7.62x54R Non-Corrosive FMJ/Expanding?

Yeah it may have been that...I've just heard a lot of different things from both sides, and in my personal experience my rifle was rusted, but I shoot the stuff anyway.

It seems like decent stuff but I checked Winchester's site and they don't have any listed.

-Rohann
 
Well if you still have some pull the bullets from a couple of rounds and plate test it yourself, it's not hard. That's the problem with "hearing" things, most of the people that are repeating what they "heard" never seem to have a valid source for the info, plate testing it yourself will give you proof.
I grew up near the Atlantic Ocean so I have seen first hand what that environment can do to bare metal in a short period of time. I also went through several firearms recently, from an estate in Vancouver, for a friend and even though they were looked after most of them had surface rust inside.
 
The thing is, I highly doubt it would be because of moisture. None of my other firearms were/are rusted whatsoever; even my SKS which I shoot corrosive out of (I clean it).

-Rohann
 
Well try the plate test and know for sure.
You might be supprised by just how much moisture is in the air out there, take a firearm that has been sitting for a while untouched and run a clean white rag over it and see if you get anything. Then get a piece of bare steel de-grease it and leave it exposed and see what happens.
 
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Mudpuppy, I can't explain your steel plate test results, but I got lazy last weekend and didnt clean my mosin for a day or 2. Within 4 hours, rust was clearly visible in the barrel. By the 2nd day, the rifle was positively fuzzy. It is a known fact that the primers in most comblock surplus ammo is corrosive. Anyway, what does it matter? You should clean your rifle after shooting, and corrosive is easy to clean up after. Isn't it worth it for the cheap ammo?!
 
ollie said:
Anyway, what does it matter? You should clean your rifle after shooting, and corrosive is easy to clean up after. Isn't it worth it for the cheap ammo?!

Well for me it does matter, I spend a lot of time working in the field so when I get a shooting day it is usually all day and with 15-30 different firearms. So when I am done it may take a day or two to get to cleaning them all. I like to know what ones to get to first (I am on the tail end of a bunch of cordite 303that I know is corrosive so they get done first) so I usually test any surplus stuff to know for sure if it is corrosive or not.

I don't rely on things like "I heard" or "someone told me" and especially "I read it on the internet" unless the info can be backed up. I tested 20 rounds, pulled at random from 3 different crates of the Districorp stuff and none of it was corrosive, so I know that cleaning any rifles that have fired it can wait without worrying about damage.

What was the headstamp of the stuff you fired?
 
D.J. Friesen (bcredneck) sells new 7.62x54R brass. He usually has a table at the HACS shows in Burnaby. He also sells brass for all sorts of other calibres like 7.5x55 Swiss and what not. It's that Graf brand brass. I've looked high and low and that's about the only place I could find 7.62x54R brass other than by buying a bunch of Igman cartridges and firing them.
 
Wolf 7.62 x 54

Wolf makes 3 kinds of 7.62 x 54. I buy it in the US every month. Its available at a lot of places and its real cheap and non corrosive. I know Cabelas sells it. And I've seen it at a lot of smaller places as well. There are some places in Canada that sell wolf ammo. Find out if they can order it for you.

Hope this helps

Trac
 
I found some Igman 150grain SP boxer-primed ammo that sounds decent, and I ordered it from S.I.R. for $47 without freight charges (shipping included I think). Is this too much?

-Rohann
 
Rohann said:
I found some Igman 150grain SP boxer-primed ammo that sounds decent, and I ordered it from S.I.R. for $47 without freight charges (shipping included I think). Is this too much?
The Igman isn't very accurate, or at least that's my experience. Just about every 7.62x54R ammo I've tried is more accurate than that.
 
The Hungarian Surplus is NOT CORROSIVE. N O T= NOT. I have two nagants. I have shot this ammunition from both of my rifles, and I have not had a speck of rust, aside from light surface rust, but this was due to moisture. You should get some sort of moisture absorber, and put it inside the safe. Also, try to keep the warmth of the room down, as this will only make it more humid, esp. if you live next to the sea. And as for hunting ammunition, try Districorp's Ingman. And I dont see why you dont like them. They have excellent service. I suggest you buy a few boxes of ingman(relatively cheap at around 12$ a box) and try it. I have heard that it is a bit dirty, but if you are still not satisfied, try reloading it yourself. If this still does not suit you, you would be best off buying a 3006 for hunting bear. If it is your first time out hunting bear, i would suggest a more modern rifle, with better accuracy, and a telescopic sight. This is only if you have hunted bear before.
 
ok, go against fact some more guys. I'm obviously pissing up a rope here, so I won't post again. Have fun rusting out your guns!
 
I haven't hunted bear before, but I've been to the range quite a few times and am going to make sure I know my rifle very well before taking it out. I'm also practicing distance estimation and finding the cartridge's PBZ.

My friend took a bear at less than 100 yards, and most animals around here are, so I'm not worried. As long as my rifle shoots accurately I'm confident in taking it out.

What did you mean by "dirty" ammo?

Ollie: In my personal experience my rifle was rusted after shooting the Hungarian stuff. It is berdan primed and said that no surplus ammo is non-corrosive, and I will stick to this. Call me stubborn but I'm not using that ammo anymore.

-Rohann
 
Well I checked the Wolf site and they make reloadable boxer primed 7.62x54 which looks pretty decent. The only thing is I don't want to order in bulk, and it's pretty expensive to just order one box.

-Rohann
 
ollie said:
ok, go against fact some more guys. I'm obviously pissing up a rope here, so I won't post again. Have fun rusting out your guns!
What facts are we going against here? What valid test method did you use to test if it is corrosive? And this type of reaction is a little childish, it's in all our best interest to get good information out to fellow shooters.

ollie said:
Mudpuppy, I can't explain your steel plate test results,
There is nothing to explain about plate testing, it is accepted as a valid way to prove/disprove if ammo is corrosive. I tested this way and it clearly proved that it was non-corrosive. Do you know how to plate test?

ollie said:
but I got lazy last weekend and didnt clean my mosin for a day or 2. Within 4 hours, rust was clearly visible in the barrel. By the 2nd day, the rifle was positively fuzzy. It is a known fact that the primers in most comblock surplus ammo is corrosive.
Did you take that rifle from a cold environment and then leave it in a warm environment? You do know that this can cause condensation to form on the metal surfaces and begin rusting? If you care for your rifles as much as you say then why did you watch them rust over two days?
EDIT:You posted re Enfield 303
ollie said:
I fired some WRA '41 off last week, and HOLY CORROSIVE BATMAN! It was a -30ish day, by the time the rifle had rewarmed to room temp, the barrel on my beloved Lee already had some orange spots forming...
This was most likely from condensation only.

I also read another of your posts where you say you have started reloading. Do you have a bullet puller yet? If not you should get one and then YOU can sample several rounds of the Hungarian surplus and plate test it. Then you can report your TEST results to add to the knowledge base.

I read where you have 4 Mosins did all 4 rust on you? I have more than 4 Mosins and a friend of mine has even more than that. We purchased 2700 rounds of this ammo (5 crates) and have fired 900+ rounds in over a dozen Mosins with NO RUSTING, so does this test method beat out yours just by sheer numbers?

Please understand that I am not trying to pick on you, just to establish fact. So far all you have offered is conjecture.
 
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I am curios mudpuppy, did you clean your guns after firing or leave the residue in the bore? What were the ambient humidity conditions at the time the residue was in the bore? What condition are your bores in?. The reason i ask is I have an sks that I shoot the very corrosive czeck ammo in. If it was dry outside you could leave it for 2 days no rust, if it was humid i saw rust on the previously polished gas piston after an hour. The corrosion is supposed to be as a result of the hydroscopic nature of the primer residue & if that is the case the lower the ambient humidity the longer it will take to rust. The last one is as a result of the fact that a smooth bore is easier to clean than a rough one, leaving less chance of corrosive stuff left in the bore. I have personaly cleaned rifles after shooting corrosive using nothing but hoppes & had no rust. I have also had a rifle that was spit cleaned at the range & left with oil in the bore turn to a rust mess. I also dont know if the powder interacts with the primer compounds to make it more corrosive as I have plate tested turk 8mm from the 40's ( no way thats not corrosive) & had no rust after two months on the shop wall( it is winter though, not as much humidity). Screw it, I treat all ammo as corrosive & clean after shooting( sometimes as many as 10 guns at a time).
 
What did you mean by "dirty" ammo?

well, if you have ever shot non corrosive norinco 7.62x39, you will realise that it leaves behing a heavy black residue. It is not corrosive, however. Im not sure if ingman is this dirty, i have just heard talk of it.

desporterizer, i think what you say about the temperature is 100% true. But have you shot the hungarian stuff? the czech x39 is known to be corrosive though, so chagne in humidity will have a more profound effect. mudpuppy is correct, because my nagants have not rusted inside the bore once. Rohann, you said how your bolt face rusted. This might simply have been due to your fingers touching the bolt. Sweat is a very good ruster!
 
desporterizer said:
I am curios mudpuppy, did you clean your guns after firing or leave the residue in the bore? What were the ambient humidity conditions at the time the residue was in the bore? What condition are your bores in?.
Rifles were not cleaned , residue was left in the bore, all my firearms are stored in a gun room that has it's ventilation connected to the house system, the house is maintained at ~30-35% relative humidity. The bores of the good ones I would rate vg to exc, I do have one that looks like 20 miles of bad road and it has not been cleaned in over six months and has had 200+ rounds of the Hungarian ball through it.

desporterizer said:
The corrosion is supposed to be as a result of the hydroscopic nature of the primer residue & if that is the case the lower the ambient humidity the longer it will take to rust. The last one is as a result of the fact that a smooth bore is easier to clean than a rough one, leaving less chance of corrosive stuff left in the bore. I also dont know if the powder interacts with the primer compounds to make it more corrosive as I have plate tested turk 8mm from the 40's ( no way thats not corrosive) & had no rust after two months on the shop wall( it is winter though, not as much humidity).
This is why I do my plate testing under controlled conditions. I take my test plate degrease it, clean with a wire wheel, degrease again, clean/etch the metal with Naval Jelly(phosphoric acid) rinse, degrease two more times then dry and fire primers into plate (I also burn a small sample of the powder on the plate). I mark a section of the plate as my control area. It is then put in a closed cabinet (not airtight) in the gun room and monitored for 30 days. If after 30 days there is no sign of corrosion it is put in a sealed environment where I try to maintain a temp of 25C and a relative humidity of 70-80% and monitored for another 30 days. This will cause rusting on the bare metal, that is why you have a control area, and you compare the primer residue area to the control. If the primer residue was corrosive it should rust sooner and be more agressive than rust in the control area.
There was no evidence of the Hungarian ball being corrosive.

desporterizer said:
Screw it, I treat all ammo as corrosive & clean after shooting( sometimes as many as 10 guns at a time).
And I will not argue with that point if that is how you like to do it, my only argument here is that people are making claims of absolute fact that this ammo is corrosive without any supporting evidence to back it up. In the two examples that I have been arguing against there are other variables that could also have caused the corrosion but they have not even been considered. I like to see supported facts not guesses or opinions formed because "I read it on the internet".

I guess if I simply go by the mantra that everything you read on the internet is true my life would be a lot easier!;) :D
 
It was weird, i sandblasted the plate & then degreased. Fired 10 primers into it & left it. I have shot many rounds of heavyball but I never delayed cleaning when I did. I have a shot out sporter nagant barrel I am going to replace anyway maybe I will try some corrosive tests in that.
 
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