"Mildly Corrosive" 7.62 x 54 and the Nagant - Page 2

noelf2 · February 21, 2011, 11:29 AM

Quote:

Using corrosive ammo is a really stupid thing to do.

Count me among the stupid.

Actually, using corrosive ammo isn't stupid, it's thrifty and makes perfect sense. Not properly cleaning after using it would be stupid though. The more people who think using corrosive ammo is stupid, the longer it will be available for those of us who know how to use it and maintain our guns and rifles.

p99guy · February 21, 2011, 01:05 PM

corrosive primers have a long storage life, which is why the worlds militaries used them for so long, Russians still do. In WW2 , .30M1 carbine was about the only longarm ammo that had noncorrosive priming from the very beginning.
As long as you properly care for your rifle like they did back then, its no problem.....but get lazy and you will ruin your barrel( yeah i'll just set it in the closet and clean it next week sometime huh huh huh)

I found a WW2 Enfield cleaning funnel a few years ago....and I covet that thing for flushing primer salts out of my milsurps after a day of shooting.
Dont forget to flush/clean the mosin bayonet too if you used it during the session.

Don P · February 21, 2011, 04:09 PM

Quote:

"Corrosive ammo ruins the gas cylinder, not the barrel."

OP was asking about the Moisin-Nagant rifle. Bolt action rifles generally don't have a gas cylinder.

I'm glad this got cleared up. For a minute I thought I lost something off my rifles.

Quote:

My gas cylinder is pristine

They took my gas cylinder out, it wasn't pristine

whoa is me, whoa is me

m.p.driver · February 21, 2011, 07:59 PM

As a general rule don't even trust the "Non Corrosive" label,i found out the hard way with some Colombian .30-06 ammunition.

Glenn Bartley · February 21, 2011, 07:59 PM

I am not a chemist and I readily will defer to anyone who contributes to this forum who is one. That being said, it is my understanding from a number of sources, over the years, both personal contacts and online and in print, that water is not as good as water plus ammonia for dissolving and cleaning out corrosive salts that resulted from using corrosive ammo made post 1920s. Ammo made prior to that sometimes contained mercuric primers - also corrosive but very different (if you have anything with mercuric primers you very well may want to check into getting rid of it safely and not sooting it).

For the corrosive stuff made post 1920s, the addition of enough ammonia to the water, along with the addition of a bit of dish washing detergent, I have heard it told that said solution will actually neutralize the corrosive salts, dissolve them and wash them away. While many people use Windex, at least one online source and a couple of personal contacts have recommended using about 15% to 25% household ammonia (by volume) mixed with water to do the job properly. (Note most household ammonia products are about 5 to 10% ammonia in water, although 10% is commonly called janitor strength.) One of the properties of ammonia, for which it is best known, is its ability to dissolve many types of salts and to ionize them. I am not certain if it is effective on the type of salts left behind by corrosive primers but someone at sometime must have certainly thought so because ammonia is now included in gun cleaning products not only as a copper solvent but in order to remove corrosive salts and ammonia had been used for that purpose for years before that.

One of the best things you can do, when shooting corrosive ammunition, is to clean the barrel (and if applicable, the gas port and tube) very soon after shooting. If you do use anything with ammonia you may want to avoid using a phosphor-bronze cleaning brush until you have thoroughly cleaned the ammonia out of the barrel. As I recall, ammonia is a copper solvent and bronze is a copper alloy.

Remember that when using Ammonia products you want to be very careful not to get it into your eyes, not to ingest any and to pretty much avoid prolonged skin contact. Safety goggles are a good precaution as would be protective gloves.

Of course, you can play it safer for your health and use soapy water to clean the firearm parts effected by the salts. That has worked for me as good as the ammonia seems to have worked.

All the best,
Glenn B

February 21, 2011, 01:05 PM	#27
p99guy Senior Member Join Date: November 4, 2004 Location: Haslet,Texas(DFW area) Posts: 1,506	corrosive primers have a long storage life, which is why the worlds militaries used them for so long, Russians still do. In WW2 , .30M1 carbine was about the only longarm ammo that had noncorrosive priming from the very beginning. As long as you properly care for your rifle like they did back then, its no problem.....but get lazy and you will ruin your barrel( yeah i'll just set it in the closet and clean it next week sometime huh huh huh) I found a WW2 Enfield cleaning funnel a few years ago....and I covet that thing for flushing primer salts out of my milsurps after a day of shooting. Dont forget to flush/clean the mosin bayonet too if you used it during the session. __________________ Lighten up Francis!.....;Actor Warren Oats, in the movie "Stripes"

February 21, 2011, 07:59 PM	#30
Glenn Bartley Senior Member Join Date: October 18, 2006 Posts: 283	I am not a chemist and I readily will defer to anyone who contributes to this forum who is one. That being said, it is my understanding from a number of sources, over the years, both personal contacts and online and in print, that water is not as good as water plus ammonia for dissolving and cleaning out corrosive salts that resulted from using corrosive ammo made post 1920s. Ammo made prior to that sometimes contained mercuric primers - also corrosive but very different (if you have anything with mercuric primers you very well may want to check into getting rid of it safely and not sooting it). For the corrosive stuff made post 1920s, the addition of enough ammonia to the water, along with the addition of a bit of dish washing detergent, I have heard it told that said solution will actually neutralize the corrosive salts, dissolve them and wash them away. While many people use Windex, at least one online source and a couple of personal contacts have recommended using about 15% to 25% household ammonia (by volume) mixed with water to do the job properly. (Note most household ammonia products are about 5 to 10% ammonia in water, although 10% is commonly called janitor strength.) One of the properties of ammonia, for which it is best known, is its ability to dissolve many types of salts and to ionize them. I am not certain if it is effective on the type of salts left behind by corrosive primers but someone at sometime must have certainly thought so because ammonia is now included in gun cleaning products not only as a copper solvent but in order to remove corrosive salts and ammonia had been used for that purpose for years before that. One of the best things you can do, when shooting corrosive ammunition, is to clean the barrel (and if applicable, the gas port and tube) very soon after shooting. If you do use anything with ammonia you may want to avoid using a phosphor-bronze cleaning brush until you have thoroughly cleaned the ammonia out of the barrel. As I recall, ammonia is a copper solvent and bronze is a copper alloy. Remember that when using Ammonia products you want to be very careful not to get it into your eyes, not to ingest any and to pretty much avoid prolonged skin contact. Safety goggles are a good precaution as would be protective gloves. Of course, you can play it safer for your health and use soapy water to clean the firearm parts effected by the salts. That has worked for me as good as the ammonia seems to have worked. All the best, Glenn B __________________ When I look in the mirror, I am happy to see, some of that nine year old boy, who used to be me. http://ballseyesboomers.blogspot.com/

February 21, 2011, 07:59 PM	#29
m.p.driver Senior Member Join Date: January 25, 2009 Location: Ohio Posts: 552	As a general rule don't even trust the "Non Corrosive" label,i found out the hard way with some Colombian .30-06 ammunition.