Corrosive Ammo & War Era Guns

[Nathan231]

I was just wondering something funny. How did soldiers ( either side ally or axis ) back in the day shoot off hundreds of rounds a day of what we now consider "HIGHLY CORROSIVE AMMO", clean their guns out with engine oil from a tank that got blown up and a boot lace they stole off some dead guy and still manage to use their weapons? Heck, people on here warn to not even leave the gun range after shooting of 100 rounds of corrosive x39 without giving it a good scrub down then clean everything as soon as you get home. Anyone else wonder this?

 

[Stevo]

They cleaned them, every day. They hardly resorted to boot laces and engine oil. Canadians were even issued funnels to pour boiling water down the bores.

 

[tiriaq]

The routine in WWI trenches was that rifles were cleaned twice a day. Machineguns had to be kept very clean, or they would fail.
Incidentally, why do you think soldiers fired off hundreds of rounds a day?

 

[old enfields]

Yup everyone of those No.1 MKIII came with a cleaning kit and oil bottle and lord help the poor sap who lost it! Destruction of Crown Assets was a charge you could be brought up on.