Norinco 9x19mm ammo dated 1992

[Doug Bowser]

I have 10-50 round boxes of Norinco 9x19 124 gr ammo. It has brass cases and a brass colored bullet. I assume it is corrosive. The headstamp has 9x19 at 12 , 92 at 6, L at 9 and Y at 3 O'clock. Do y'all think it would be safe to fire in my SIG P6?

Doug

[grumpa72]

Of course. There are reports of guys shooting 60 year old .45 acp ammo from WW II and it goes bang. If you suspect it is corrosive, pull the barrel after shooting and wash it out. Easy to do on the Sig.

[Don P]

I have not been able to find a definitive answer of either yes or no to corrosive primers. Corrosive primers have not been used in Europe and the USA in over 40 years. China on the other hand who knows. You could always treat it as corrosive for cleaning purposes.

Norinco ammunition was imported into the US from the late 80's until 1994 when the Clinton Administration banned its importation (apparently) because the Chinese were not abiding by arms export agreements that they had made with the US in which they promised not to sell arms and ammunition to terrorists and despots around the world. Norinco is the commercial name for the government-owned ammunition and weapons factories of the Chinese government. Norinco-produced small arms (rifles, pistols, machineguns and shotguns) are stamped with the stylized number 66 inside a triangle. Norinco ammunition is produced in a number of state-owned factories all over China. Norinco ammunition (in my experience) tends be good quality, fairly accurate, but also dirty. I would not trust any ammunition produced in any Communist country that is marked "non-corrosive". A good rule of thumb is to assume that it is corrosive and clean your weapon appropriately after shooting it. Norinco produces mainly steel-cased, Berdan primed, non-reloadable ammunition. However, they did produce .223 Remington ammunition with reloadable brass cases and non-corrosive (supposedly) Boxer primers. The .223 Remington ammo that I have is supposed to approximate the performance of US M193 ammunition. I hope this helps.

[Joe the Redneck]

None of the Norinco ammo I ever used was corrosive. Ths was made for export to the US market.

Norinco, North China Industries, was actually a coprorate division of the Peoples Liberation Army. They were in the export business. the exported copies of Browning 22 auto (had one for 3 day, POS) up and including the SKS carbine, tok clones, and various semi AK clones. And tons of ammo. The stuff was dirt cheap. It was designed to raise money for the PRC. I still have several hundred rounds of steel cased, steel jackted 762x39.


Corrosive ammo would not have generated much interest from the market place. I never recall any problems.


The only corrosive I have ever used was 762x25 from the eastern bloc. well former easten bloc.

[JohnKSa]

I bought a lot of 9mm Norinco back before the importation of Chinese ammo was banned. I shot the last of it a few years ago--never had any complaints.

The only corrosive Chinese ammo I've encountered was some 7.62x25 in 70 round boxes labeled with Chinese script. It was billed as non-corrosive and I found out the hard way that was a lie. I worked on the barrel for awhile to get all the surface rust out--fortunately it didn't pit. It was still rough but the next trip to the range cleaned out the rest of the roughness and after cleaning it that evening the bore looked new.

[KyJim]

I've still got some 5.56 or .223 Norinco ammo from before the ban. It's not corrosive and I never had a problem with it.

[Claddagh]

I've gone through a lot of Norinco ammo, but virtually all of it has been 7.62x39. I'm actually semi-hoarding my last few cases from a "too-good-to-pass up" deal on a full pallet of it two friends and I split way back ca. 1989.

IME, Norinco 7.62x39 (especially the "Silver" and "Yellow" box with the steel-core projectiles) has proven to give me absolute functional reliability and the best and most consistently accurate performance of any commercial or milsurp 7.62x39 I've yet to come across in my rifles.

I have seen no evidence to date with my firearms that would indicate to me that the "non-corrosive" description marked on the boxes is less than truthfull. However, since my childhood and military conditioning has been to field-strip and clean my firearms ASAP after every use, this might tend to render that opinion on the subject moot.

I have routinely kept this ammo stored in G.I. ammo cans and the original sealed factory cases in our basement for over 20 years now. It has not shown me any signs that its reliability or accuracy have deteriorated to any degree that I can detect.

IIWY, I wouldn't worry about using your 9x19 ammo.

[KyJim]

However, since my childhood and military conditioning has been to field-strip and clean my firearms ASAP after every use, this might tend to render that opinion on the subject moot.

But with corrosive ammo, you don't just clean it one time. You have to follow it up at least once, maybe twice with additional cleaning.

[JohnKSa]

It's been my experience that if you REALLY get it clean, you only have to clean it once even if the ammo is corrosive.

It's also been my experience that typical gun-cleaning solvents and techniques are perfectly adequate for removing corrosive fouling if you REALLY remove all the fouling from the bore.

The experience I related earlier in this thread is what finally convinced me of the fact. I had shot that gun/ammo combination many times before but had always cleaned the day of the range trip. One time I got in a jam and had to leave the gun for a couple of days before cleaning it and that's when the rust appeared. So my normal cleaning techniques (which, I admit might be a bit extreme) were clearly getting all the corrosive residue out of the bore.

But you've got to remove all the fouling from the bore. If you leave any metal fouling there may be corrosive residue under it and rust will develop. I typically alternate a good copper solvent and patches with a good nitro solvent and a properly sized bronze bore brush. I continue until I see clean patches coming out and a bright light reveals no traces of fouling in the bore.

[Claddagh]

My experience over the past half-century has been very much the same as JohnKSa's. Back when it was still dirt-cheap and plentiful, I bought and used surplus U.S.G.I. cleaning solvent by the gallon. It worked just fine.

If you're thorough, so does plain ol' Hoppe's No.9.

YMMV, KyJim but so far,IME, if I've done things right the first time, I've only needed to do it once.

[KyJim]

I'll defer to those with more experience in shooting corrosive ammo than myself. I have simply followed my father's instructions who grew up in an era when corrosive ammo was more common.

[Dabull]

I had some 1992 headstamped Norinco 9mm ammo (brass jacket, brass cased) that I shot between 1994 and 2009. It came in a green box with a styrofoam insert. I'm pretty sure the box said non-corrosive on it.

[JohnKSa]

I have simply followed my father's instructions who grew up in an era when corrosive ammo was more common.

I'd say they were excellent instructions for that era. These days we have a variety of excellent cleaning products that allow a person to clean a bore back to bare metal in a minimum of time and without heroic measures. Wasn't always so, especially on the battlefield.

[Sevens]

Check the headstamp on the ammo.

Does it say L-Y with a 92 on there?

If yes then no worries. I burned through a lot of that stuff when I bought it new and I still have some of the brass. Not a thing wrong with it.

The brass is a little on the tight side -- by that, I mean it's got a wee bit less capacity than most others. I know this because handloads that run fine with all other brass tend to run warm with the L-Y brass. I don't use that brass much anymore.

The ammo is non-corrosive and fine to use.