7.62X25 ammunition

EME37

EME37

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Does anybody know anything about "Military Surplus 7.62x25 Ammunition, Russian mfg. copper washed steel cased, corrosive.".
Tradex sells this in sealed crates and cans at a pretty good price. However, my club, like most I'm sure, prohibits steal core ammo at the indoor range.
Anybody know if this stuff is? And what do they mean by "corrosive"? I would appreciate any and all info.
 
I could be wrong but I don't think pistol ammo is steel core.But then again 7.62 x 25 was also used in SMG too.
Older ammo had primers that would leave a corrosive salt residue in the gun.
 
I think all surplus military 7,62x25 available around here has steel-jacketed projectiles (with a copper wash over). The only common steel core stuff is the Slovak from ‘aym’ factory, in dark lacquered steel cases. Czech ‘bxn’ in brass cases is lead core; either can be found in the Czechoslovak dark green wooden crate, on clips.

If the crate has Cyrillic writing, гж (GZh) denotes the bi-metallic jacket. TradeEx's picture shows пстгж so it is. пс (PS) is a bullet with a lead core, but it could have a steel part as well depending on the cartridge designation.

Many ranges which dis-allow steel cores also don't like steel jackets. Many just grab a magnet and if it sticks at all it's no good, _even if it's only the case and not the projectile_. Find out what the policy at your range is, before committing to a purchase.

Corrosive ammunition uses a potassium chlorate component in the primers, rather than a fulminate or other possibilities. This was chosen due to factors such as cost, ease of manufacture, and stability over long-term storage. During the reaction leading to the explosion, this leaves behind potassium chloride salt, which accelerates corrosion of metal. Because soldiers are trained to strip and clean their weapons religiously, that's usually not a concern for the military.

Just about *any* Cold War surplus Red ammunition will be corrosive. Don't worry; it's very easy to strip a Tokarev pistol, and hot water is the best solvent for cleaning the salt.
 
Thanks to you both for your timely response. Tomorrow is range day so I will confirm the policy ref steel casings. As well, before I commit to a purchase I'll phone Tradex to get their take on the ammo.
Unfortunately there is no urgency to buy now. Don't have the Tokarev yet. Tomorrow will be two week since the transfer app was submitted, no approval yet, and I was planning to leave for Myrtle Beach Friday. When the dust clears on all this, and I'm back from South Carolina I'll submit another post and let you know how things turn out.
 
I just drilled one out I pulled earlier. The core is mild steel, drill shavings are magnetic, but it looks like they used lead to seal the core into the steel jacket. I really don't understand the big deal over steel core as I have seen copper jacket, lead core make beautifully perfect holes in steel plate. The steel casings, some of the surplus is brass or copper, should not be an issue but for sure corrosive primed. Just don't put the steel casings in the brass collection bucket, just garbage it unless you want to try and reload it or steel recycle.

Even better, just flat filed one and definitely tapered steel core encased with lead in the steel jacket.
 
Finally got my Tok. Checked with Tradex and they confirmed their Russian 7.62X25 ammo in definitely steel core, which Beermaker and red_bailey had already proven. So, can't use it in the indoor range. If they still have it when I get back I may buy some for summer fun on the outdoor range.
Thanks all for the info.
 
red_bailey said:
This steel cored projectile is U.S.S.R -produced from a 1.260 round can, stencilled PSTGZh in Cyrillic? Or Czech aym?
Click to expand...

Well I have 2 different lots so I pulled one from the second lot. Both are near identical, steel jacket, steel core using lead as a encasing media. The base of the projectile makes you think it is lead core but it is just part of the encasing lead.
The 2 lots are
1) bxn 1952, brass cased, the jacket is a silver looking plating. Kind of like the nickel plating on .303 british.
2)The second lot is more recent being 1988 factory 38? Markings on crate C56-88-38, casing and jacket are copper washed, primer is brass.

Both are berdan primed and keeping with soviet tradition would then be corrosive. So with that I would have to assume that any 7.62x25 surplus ammo is going to be similar. Still it's not armour piercing but when I was shooting at steel plate with the 39 and 52r ammo (at 100 m) there was jacket and core separation. The jacket was embedded into and around the hole almost like an eyelet with the core continuing on so I guess the concern is fragmentation or spalling. I have yet to test the x25 on the steel plate (15-25m).
 
Well its been a while, got my Tok early in March then went to Myrtle Beach for five weeks. Gave up on surplus ammo; picked up the dies and some brass and now load my own.
Thought I had a great load; 5.9 gr Win 231 with .308" 30 Mauser 86 gr SP/RN bullet and a small rifle primer. Makes a satisfying bang, cycles the action, recoil is acceptable, but at 20 yds, several rounds are going through the target sideways. Any suggestions on how to fix? I'm thinking of increasing the charge by a tenth or two of a grain.
 
EME37 said:
Gave up on surplus ammo; picked up the dies and some brass and now load my own.
Thought I had a great load; 5.9 gr Win 231 with .308" 30 Mauser 86 gr SP/RN bullet and a small rifle primer. Makes a satisfying bang, cycles the action, recoil is acceptable, but at 20 yds, several rounds are going through the target sideways. Any suggestions on how to fix? I'm thinking of increasing the charge by a tenth or two of a grain.
Click to expand...

Congratulations on taking all the steps to reloading so quickly - welcome to the shooting sports!

The reasons ranges don't like steel ammo are that it's murder on steel silhouettes - goes right through at fairly low loadings, so you know it's likely also playing hob with the backstop plates as well - and it ricochets like it invented it.

If your pistol works with small-rifle primers, go ahead and keep using them; many pistols won't, they can't hit the primer hard enough to set it off. Small rifle primers are made tougher than small pistol primers to withstand the much higher pressures a rifle can handle, without perforating; no big deal if your Tokarev can use them, but if (when ;) - one pistol is never enough) you get another pistol, with a floating firing pin (i.e., the pin doesn't reach all the way from the hammer face to the primer, so if you drop it on the hammer, it won't go off), you'd best switch to small pistol primers to feed it - they all have the same stuff inside.

The sideways-bullet thang - it's called 'keyholing'; and it's caused by the bullet not spinning fast enough to stabilize. There're only two ways to spin the bullet faster - replace your barrel with one that has a tighter twist (impractical and expensive :( ), or push the bullet down the barrel faster; i.e., a touch more powder. I have a Browning Hi-Power that was shooting all over the map; yeah I hit the target, but that was about all I could say - then I noticed there'd usually be a couple rounds through the right side, that keyholed. I added literally, one-tenth of a grain - went from 3.2gr to 3.3gr of powder - and it quit keyholing and started shooting like a champ.

And why are you using 5.9gr powder when I'm only using 3.3gr? A different powder, obviously; and a story for another day. Good shooting!
 
gwesson said:
Congratulations on taking all the steps to reloading so quickly - welcome to the shooting sports!

The reasons ranges don't like steel ammo are that it's murder on steel silhouettes - goes right through at fairly low loadings, so you know it's likely also playing hob with the backstop plates as well - and it ricochets like it invented it.

If your pistol works with small-rifle primers, go ahead and keep using them; many pistols won't, they can't hit the primer hard enough to set it off. Small rifle primers are made tougher than small pistol primers to withstand the much higher pressures a rifle can handle, without perforating; no big deal if your Tokarev can use them, but if (when ;) - one pistol is never enough) you get another pistol, with a floating firing pin (i.e., the pin doesn't reach all the way from the hammer face to the primer, so if you drop it on the hammer, it won't go off), you'd best switch to small pistol primers to feed it - they all have the same stuff inside.

The sideways-bullet thang - it's called 'keyholing'; and it's caused by the bullet not spinning fast enough to stabilize. There're only two ways to spin the bullet faster - replace your barrel with one that has a tighter twist (impractical and expensive :( ), or push the bullet down the barrel faster; i.e., a touch more powder. I have a Browning Hi-Power that was shooting all over the map; yeah I hit the target, but that was about all I could say - then I noticed there'd usually be a couple rounds through the right side, that keyholed. I added literally, one-tenth of a grain - went from 3.2gr to 3.3gr of powder - and it quit keyholing and started shooting like a champ.

And why are you using 5.9gr powder when I'm only using 3.3gr? A different powder, obviously; and a story for another day. Good shooting!
Click to expand...

Obviously different powder. In my hi power I'm using CFE Pistol, 5.1 gr. That powder/load combo seams to work well in all my 9mm guns; FN hi power, Inglis hi power, P 1, P 38 and Luger. For the Tok, and a couple of others, I'm using Winchester 231, with different loads, of course. I haven't changed the load yet but I'll report back the results when I do.
 
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