I?m as perplexed as you are ? thought nylon didn't shrink. <img src="/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

At the risk of beating a dead horse <img src="/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" /> this may be of interest to anyone intending to make tightly-braided equipment lanyards.

Besides the experiment in my original post (using supposedly mil-spec 7-strand 550 paracord, purchased from a local surplus store), I repeated, this time with mil-spec from CountyComm.

Near-identical results after soaking 5 minutes, then air-drying in the shade. The 12-in. length shrunk 10%, to little less than 11-in. after just soaking in water. Air drying didn?t shrink further. Inner strands shrunk slightly less, maybe because braided differently.

Go figure.