corrosive ammunition

M

majormarine

CGN Regular
Rating - 99.8%
583   1   0
Location
Lower Mainland, BC
i want to share my experience.

i was among the first who bought the czech 7.62x39 ammo from marstar. back then, like many other people, i wasn't aware the ammo was corrosive.

each trip to the range, i had about 40-60 rounds 'thru my sks, and when i came back, i just followed normal cleaning procedures with hoppe 9 and gun oil.

after 4-5 trips to the range and about 5-6 months later after i'd bought the ammo, people here at this board started talking about how corrosive this ammo was.

i quickly went to check my sks and i found inside the gas pistol chamber, there was a thin brown layer. on the surface of the barrel there were also some brown spots here and there. however, the bolt and the bore (chrome) were perfect. everywhere else seemed to be okay.

i didn't have any silicone gal that absorb moisture in my safe. so, i guess my place is relatively dry? i have read many different stories and everyone of them seemed to be unique in one way or the other.

so, i guess corrosive ammo + environment -> how bad your gun could turn out?
 
Yup, you got it correctly... The moisture in the air plays a big part in the corrosion process... I also got "mislead" by the czech ammo being labelled as non-corrosive... I shot a bunch of it, left the gun a couple days and had rust everywhere... Man, was I pissed... I had never dealt with corrosive ammo prior to that and didn't know how to deal with it... I cleaned and cleaned with oil and hoppes #9, only to have the rust come back each and every time...

I quickly learned that you have to use hot water to wash out the salts, then clean as normal. IMHO, corrosive ammo is a Pain In The Ass and only worth shooting IF you can get it for DIRT cheap...

Cheers
Jay
 
I bought some thick walled aquarium hose that fit's snut in the chamber, and the other end has a small heavy plastic funnel attached.

At the range I take the rifle into the bathroom, and hose her out with hot water with the funnel in the sink, and I'm holding the rifle muzzle over the toilet (seat up for the ladies). :p

Then I dry her out with dry patches, give the barrel a quick oil spray, and take the gas tube apart for a quick clean. Total time is 10 min.

Once home I work on a more detailed clean...ie any metal part that smells gets cleaned...I find this corrosive stuff has a distinct smell.

I also do this for my Enfields, and my Swedish Mauser, when I'm using surplus ammo.

I only completely strip them down If I somehow manage to accidentally get water under the wood work, or if I know they need a deeper clean.
 
Last edited:
Jay said:
Man, was I pissed... I had never dealt with corrosive ammo prior to that and didn't know how to deal with it... I cleaned and cleaned with oil and hoppes #9, only to have the rust come back each and every time...

Jay
Click to expand...

Jay, I am curious; once you started using water, are you free of rust? Or has the fact of not having cleaned with water those first few times rusted the rifle for good? :confused:
 
Maybe it's because I'm in low humidity Alberta, but I haven't had any rust anywhere using the ammo. I'd always thoroughly cleaned the gun as soon as I got home being paranoid, but last trip to the range I had to wait until the next day - no problems. Everything was shiny, no rust anywhere. I use the foaming bore cleaner.
 
Might be a dumb question... I too have the Czech ammo, but wouldn't wiping down everything clean in oil do the job?

I've been cleaning like this after shooting (get home, strip, wipe with oily rag all parts that are dirty) and haven't had any problem... I don't use water or anything.

Thanks.
 
Last edited:
I've been shooting a bunch of the corrosive cz stuff through my SKS and VZ58 (chrome lined barrel). I use windex saturated patches down the barrel and spray windex on every metal part. Then I clean the crap out of it as per usual.

I havent had a problem yet with rust but do notice some pitting in the gas block of my vz58 (just forward of the piston) I'm pretty sure this had to be there before I aquired the rifle as I always spray windex down the block followed by a spray CLP.

Do I need to use hot water as well? I use hot water to clean my black powder pistol but not my rifles.
 
I do what Holleyman does.

If you don't count waiting for the kettle to boil; it takes me about 30seconds longer to clean after shooting corrosive ammo.

I reccomend Earl Grey, BTW. Not much more expensive than Tetley if you buy the big package.
 
I've also had some rust in the gas tube as its just plain metal. The rest of the SKS is fine though using the Czech corrosive stuff. Mind you here, we don't get much humidity at all so that may help keep it from rusting so fast compared to other parts of the country.
 
i've been using windex as well and it works for me. right after shooting at the range, i use windex as if i were using hoppe 9.

then, i clean it with hoppe 9 and oil again when i get home. sometime i even left it over night and clean it the next day.

it is really the water in windex to 'wash' away the salt residue left by the corrosive ammo, and the aroma in windex should evaporate the water.

i once tried with hot water (and it worked) but i was a little paranoid about the water got into area i couldn't reach and dry, like those little springs, holes and pins.

so, how do you guys clean with hot water? some people said they only run hot water 'thru the barrel, etc.


JeffMan said:
Do I need to use hot water as well? I use hot water to clean my black powder pistol but not my rifles.
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
I have fired literally thousands of rounds of corrosive ammo, mostly .303, 8x57mm, Czech made .308, and some 7.62x39mm and some older .30-06.
I always use hot water to flush out the bore. I am now using boiling water, instead of hot tap water.
Once I have run the water through, I then wrap a patch around an old brass brush (never stainless steel. It scratches the bore, and gives more area for the salts to collect. Also more copper fouling). The patch comes out BLACK. I run a few more patches, then I coat the bore with some US made surplus stuff designed for corrosive ammo. I pour a bit on a bore swab or mop, and run it through. This stuff stinks bad, but it works. I run a patch through a few days later, and all is good.

I don't get geeked out about using corrosive, like some people do, but I look at it from a practical view. If it takes me 20 minutes to clean my gun, then I want to spend at least that much time shooting. So I dont fire 2 or 3 shoots of corrosive only. I shoot corrosive if I am going to shoot many rounds at once. Like at a tactical match, or a shootsfest with friends.
 
majormarine said:
so, how do you guys clean with hot water? some people said they only run hot water 'thru the barrel, etc.
Click to expand...

If it's a semi-auto, I dissassemble the gas system into major components, drop in laundry tub, pour half kettle over the lot of it, including through the gas tube.

Then, muzzle down in sink, pour the rest of the kettle down the bore and the inside of the receiver.

Hot metal dries quickly.

Clean as usual (or not) once it all cools down.

Bolt action, I remove the bolt, pour hot water on it, then the rest down the bore and a bit around the muzzle. Cool, clean as usual.

You really are just rinsing off the salts. I would never waste money using windex to do what a kettle of water will accomplish.
 
Further on my experience...

Fredericton is VERY humid at times in the summer, that's when I first shot that corrosive ammo...

I had never used or been taught how to use "corrosive ammo", and that likely is the reason that I got burned so badly by it...

I shot the ammo and set the rifle aside for 2 days, next thing you know, I've got a MAJOR problem... Corrosion everywhere and a damaged gun!!!

I ended up selling the rifle, I couldn't look at it the same way...

Cheers
Jay
 
G37 said:
Might be a dumb question... I too have the Czech ammo, but wouldn't wiping down everything clean in oil do the job?

I've been cleaning like this after shooting (get home, strip, wipe with oily rag all parts that are dirty) and haven't had any problem... I don't use water or anything.

Thanks.
Click to expand...

The corrosive salts are not soluable in oil or most modern bore solvents. Clean the bore and parts with, pardon the expression, "liberal" amounts of water, then dry.
Afterwards clean with solvent as usual and oil as usual. Works great for me!
 
wait. there is another way. yeah, that's a norc.

Tokarev012.jpg
 
FWIW Here is my methodology for shooting corrosive through my CZ-58 with non-chrome barrel, assuming 50 - 100+ rounds through the gun. I find that the Czech ammo burns dirty, and leaves lots of carbon fouling on the pistol and related components.

After shooting at the range, I have a little plastic squirt bottle of Windex (the original blue stuff, not the lemon-fresh crap). I squirt this through the barrel and then run a patch to dry it out. Then a patch with oil on it through again.

When I get home, boil 5 cups of water. While the water is boiling, field strip the gun.

Put all the bits and pieces (gas piston rod, springs, bolt carrier, bolt, etc) in a shallow tupperware tray, add a squirt of dish-soap and add 2 cups of boiling water.

Add a squirt of dish-soap to 1 cup of boiling water and pour this through the barrel from the chamber side.

Scrub the bore and chamber with a nylon bore-brush. Don't forget to also get inside the gas port areas with the hot soapy water and the brush.

Then pour 1 more cup of boiling water through the barrel from the chamber side, to rinse the residue, remove the soap, and get it hot again.

Wipe it down and run a patch through the bore. It should now be dry, because using boiling water, it evaporates fast.

Now scrub the bits in the tray with a brush, dump the water and use the last cup of boiling water to rinse them.

Dry with a rag.

Once all the parts have cooled to the touch, you can now proceed to clean as per usual with hoppes or whatever your standard system for cleaning is.

This usually takes me 20 minutes to thoroughly clean up.

This method is thorough, and overkill for most instances. Simply spraying windex, wiping dry, then oiling has been proven to be sufficient to remove all the corrosive salts. They are very hygroscopic, and it does not take much moisture to remove them.

Here is a trustworthy writeup on a simple method:

.theboxotruth.com/docs/edu13.htm

The only advantage to using boiling water to assist, is that it evaporates dry very quickly, reducing the likelihood you miss a drop of water somewhere critical, like inside the gas-port.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom