View Single Post
Old August 24, 2009, 08:51 PM   #8
James K
Member In Memoriam
 
Join Date: March 17, 1999
Posts: 24,383
Ammonia is used in bore cleaning compounds to remove copper and nickel fouling, not to dissolve potassium chloride, which is what causes the corrosion. Super market ammonia is mostly water, which is why it does dissolve the salt, but the ammonia itself is not the key.

The compound used in primers for years was potassium chlorate; it was a very stable compound and was preferred by the military since it lasted for decades and was nearly immune to climate changes and temperature extremes. But when the primer is fired, the potassium chlorate gives up its oxygen and becomes potassium chloride salt, akin to ordinary table salt (sodium chloride) but even more aggressive.

Jim
James K is offline  
 
Page generated in 0.03833 seconds with 8 queries