7.62x39 ammo advice needed

[halmbarte]

And just happens to also be the major component in Windex

No, it's not. MSDS for Windex: <broken link removed>

Hazardous Components: Isopropyl alcohol 1-5%

If you're buying Windex you're wasting money for the coloring and prefume vs. soapy water, which is all that's really needed to clean after shooting corrosive ammo. I've run thru several cases of Yugo M67 (which is excellent ammo) and have had no rust problems.

After shooting, I clean anywhere that has gas fouling with soap water and a brush, dry, and then oil. I've done this in the rain and packed the rifle away wet in the case. After I got home I had to dry the AK but I didn't have any rust.

H

 

[Gunner3456]

I think the main reason for ammonia in bore cleaners is not to neutralize acid but to attack copper fouling. I'm thinking that if you needed to neutralize acids, baking soda would be a better choice than ammonia. I must re-emphasize, clean up corrosive ammo residue with WATER or something water based. Just because a bore cleaner contains ammonia doesn't mean it's good for corrosive ammo. Hoppes #9 for example contains ammonia but won't suffice for cleaning corrosive ammo. Back in the '60s when USGI WWII surplus ammo was cheap and common, guys got into trouble when they fired GI .30-06 and then cleaned the way they always had with Hoppes because they didn't know any better. Good old hot soapy water has always worked fine for corrosive ammo. Ammonia may also help in neutralizing but the main active agent against corrosive residue is water.

Good suggestions, all but the baking soda. It's a salt and we all know what salt does to steel.

 

[swoop]

Dawn and water!

 

[ma96782]

If you're buying Windex you're wasting money for the coloring and prefume vs. soapy water, which is all that's really needed to clean after shooting corrosive ammo. I've run thru several cases of Yugo M67 (which is excellent ammo) and have had no rust problems.

H

+1

Hot soapy water (squirt of dish soap to the hot water)
Oil after you're finished with the cleaning
Check it the next day (just in case).

Aloha, Mark

 

[Gunner3456]

"Rnse well," please. Almost all soaps are alkaline which is corrosive. The corrosive factor in import ammo is a type of salt which is alkaline. So is ammonia.

Don't forget to rinse the gas port.

I like WD-40 because it wasn't developed as a lubricant. It was developed to repel moisture. So, I wash and rinse very well, blow out with a blow gun which has a moisture and oil trap in the line from the compressor, and then spray with WD-40. Then I use gun oil. Never a problem.

 

[halmbarte]

"Rnse well," please. Almost all soaps are alkaline which is corrosive. The corrosive factor in import ammo is a type of salt which is alkaline. So is ammonia.

Don't forget to rinse the gas port.

I like WD-40 because it wasn't developed as a lubricant. It was developed to repel moisture. So, I wash and rinse very well, blow out with a blow gun which has a moisture and oil trap in the line from the compressor, and then spray with WD-40. Then I use gun oil. Never a problem.

I don't think so. I'm thinking the old military primers contain potassium perchlorate which decomposes into water, carbon dioxide and KCl when burned with a carbon fuel. KCl (potassium chloride) has a pH of 7 (neutral) but absorbs water from the air and is a source of chloride, which is very corrosive.

Potassium perchlorate - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Potassium chloride - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Chloride - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

H

 

[pogi]

Clean green + hot water, let dry, clean as normal, oil.

 

[Gunner3456]

I don't think so. I'm thinking the old military primers contain potassium perchlorate which decomposes into water, carbon dioxide and KCl when burned with a carbon fuel. KCl (potassium chloride) has a pH of 7 (neutral) but absorbs water from the air and is a source of chloride, which is very corrosive.

Potassium perchlorate - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Potassium chloride - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Chloride - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

H

From your link:

"The presence of chlorides, e.g. in seawater, significantly aggravates the conditions for pitting corrosion of most metals (including stainless steels and high-alloyed materials) by enhancing the formation and growth of the pits through an autocatalytic process."

Rusting is an autocatalytic process.

 

[halmbarte]

From your link:

"The presence of chlorides, e.g. in seawater, significantly aggravates the conditions for pitting corrosion of most metals (including stainless steels and high-alloyed materials) by enhancing the formation and growth of the pits through an autocatalytic process."

Rusting is an autocatalytic process.

Not sure what your point is. Are you agreeing with me or saying that only chlorides in seawater would cause corrosion?

H

 

[Gunner3456]

Not sure what your point is. Are you agreeing with me or saying that only chlorides in seawater would cause corrosion?

H

That was a paste from your link. Chlorides, such as salt, have a high PH and are very corrosive. They can cause an autocatalytic process including rusting.

In other words, the residue from firing a corrosive primer is a chloride, and actually is a form of salt, and needs to be cleaned out. Not so much neutralized, but simply scrubbed and rinsed away.