[Gordo]

Originally Posted by CamaroSkooter

Short story time:

My grandfather was in WWII and got a trophy pistol off of a captured German soldier. A JP Sauer & Sohn 38H

Fast-forward a few decades - our family had to set my grandfather up in an assisted living facility due to a number of things, so, in the process my parents ended up with this neat little trophy gun.

So, last week, I told my parents that I was heading to the gun range on Sunday to shoot my new Springfield XDm-9 and they asked if I would take the 38H to make sure it still works. So, I clean the gun thoroughly (it was still in really good shape for having sat un-fired for who knows how long) take it to a gunsmith and he says it should be good to go. I showed him the ammo that my grandfather had with it (who knows when he bought it) and the gunsmith said it looked okay.

So, I take the gun to the range on Sunday, it operates just fine (had a couple loading issues, but that could just be an oiling issue) and I actually got a fairly tight grouping of shots out of the pistol.

Here's where the interesting part goes. Has anyone ever heard of a person having an allergic reaction to gun powder?

I went out to eat with some friends after going to the range, went home and laid out my stuff on my coffee table, disassembled the guns, and then realized it was getting late so I decided to do the cleaning the next day. A few hours into my sleep, I wake up itching really bad. I get up and go to the restroom and I'm breaking out in hives on my hands and arms.

Now, here I'm thinking, what in the world did I come into contact with that could possibly be the culprit? At first I thought it was something I ate. Anyway, I go to the store and get some Benadryl and the hives clear up in the afternoon.

So, I clean my 9mm that I was also shooting on Sunday. No issues. As soon as I start cleaning the 38H, though, I start itching again. The hives come back and get even worse. I finish up as quick as I can and then wash just about everything I come into contact with.

Has anyone ever heard of this kind of reaction to gun powder? It kind of confuses me because I didn't have any such reaction to the gun powder from my 9mm, but the gun powder from the .32 set me off. I'm kind of scared to touch the 38H now.

Even with new ammo some of the stabilizers used in old military grade powder could cause this,just clean the bore well using KG gun cleaners my fav. and there are many opinions on gun cleaners but I use there stuff on 7,000+$ rifles and trust it and it works great.It could be lead fouled due to the age of the weapon and the fact there were not a lot of jacketed bullets being made for such a small cal. back then.The lead foul could be saturated with the chemical compounds giving you this reaction.You might have to scrub the $hit out of the bore.Another thing ,anytime you use gun cleaning chemicals wear gloves,the warnings about skin contact are there for a reason.Also if you ever have any loading or cycling issues try European ammo Dynamit-Nobel or Sellier & Bellot that will solve that because European ammo is loaded to C.I.P. stranded and is a little hotter and works better in German weapons.