Corrosive Ammo WHY???

[golddredger]

I have been searching around the net and cannot seem to come up with the reason why they made corrosive ammo in the first place. Why did they make it corrosive? Seems like a bad idea all around. Was it the only formula at the time? Did they have to do it? Seems to me it would have saved a bunch of guns to not have this problem always there. I am just trying to understand why they would make ammo that was bad for the guns. If a guy was out in the field for days and under heavy battle conditions he is not going to stop and clean the gun so it would not rust up. He would not have time. Seems nuts to me but I am a bit crazy sooooo

[ke6guj]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berdan_primer#Primer_chemistry

[gotshotgun?]

In a nutshell the primers used needed to be corrosive because that gave maximum effectiveness in ignition and longevity in storage.

Corrosive primers will not "rust a gun shut", a soldier under military conditions as you say isn't going to care if his rifle has a thin layer of surface rust in the barrel or gas tube. MILLIONS of Russians used BILLIONS of rounds of corrosive ammo through Mosins and AKs and we are still shooting those rifles today just fine.

[PEZHEAD265]

In a nutshell the primers used needed to be corrosive because that gave maximum effectiveness in ignition and longevity in storage.

Corrosive primers will not "rust a gun shut", a soldier under military conditions as you say isn't going to care if his rifle has a thin layer of surface rust in the barrel or gas tube. MILLIONS of Russians used BILLIONS of rounds of corrosive ammo through Mosins and AKs and we are still shooting those rifles today just fine.

Also due to the cold weather they need the primmers to ignite.

[Mr. Gillious]

i'm pretty sure all 4 of my mosins were shooting corrosive ammo. they still shoot fine to this day

[Squid]

Interesting, I'd always thought "airborne lead" was from bullets scraping

down the barrel, not from the primers. (yes, non-corrosive civilian new primers)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berdan_...imer_chemistry

and some other poster said it was "sodium chloride"(table salt) instead of potassium chloride (that "lite salt" for those on restricted sodium diets)

[Wicked Pete]

I love my Mosin Nagant. I did the trigger mod (CGN/Youtube), aftermarket stock; had to grind some meat (plastic) off the cheek piece so it wasn't knocking the hell out of my jaw. Nice bang; accurate. Love, love, love!!!

Don't tell anyone, I am not following the rules. Everybody says pour water through it, or a patch soaked in windex....

I have been just cleaning normally with Break-Free, a brush and some patches, it seems OK. Remember Love? "My baby!"

[greybeard]

Power and primer chemistry like the rest of chemistry has came a long way.

[SKSer45]

Nothing some windex and elbow grease can't fix. Don't be afraid of corrosive ammo just make sure give a good cleaning after the range and should be g2g.

I love that stuff cheap, crappy, and 90% goes off and works

[Cowboy T]

Any water after shooting will be just fine. If you're shooting corrosive ammo through, say, Mosin during a battle, the barrel's going to be a little warm. All you need to do is run some snow through it (plentiful in Mother Russia), it'll melt and take the primer salts with it, run your patch through, and that's probably what they did...when they had time.

Also remember that a lot of the M91/30's on the market today are arsenal-refinished. That often means new (as of the 1950's) barrels on existing receivers. One of my Mosins actually has a *shiny* barrel. Slightly darkened in color, sure, but shiny.

[Flyin Brian]

Any water after shooting will be just fine. If you're shooting corrosive ammo through, say, Mosin during a battle, the barrel's going to be a little warm. All you need to do is run some snow through it (plentiful in Mother Russia), it'll melt and take the primer salts with it, run your patch through, and that's probably what they did...when they had time.

Also remember that a lot of the M91/30's on the market today are arsenal-refinished. That often means new (as of the 1950's) barrels on existing receivers. One of my Mosins actually has a *shiny* barrel. Slightly darkened in color, sure, but shiny.

New barrels installed in the 1950's??? I've never heard of this... please elaborate.

[Cowboy T]

Barrels that were shot out or rusted beyond recovery would sometimes get replaced back in ye olde days during the "prepare for World War III" rearsenaling in the Soviet factories, after World War II. Fortunately, some of these crated and un-reissued rifles have made it over here. :-) Mine appears to be one of these.

[Vlad 11]

Why did they use black powder?
Why did they use mercuric primers?
Why did they use cordite?
In hindsight there may be better stuff to use, you can't look at it through modern glasses.
They cared that it went boom with every pull of the trigger and it did. Potassium chlorate primers flat out work and last a long time. A lot of us shoot stuff from the 40's and 50's no prob.

Corrosive primed ammo was still in full-scale production until recently because it extremely reliable. A little potential rusting was an easy tradeoff.

why they would make ammo that was bad for the guns

I don't consider the ammo to be bad for the guns, Its more a matter of the maintenance habits of the user. As true today as it was back then. Plenty of firearms that shot corrosive ammo survive in great condition. Its not that hard to run some water down a rifle barrel.

[SKSer45]

Why did they use black powder?
Why did they use mercuric primers?
Why did they use cordite?
In hindsight there may be better stuff to use, you can't look at it through modern glasses.
They cared that it went boom with every pull of the trigger and it did. Potassium chlorate primers flat out work and last a long time. A lot of us shoot stuff from the 40's and 50's no prob.

Corrosive primed ammo was still in full-scale production until recently because it extremely reliable. A little potential rusting was an easy tradeoff.



I don't consider the ammo to be bad for the guns, Its more a matter of the maintenance habits of the user. As true today as it was back then. Plenty of firearms that shot corrosive ammo survive in great condition. Its not that hard to run some water down a rifle barrel.

yeah make a good point there Vlad. When I hear corrosive ammo I think of quantity and not quality. So what ever it takes to make the round go boom and fly out of a barrel.

I shot some really horrible Yugo 7.62X39 before, I mean that stuff looked like slime. Sure enough everyone of them fired though as true as can be. Yet off the top of my head Wolf or Tula Non Corrosive ammo I have had multiple FTF.

Just one of things and very true, nothing some water can't fix.

[golddredger]

Alright thanks for the info guys!

I am not afraid to shoot it and I am having no problems with it but the cleaning is a task. I live in a big area and we shoot everyday right at home. This topic came up after a few hours of cleaning 4 rifles last night and we wondered why in the world they used the corrosive in the first place. We thought maybe it was the only formula at the time so it is what they used. Now we know why and what they did it for so thanks! It will now be the new topic at tonights cleaning!!!