Leduc Canadian Tire 7.62x39 "Non" Corrosive

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JimmyVonJamieson

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Hey everyone, I've been a long time fan of the site and finally signed up as I felt that I finally have something of worth to share with you.

For all you 7.62x39 lovers out there, the Canadian Tire in Leduc (Alberta) has crates of 1440 for $259, and they even claim it is non corrosive! Pretty good deal, right?

Nope. This ammo is indeed CORROSIVE, despite Canadian Tire's claim otherwise.

I conducted a test with the ammo using my "spare" sks. Put 20 rounds through my rifle, cleaned the bore (as I can't stand to leave that dirty on any firearm) but left the rest dirty. Within 18 hours exposed to humidity of about 30%, the gas tube and piston had very noticeable amounts of rust showing.

Further, this crate had a similar two digit numbering sequence as another crate that I bought online from a seller who was up front about it being corrosive (54-71-81 from Canadian Tire vs 59-71-81 from online seller).

Just posting this to let as many people as possible know about this and avoid buying corrosive ammo under the impression that it is non corrosive.

Now, before anyone jumps on me for it, I know full well to expect that ammo coming from a "com-bloc" background is probably corrosive even when advertised otherwise. I also agree that this is a non issue for most people due to the fact that we should always be cleaning our firearms after every shooting session. That being said, there is often times an occasion where I want to fire off a few rounds but don't have time for a proper cleaning afterwards, so I like to have some non corrosive ammo around just for that occasion.

Still, the ammo is a decent price for corrosive stuff and plenty good for plinking, but I'd still rather buy from someone who is up front about what they are selling (or at least knows something about their product). From this experiment, I also at least learned what parts get the brunt of the corrosive fouling and need the most attention when cleaning afterwards (bore, gas tube & piston). The bolt, carrier and receiver hadn't shown any visible corrosion yet, but that could be because of my use of Frog Lube.

JvJ
 
JimmyVonJamieson said:
Hey everyone, I've been a long time fan of the site and finally signed up as I felt that I finally have something of worth to share with you.

For all you 7.62x39 lovers out there, the Canadian Tire in Leduc (Alberta) has crates of 1440 for $259, and they even claim it is non corrosive! Pretty good deal, right?

Nope. This ammo is indeed CORROSIVE, despite Canadian Tire's claim otherwise.

I conducted a test with the ammo using my "spare" sks. Put 20 rounds through my rifle, cleaned the bore (as I can't stand to leave that dirty on any firearm) but left the rest dirty. Within 18 hours exposed to humidity of about 30%, the gas tube and piston had very noticeable amounts of rust showing.

Further, this crate had a similar two digit numbering sequence as another crate that I bought online from a seller who was up front about it being corrosive (54-71-81 from Canadian Tire vs 59-71-81 from online seller).

Just posting this to let as many people as possible know about this and avoid buying corrosive ammo under the impression that it is non corrosive.

Now, before anyone jumps on me for it, I know full well to expect that ammo coming from a "com-bloc" background is probably corrosive even when advertised otherwise. I also agree that this is a non issue for most people due to the fact that we should always be cleaning our firearms after every shooting session. That being said, there is often times an occasion where I want to fire off a few rounds but don't have time for a proper cleaning afterwards, so I like to have some non corrosive ammo around just for that occasion.

Still, the ammo is a decent price for corrosive stuff and plenty good for plinking, but I'd still rather buy from someone who is up front about what they are selling (or at least knows something about their product). From this experiment, I also at least learned what parts get the brunt of the corrosive fouling and need the most attention when cleaning afterwards (bore, gas tube & piston). The bolt, carrier and receiver hadn't shown any visible corrosion yet, but that could be because of my use of Frog Lube.

JvJ
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If that's the case just buy the corrosive stuff and save $30 - $60 per crate :)
 
I would expect any 7.62x39 or x54r that comes in a Crate or spam can to be corrosive.

That said, if it was my local CT that was selling it mislabeled I'd take 10 minutes to stop in and have a chat with the manager of the sporting department and explain the error.
 
woobie said:
I would expect any 7.62x39 or x54r that comes in a Crate or spam can to be corrosive.

That said, if it was my local CT that was selling it mislabeled I'd take 10 minutes to stop in and have a chat with the manager of the sporting department and explain the error.
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That would be a good idea , CT may not even know that it is corrosive as they probabley do not specialize in firearms and ammo.......
 
That is a good idea, I hadn't really considered going back as I live quite a ways from them. So I called, spoke to the manager in Sports, and he thanked me for the info and said he'd look into it. Reasonably enough, they are relying on what their supplier tells them about the ammo, but still, I wouldn't mind seeing a little more prudence on behalf of the seller as there are a lot of noobs out there who rely on what the seller tells them. I was/am one of them.

Now we'll see if they change their listing for it, but for now this can be a warning to others.

woobie, I agree that is a good general rule to distrust 7.62x39 ammo that comes in a crate. I would say there are some exceptions, usually if the ammo within the crate is packaged in individual boxes, not paper-wrapped.

I believe a store out of Calgary was selling a similar looking crate and advertising it as non-corrosive, now I'd be very suspicious of any 7.62x39 in a green crate. If anyone has proof otherwise, please post!
 
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Country of origin?
Romanian surplus has recently been made available to CT stores in 1440 cases. I bought a crate and it was advertised as corrosive, and it IS corrosive.

The only non corrosive x39 that CT orders is MFS and Barnaul and they only come in single 20 pack.
 
Most surplus ammo produced before 1990 should be assumed Corrosive. Either way, don't fall into the hype about corrosive ammo. All your guns need to be cleaned regardless of what you shoot. An uncleaned gun can rust without ever having shot corrosive ammo. The whole "Corrosive" Hype started half a dozen years ago, but previous to that nobody knew what corrosive meant. We just cleaned our guns normally and they still work without rust 30 years later.
 
fiddler said:
Most surplus ammo produced before 1990 should be assumed Corrosive. Either way, don't fall into the hype about corrosive ammo. All your guns need to be cleaned regardless of what you shoot. An uncleaned gun can rust without ever having shot corrosive ammo. The whole "Corrosive" Hype started half a dozen years ago, but previous to that nobody knew what corrosive meant. We just cleaned our guns normally and they still work without rust 30 years later.
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I agree completely, but like I said, it is nice to have some non corrosive stuff around for the times when I want to do a bit of shooting, but don't have the time for a proper cleaning afterwards. This post wasn't intended to debate the usefulness of corrosive ammo, (I have plenty of it for normal shooting sessions) it was to point out another seller mistakenly selling corrosive ammo as non corrosive.
 
JimmyVonJamieson said:
I agree completely, but like I said, it is nice to have some non corrosive stuff around for the times when I want to do a bit of shooting, but don't have the time for a proper cleaning afterwards. This post wasn't intended to debate the usefulness of corrosive ammo, (I have plenty of it for normal shooting sessions) it was to point out another seller mistakenly selling corrosive ammo as non corrosive.
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Fair enough, but you might find your gas tube and piston rusting anyways. The residue attracts moisture, with or without salts from the primers.

As for what we're told by the retailers, assume anything before 1990 to be corrosive. Always error on the side of a clean gun. It takes 120 seconds to spray it with wd40, wipe the gas tube, and shove a oil patch thru the barrel until you can clean it later.
 
fiddler said:
Fair enough, but you might find your gas tube and piston rusting anyways. The residue attracts moisture, with or without salts from the primers.

As for what we're told by the retailers, assume anything before 1990 to be corrosive. Always error on the side of a clean gun. It takes 120 seconds to spray it with wd40, wipe the gas tube, and shove a oil patch thru the barrel until you can clean it later.
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That is sound advice. I am likely TOO meticulous about cleaning my firearms, in the past I would clean every part of an SKS after shooting corrosive (right down to removing the firing pin just to get at the bit of residue around one end), and with all the hype you mentioned on the internet, I was under the impression that anything with any residue on it would start rusting immediately (which technically, it does, but not visibly). After this experiment though, I have seen that what you say is right, the only parts I really have to worry about cleaning immediately are the gas piston/tube and barrel. The bolt and carrier had residue on them, but did not start showing any rust nearly as fast as the gas piston (because of the different material/finish???).

And really, when it comes down to it we are talking about a SPARE SKS rifle I bought just so I wouldn't have to worry so much about abusing it. My Russian non-issued SKS however is a different story (original stock, not refurbished). That gets babied. I know, it is still just an SKS, but it's just a bit special to me.

I know I should clean my guns after every use, but sometimes I get delayed a day or two. I should also not drink so much, not smoke, etc. But I'm far from perfect. The quick wipe down with WD-40 sounds like a solution to my imperfect cleaning practices though. :)
 
If you're storing your guns in a safe, load it up with dessicant. The salts will have a hard time attracting moisture with less moisture in the atmosphere of your safe. That combined with the quick oil wipe down should keep your firearms rust free for short periods of time until you can do a complete cleaning.

I use the 40 gram re-useable tins from Lee Valley.
 
Stumbled across this one. If I remember correctly, CT Leduc had the 1440 round alleged "non-corrosive" for $259. They also listed "corrosive" (think it was 1320) for $219 if I remember correctly.

I went looking online at the Leduc store but they have no 7.62 x 39 listed right now.

There "non-corrosive" is head stamped 9661 over 70.
 
If you use FLUID FILM, available at most auto supply stores, Co-ops, etc., it will be very effective in stopping corrosion. I give my old milsurp barrels a good sloppy swab after shooting and have had no trouble for a lot of years now. I give the barrel a swab with a clean patch before shooting.

But what would a "bedwetter" know about such things? :p

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