3 post corrosive treatments 3 different rifles shooting 7.62x54r PRC

philhut

philhut

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So I opened a crate of PRC 54r ammo and which we all know is corrosive and I thought I'd trial a few methods of cleaning to find the best for me and I thought I'd report the result. For each rifle I fired 10 (m38) , 40 (91/30), 140 (SVT40) followed by the treatment listed below and then placed in a case and brought home then checked about 8 hours later. Fortunately there was no real corrosion however one method stood head and shoulders ahead of the rest.

Mosin nagant 91/30- sprayed with water when hot and then a little rem oil and bore snaked

M38- sprayed with G96 and bore snaked

SVT40 - sprayed with Ballistol and bore snaked.

Results
91/30- rifle had no corrosion visible when broke down some slight discolouration in the magazine easily wiped off. I resorted the metal parts with water, dried with air compressor oiled and done.

M38- the G96 did very little in breaking down the corrosive salts. Some parts were showing discolouration I the reciever. I broke down the whole rifle water sprayed it air compressor and oiled.

SVT40- I was shocked that the Ballistol spray to my SVT completely negated any corrosive salts and looked perfect when re-examined. I broke the rifle down completely and the initial spray of ballistol took care of everything. I simply wiped down the parts and put and bit more on.

Long and the short- Ballistol will forever be in my milsurp kit for corrosive ammunition it really is a one shot application quick and simple. I will definitely be buying more despite its horrible smell.
 
Strait from the spray can for ballistol and g96 using the little straw thing. I broke down each rifle to field strip level to apply the old and water in the first case. Any wiping was done with old hospital towels. Pretty much the same treatment except no water before ballistol or G96 cause both from what are heard break down corrosive salts well ballistol does g96 does not do nearly as good of a job.
 
Thanks for the informative post.
I am using Ballistol since over 40 years now, so I am used to the smell, not so my spouse, she absolutely detests the smell of Ballistol.
Ballistol is used since more than 100 years by German military (since 1905) and hunters, there might be a reason for this.
 
I'm a fan of diesel fuel.I use it in spray bottle instead of WD-40 and in my experience whatever wd-40 does diesel does better,faster and for much longer period of time.

Available everywhere and it cost somewhere around one dollar/liter.
 
I finally found some in person at rangeview sports in Newmarket, Ont. It is a new store. I have never actually seen ballistol on the shelf so I picked up the small spray can. I will get some more now that I know a source for it that is local. I have also hear that some Sewing stores care the product as well otherwise follow up with the suggested online retailers if closer to you.

If I see some that isn't in a spray can I will explore the mixture with water. What ratio do you mix ballistol w water? I keep checking the SVT I used it on and still perfect no rusting. Previously I had be hesitant to shoot corrosive in colt weather because my primary method of cleaning included water. Now that I have discovered ballistol I will be using more spam cans in the winter.
 
Diesel is great for cleaning and flushing but it does not displace water, certainly not better than a fluid developed for that sole purpose. If you got water somewhere it doesn't belong WD-40 is pretty hard to beat. For just about everything else diesel works great too.
 
Didn't the Soviets use a diesel mix for their gun and they froze in the winter ? Meanwhile the Finns or Germans used a sunflower based oil that didn't change viscosity in the cold.Harold
 
The standard military treatment to dissolve corrosive priming salts was water, the hotter the better. This was followed by drying with a patch and then oiling. Those nasty smelling little cans of bore solvent that the US military issued in WW2 contained a water based solution.

During my black powder shooting years I followed the same cleaning routine.
 
philhut said:
I finally found some in person at rangeview sports in Newmarket, Ont. It is a new store. I have never actually seen ballistol on the shelf so I picked up the small spray can. I will get some more now that I know a source for it that is local. I have also hear that some Sewing stores care the product as well otherwise follow up with the suggested online retailers if closer to you.

If I see some that isn't in a spray can I will explore the mixture with water. What ratio do you mix ballistol w water? I keep checking the SVT I used it on and still perfect no rusting. Previously I had be hesitant to shoot corrosive in colt weather because my primary method of cleaning included water. Now that I have discovered ballistol I will be using more spam cans in the winter.
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Love Ballistol. For corrosive I use 10% Ballistol, 90% water which is straight from Ballistol and works great.
 
mbogo3 said:
Didn't the Soviets use a diesel mix for their gun and they froze in the winter ? Meanwhile the Finns or Germans used a sunflower based oil that didn't change viscosity in the cold.Harold
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I heard that story but the other way around.I don't think using any kind of vegetable oil is a good idea since all organic oils start changing structure near freezing point.It just gets worse from there.
 
Gunzilla for me. Spray it on, and the black sticky crap runs right out of everywhere. Wipe it all clean, then oil. On the SKS, the same with the gas piston, but after oiling, wipe the oil off. Checked it a couple of weeks later, and nothing in the chamber, gas mechanism, or barrel (chrome lined).

I'm sold.
 
Meroh said:
Gunzilla for me. Spray it on, and the black sticky crap runs right out of everywhere. Wipe it all clean, then oil. On the SKS, the same with the gas piston, but after oiling, wipe the oil off. Checked it a couple of weeks later, and nothing in the chamber, gas mechanism, or barrel (chrome lined).

I'm sold.
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Same here, website says it works for commie primers and it's the best carbon scrubber I've ever used.
And it's almost odorless.
 
Balistiol works great, it's my go to when shooting corrosive. Boiling water works great but when you add balistiol to the boiling water you flush salts and break down fouling at the same time, cleaning made easy.
 
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