Czech 7.62x39 (Lever's "new" batch)

[wannabe]

Seems the stuff is early 1960 manufacture....any repots on how it shoots etc...anyone getting tracers in the crates? corrosive I assume..any problems or misfires etc.....

 

[ilovepotatos]

There are going to be a couple misfires per crate, but what more could you ask of ammo that's about 40 years old?
It's definitely corrosive.
There have been a few guys who got entire crates of tracer ammunition, and a few guys who have gotten a few boxes of tracers amongst their ball.

It's not going to be as accurate as commercial ammo, but hey, it goes bang and it gets the job done. If it's good enough for the Czech army, it's good enough for me!

Make sure to buy some before September 11th, because after that Lever is hiking the price.

 

[sunray]

"...ammo that's about 40 years old..." Depends entirely on how it has been stored. Of course, you don't know that with Czech ammo. Mind you, they tend to be rather meticulous about firearms and related stuff. Importers, shippers and the assorted international distributors may not have been.

 

[MiG25]

what is the latest date on the czech ammo? i had a crate that was 1985.

 

[Camp Cook]

I bought a case a few weeks ago...

Haven't had a chance to open it yet but that is due to still having some left over from the previous case still...

 

[satanshollow]

I've never had any problems with the Czech stuff, mind you I usually just get the 300 round battle packs and not a crate. So the dates could be different.

 

[OneBarfly]

I was told that yesterday that the dates appear to be mostly 1969

 

[Scarecrow]

They must be working there way to the back of the warehouse.

 

[MauserMike]

Shot some with a VZ828 this weekend. (proper combination right!) Went bang every time. Corrosive.

 

[ESQ]

I have shot a crate of 71 and a crate of 73. The 73 bullets were tarnished almost black at either end of each stripper clip. I assume the tin it was in had an air leak. However, there was not a single FTF due to the ammo in either crate.

 

[CanAm]

They are very ofter black, it is a chemical reaction, not corrosion from air leakage. It has no effect.

 

[ESQ]

What are the other reactant(s)? Perhaps something treating the cardboard packaging material? It is interesting that the gilding metal on the outside cartridges was more blackened than the ones in the centre.

 

[CanAm]

I believe it was the cardboard. Maybe some free acid in the paper, or some other chemical?

 

[ESQ]

Must be, my '71 stuff was nice and shiny and used a different cardboard than the blacked up '73.

 

[CanAm]

The nice shiny ones are usually marked "CELOLAK" which means the whole cartridge is coated in lacquer, thus preventing bullet tarnish, regardless of chemicals.