Norinco 122g 7.62x39 Non-Corrosive

This is interesting as I am pondering the same thing.

I bought a bunch of this recently - either factory 311, 2019 or factory 311, 2020 headstamp on red box Norinco non-corrosive, as described above.

Cabela's has a sale on this now - $9.99 a box, BUT...the overwhelming reviews on that on the cabela's site, including very recent reviews, indicate there are corrosive rounds found in the ones they bought. Perhaps it may be the batch Cabela's bought...I am curious on this and may pick some up today and check it out. I was running the 2019 headstamp ones last night in my rifle and checked this morning and on the bolt face, in the barrel, in the piston tube and on the piston, there was zero signs of rust or anything close. The rounds are very dirty, but I am used to that with Winchester white box in my other guns.

For those who have no had problems with these, perhaps you can report on what headstamp was on your cartridges for red box.

What's interesting is that Cabela's only recently switched the photo from white to red box. Up until two weeks ago, the stock photo was the white box version, which seems to be the one with the inconsistencies, but without knowing what year of manufacture, it's hard to pinpoint whether it's a bad QC job on certain year's batches or something else.
 
This is interesting as I am pondering the same thing.

I bought a bunch of this recently - either factory 311, 2019 or factory 311, 2020 headstamp on red box Norinco non-corrosive, as described above.

Cabela's has a sale on this now - $9.99 a box, BUT...the overwhelming reviews on that on the cabela's site, including very recent reviews, indicate there are corrosive rounds found in the ones they bought. Perhaps it may be the batch Cabela's bought...I am curious on this and may pick some up today and check it out. I was running the 2019 headstamp ones last night in my rifle and checked this morning and on the bolt face, in the barrel, in the piston tube and on the piston, there was zero signs of rust or anything close. The rounds are very dirty, but I am used to that with Winchester white box in my other guns.

For those who have no had problems with these, perhaps you can report on what headstamp was on your cartridges for red box.

What's interesting is that Cabela's only recently switched the photo from white to red box. Up until two weeks ago, the stock photo was the white box version, which seems to be the one with the inconsistencies, but without knowing what year of manufacture, it's hard to pinpoint whether it's a bad QC job on certain year's batches or something else.

Interesting points. I have been shooting Norinco white box, yellow box and red box ever since I can remember and I have never had a problem with corrosion. I am wondering if some of the folks writing those reports were also using other brands of ammunition at the same time that was definitely corrosive ....
 
Shot a few hundreds. No issues so far.

Do you still have any from that batch - specifically do you have the headstamp info on it? Specifically the year for the red box? (19, 20, 21, etc.)

I have asked Cabelas what is on the headstamp on the cartridges they are selling.
 
All of that will be non corrosive. There was some over 10 years ago that was brought in and was corrosive. 19-21 are gtg.

This is good to know. I have another opportunity buy some from another CGNer, but it looks like all the boxes are shrink wrapped together and he doesn't want to break it open to look at the headstamp. Are there known years where the corrosive primers were mixed in? Or conversely are there years of the white box (that's what I am buying) which are known to be good years without issues?
 
311 on top. 20 at the bottom.

Thanks. As I didn't have the kids this weekend and wanted to take advantage of the $9.99 a box deal, I made the 45 minute drive to my local Bass Pro. Was ready to buy at least 10 boxes until the sales rep told me that all ammo is limited to 2 boxes maximum. I asked why and he said probably some government regulation. Never heard that before. I have bought 20-30 boxes at a time at various gun stores (for the exact ammo). But I wasn't about to argue, bought my two boxes, went to the car and opened it up and it is as you stated, 311 factory, 20 as year of manufacture. It's the same stuff being sold at other gun stores, though it's a buck cheaper here, though with a two box limit, not sure if it was worth that long drive.
 
I can say with 100% certainty that the red box ammunition is non-corrosive for headstamps for 19 and 20.

Even the ones I bought from Bass Pro / Cabelas (red box - 20 headstamp) for which lots of reviews claimed was corrosive - I shot 80 of them through my gun last night...did not clean it and left it in the safe, took it out this morning, checked the gas tube and piston as well as barrel. No rust anywhere. From what people have reported, if the rust forms, it is almost overnight that it will start forming. I checked my gas tube, and piston rod very closely - not even a spec of rust. Same for barrel. Yes, it was fouled up with carbon but no rust.

Makes me wonder about the what the Cabela's reviewers were reviewing or whether they used an older batch that they had previously bought or whether they just hate Norinco.

I have shot red box 19 and now red box 20 and there have been no rust or anything in the gun. I have white box 14 which I will shoot next week, but it seems unanimous that white box 14 is fine, but I'll try it anyway. I also bought some red box at Tenda which has a date stamp of 18, so will try that at a later date.

I went online to Cabela's this morning and loaded up on the red box @ $9.99 a box. Interestingly enough it allowed me to buy more than 2 boxes online even though in store it limited me to 2 boxes. And I saw the free shipping for $149 or more so took advantage of that (finally).
 
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