who shoots corrosive ammo?

[gmerkt]

you've been shooting them since before I was born.

I spent most of my younger years living in so. Calif. Which at one time had a great many gun shops. Not as numerous as liquor stores, but many. One of the bigger ones was Martin Retting in Culver City. Retting had moved to Calif. from NY circa 1950's. As strictly gun shops go (no other sporting goods to distract), they had a lot of stuff. In my time there, it was a kinda dirty, workman-like place, nothing close to fancy. But they were kings of corrosive ammo. Because a large part of their trade at the time was milsurp imports. If you look at ATF stats, the 1950's and early 60's saw a huge influx of imported firearms, largely military surplus. And ammo. Retting had barrels of ammo sitting out, the 8x56R loose ammo, battlefield pick-up if you will, was four and five cents apiece. That's like about 45 cents now. Or more.

They had barrels full of rifles, too. Before and during WW1, the Austrians made 5 or 6 million of the M1895 . Just before war broke out, they were all set to adopt a Mauser 98 design. But once involved in war, they decided to hold off on conversion and stick with the 1895 that was already in production. All those rifles had to go somewhere after the war. Some were converted to 8mm Mauser. Greece, Yugoslavia did this. One such result was the M95/24. 1895 action, VZ24 barrel. Another was the M95M. In the middle 1960's, I bought one of these sticking out of a barrel for $22.95. I asked the counter guy, "Does it shoot?" He took me into the back room where they had a discharge barrel, loaded a round into the chamber and fired it. Test fired on premises. That particular rifle is long, long gone but I later had a nice one that came out of Europe in the 1990's and it subsequently sold for many hundreds of dollars.

Martin Retting's store is still there, the "character" of earlier times is gone. It has been cleaned up and remodeled to go along with the upscale nature of the inhabitable areas of greater LA. Little tract homes in Culver City that sold for maybe $25K in 1970 now sell for a million dollars. It's all Monopoly Money.

 

[pogi]

Hot water, hot sun, and WD40 FTMFW!

 

[rjmt]

Hot water, hot sun, and WD40 FTMFW!

hot sun? whats that?

 

[Juniper9mm]

it pertains to older surplus military ammo with corrosive chemicals in the primers

leaves salts in your barrel and chamber after firing

lots of ways to neutralize the salts, including human urine, just check on line and choose your favorite

but you need to clean your firearm immediately after shooting

Yeah this always freaks out the ROs at my gun club when after a day of shooting I start peeing down the barrel of of my Mosin. Figure these guys don't get out much.

 

[Nosrac]

7n6 all the time. Usually put the ak in the dishwasher and let er run. Wife wanted to know why I was hiding the AK in the dishwasher when she found it after the drying cycle.

 

[ma96782]

So yesterday (Oct. 29, 2022) I took the AK-74 to the range with about 90 rounds of surplus 7n6 (YES, it's corrosive ammo). I got it sighted in with my newly acquired Holosun red dot and newly acquired side mount (both, purchased recently, right here in the Classifieds). Things went well with the shooting and getting it zeroed. BTW, I fired my l last shot for that session at about 1545 hrs.

But, getting to the subject at hand.....having watched Ski......

And, being that I'm getting lazy. Well, I let the rifle sit in the corner of the room when I got home from the range. At about 2300 hrs. I was feeling guilty. So I ran the garden hose through and all over the rifle.

This morning (at about 0500 hrs) I woke up (I still had that guilty feeling) and checked the rifle. OMG!!!









Yup.....look at the 3 o'clock position on the muzzle of the barrel.

Forgive me Lord for I have Sinned.

YES, it was cleaning time. Hoppe's and a scrubbing.

Aloha, Mark

 

[Camelfilter]

So yesterday (Oct. 29, 2022) I took the AK-74 to the range with about 90 rounds of surplus 7n6. I got it sighted in with my newly acquired Holosun red dot and newly acquired side mount (purchased recently, right here in the Classifieds). Things went well with the shooting and getting it zeroed.

But, getting to the subject at hand.....having watched Ski......

And, being that I'm getting lazy. Well, I let the rifle sit in the corner of the room when I got home from the range. At about 2300 hrs. I was feeling guilty. So I ran the garden hose through and all over the rifle.

This morning (at about 0500 hrs) I woke up and checked the rifle. OMG!!!

View attachment 1301414

View attachment 1301415

View attachment 1301416

View attachment 1301417

Yup.....look at the 3 o'clock position on the barrel.

Forgive me Lord for I have Sinned.

YES, it was cleaning time. Hoppe's and a scrubbing.

Aloha, Mark

Easiest, bring a thermos of hot water. Flush at range, wrap in towel. Dry at home. Clean/lube.

Next level on top of thermos, spray bottle of your cleaner of choice. Mine is simple green. Spray a bunch, then flush with thermos. Wrap, dry at home. Clean/lube.

Further next level, bulk WD40 in another spray bottle. Use last after above.

Then canned air...

Clean/lube as normal at leisure once home. Can now set with minimal concern & get to cleaning/lube when you want.

Thermos, spray bottles, canned air & microfiber towels all fit in a cheapo easy to carry harbor freight tool sack. The only thing needed for next range day is the hot water for the thermos..

Seems a bit much of muchness. However once you get the routine down its actually VERY EASY, just another bag & a few minutes field strip at the range.

Saves quite the future headache if you have other plans after hitting the range, as we normally do.

Cleaner cleans & helps flush out salts.

Hot water flushes out cleaner & any remaining salts.

WD40 displaces water/remaining cleaner.

Canned air pushes out water/cleaner WD may not have displaced.

-Minimal home cleaning if all above done, as it gets most of the crud/carbon while still warm before it all hardens up. Lube as normal.

 

[NeoBlackdog]

A buddy of mine shot some WWII surplus -06 ammo through his Savage 110 just for practice before deer season a couple years ago. He was getting pretty decent groups. The next year he took it out and was getting patterns that would look good from a modified choke 12 gauge.
Thank God he had that 110! Easiest bolt gun to change barrels on in the world! He now shoots a .270 Winchester!

 

[Andy54Hawken]

Windex with ammonia works well for a quick and easy clean up in the field after shooting corrosive ammo,
Followed by a good , thorough cleaning with hot soapy water , drying and oiling when getting home.
Andy

 

[Knobgoblin]

So yesterday (Oct. 29, 2022) I took the AK-74 to the range with about 90 rounds of surplus 7n6 (YES, it's corrosive ammo). I got it sighted in with my newly acquired Holosun red dot and newly acquired side mount (both, purchased recently, right here in the Classifieds). Things went well with the shooting and getting it zeroed. BTW, I fired my l last shot for that session at about 1545 hrs.

But, getting to the subject at hand.....having watched Ski......

And, being that I'm getting lazy. Well, I let the rifle sit in the corner of the room when I got home from the range. At about 2300 hrs. I was feeling guilty. So I ran the garden hose through and all over the rifle.

This morning (at about 0500 hrs) I woke up (I still had that guilty feeling) and checked the rifle. OMG!!!

View attachment 1301414

View attachment 1301415

View attachment 1301416

View attachment 1301417

Yup.....look at the 3 o'clock position on the muzzle of the barrel.

Forgive me Lord for I have Sinned.

YES, it was cleaning time. Hoppe's and a scrubbing.

Aloha, Mark

That's why the muzzle threads are so generous on 74 type rifles. Plenty of sacrificial steel.

I picked up a tantal within the last year that had blue patina in brake ports. I'm curious as to what chemical cocktail led to this ( corrosive salts , paint components, leftover cosmoline??)

 

[Camelfilter]

That's why the muzzle threads are so generous on 74 type rifles. Plenty of sacrificial steel.

I picked up a tantal within the last year that had blue patina in brake ports. I'm curious as to what chemical cocktail led to this ( corrosive salts , paint components, leftover cosmoline??)

Potassium salts oxidizing most likely. Potassium oxide is a purplish blue.

 

[ma96782]

My fault.

Yeah.......I didn't disassemble. I just used the water hose to spray all over and inside of the rifle. A quick "shake" and leaving it to "drip dry".

Next time......at least a field strip would be in order. And, I should at least take the muzzle break off and pay close attention to the nooks and crannies while also paying attention to the threads.

Also perhaps, a wipe dry......with an old t-shirt. LOL.

Nah.....if I wanted to spend all that effort, time and care.....I should just clean it. Like how I spend the effort cleaning the Mosin Nagant after firing corrosive ammo.

Aloah, Mark

 

[JuglansRegia]

I have in the past 8mm mauser and 30-06 l got the rifles cleaned up just fine but the brass had enough residue to rust some reloading dies.

 

[rjmt]

I spay Ballistol on mine right after I shoot
then you can disassemble and scrub later

old guys made a mixture of diluted Ballistol called "MOOSE MILK" and run a patch of this down the barrel at the range
since I shoot on my neighbors property, I just wait until I get to the porch

 

[Aero Denezol]

I shoot corrosive ammo in old bolt actions only (Mauser/Mosin-Nagant). A few passes w/ the brush, a funnel with some hot water through the bore, then clean with Ballistol. Never had a problem.

There's no reason to shoot corrosive in a modern auto loader, Wolf/Tulammo ammo is cheap.

 

[Camelfilter]

…There's no reason to shoot corrosive in a modern auto loader, Wolf/Tulammo ammo is cheap.

Only if one is frugal (cheap) & had stocked up on corrosive when it was less than non. Or far more available than non corrosive (at the time).

Last I looked new 5.45 was pretty darned expensive. We have quite a stock of corrosive 7N6 purchased at a fraction of todays price.

 

[CLT65]

Only if one is frugal (cheap) & had stocked up on corrosive when it was less than non. Or far more available than non corrosive (at the time).

Last I looked new 5.45 was pretty darned expensive. We have quite a stock of corrosive 7N6 purchased at a fraction of todays price.

Same here. I bought several tins of that same stuff back when it was something like $100/tin. I can't remember the last time I fired any though; I'm not really an AK guy.

 

[rjmt]

Same here. I bought several tins of that same stuff back when it was something like $100/tin. I can't remember the last time I fired any though; I'm not really an AK guy.

got this back when they were cheep
I read these Russian made spam cans are near collectables

 

[Deavis]

My range has a microwave. I just heat water in a pyrex and pour it down barrel and breachface and the like before I leave.

Its amazing how much CRUD comes out of a gun with hot water in addition to neutralizing those salts.

 

[titsonritz]

I've put tons of it through my AKs, it is what they were intended to eat.