, carbon, ammonium carbonate and 42.98% gaseous products: carbon dioxide, nitrogen, carbon monoxide, hydrogen sulfide, hydrogen, methane, 1.11% water."

 

[Deadly Z Driver]

I am an Ammonia Refrigeration Technician and when I was firing my buddies AR I was like that's weird and so I was curious as well and when I saw this post I just had to get in on it... lol

 

[Wolfe28]

Ammonia was discovered in China when they "invented" gun powder... Ammonia is NH3 so one part Nitrogen 3 three parts hydrogen. Gun powder has potassium nitrate which has you N your H could come from charcoal. oh I found this while researching gun powder chemicals from wikipedia

That is black powder, the stuff that smells like rotten eggs when it is used in a muzzle loader (the rotten egg smell comes from the sulfur, the 3rd component in black powder). If you were to load that into a 223 for your AR, you would get about 2 rounds down range before the gun was so gunked up that it wouldn't function. That is, if the rounds generated enough force to cycle the action.

Smokeless powder is basically a derivative of a more stable form of nitroglycerine. Different chemical process to make it, and it works on somewhat different chemical principles.

Here is the link for the entry on smokless powder:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smokeless_powder

 

[jblomenberg16]

I've personally always thought that burning H335 smelled like amonia. H335 is a popular powder for reloading .223, and is similar to the military powder used. In an AR, that smell just happens to go straight to your nose if you are holding with a nose-to-charging handle cheek weld.

I personally love the smell!