what is that all about
I was shooting at an indoor range and after a few shots got hit with a wonderful ammonia smell
what is that!!!
it was some remington ammo but forgot what it was though
Tatjana
do you have a picture of the 80000 rounds you once had
what in the world did you need that for
must be some really really big S that hit the fan

I have always been told that the ammonia smell is a powder preservative.  I could be wrong though.

ic ic
all i know is at an indoor range
and seems like ventilation wasnt that good
it really made me feel a bit ILL

Did you use Breakfree to clean the rifle. I sometimes notice that smell right after I clean my rifle.

I ran a bunch of Sellier & Bellot M193 through a 16" M4gery at an outdoor range a couple months ago. It was cold but no wind so the smoke hung around. I could still smell the ammonia several days later.

Decaying smokeless powders will give a true ammonia smell. Some rifle powders use inert materials that smell similiar when burnt. I donn't use ball powders anymore but some had a similiar smell too sometimes. Not a sign of good powder. Makes me think they are trying some brew of ammonium nitrate, that would be a hoot.

Ammonia is just one of the combustion products of nitrocellulose (single base) or nitroglycerin (double base propellant). Combustion goes from the complex to the simple. Nitrocellulose is made of nitrogen,oxygen, hydrogen,and carbon.Products are carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, water vapor, ammonia, some sooty carbon, and other junk made from the combusted nitrocelulose molecule. A lot of these items are "politically incorrect" and are why indoor ranges require good ventilation.Even more damage can be had by the lead dust in the air from primer combustion products, lead bullets shedding lead particles going down range, and lead in the air from the impacting projectile. Once the lead is in the ground/backstop, there is no problem with it. It just lays there like a natural element found in the ground (which is where it was mined from in the first place). Bottom line is: avoid indoor ranges with poor or no ventilation.

Well, everyone else has covered the ammonia thing pretty well. So I will make an attempt at answering your other question.

Tatjana has not been here now for awhile as she is in Europe and probably has been too busy to participate. But the reason I assume she keeps so much ammo (the reason why most of us who stock large quantities of ammo do so) is because we want to prepare for any means of interruption in supply.

Take the environment after 9/11. Many people don't bother ever being prepared, so when a situation arises, people tend to rush out and buy up ammo fast. So many people feel it is important to have whatever they think they may need on hand, in case it isn't easy to get later when it may be needed.

The quantities of ammo people wish to stock will differ. There's a long standing standard of 1000 rounds per rifle, about 250 for pistols, etc. Many feel that is sufficient. Others wish to put away all the ammo they think they will ever need in their lifetime, and that's alright too. I'm not sure how much ammo Tatjana has, but if it is 80,000 rounds that she feels she needs, then no less than 80,000 rounds will do! Is it overkill? Probably. But I would rather have too much ammo than not enough. Again, it's all in the eyes of the individual in question. Some people feel comfortable with 500 rounds, others 1000 rounds. And some may not feel comfortable with less than 100,000 rounds!

While such a high round count seems excessive to some, one thing is assured...if nothing else, you will never have to buy practice ammo again! And in a worse case scenario SHTF type situation, you know you will never run short on bang.

thanks for the reply
I was just a little blown away when i read that post(I think it was in the ammo faqs) but she mentioned 80k rounds
I have about 3k in 5.56 and a few hundred 40 cal for both my Bushy and Glock, I guess that could be too little or too much
then again like you say, one never knows