Bill Dauterive
New member
- Location
- Southeastern Ontario
I've exhaustively been hunting the net for the last 24 hours using every keyword and phrase I could think of.
Are milsurp cartridges watertight sealed?
I've found vinegar in fine steel wool to be an amazing method to make a cartridge look like it just came off the line. As soon as I'm done with the wet steel wool I press the headstamp on paper towel to prevent possible primer lacquer degradation then wipe the rest of the cartridge down.
The cases are mildly green lacquered, but after almost 30 years of what looks like cool, damp storage they're tarnished, with some spots of mild brown (not the green, deep seated into the brass) corrosion. Vinegar and paper towel takes off the tarnish, and turns the corrosion a light pink colour, but doesn't remove it from the case. Steel wool is needed to properly remove the corrosion but it also strips off all the protective lacquer, leaving a gliscening, beautiful cartridge. I plan to lightly oil these exposed brass cartridges if I put them back for long term storage. I also make sure all the acidic vinegar is wiped off the naked brass and that they're air dried.
I have two main questions; is the two-carbon aliphatic, 'non-polar' chain on acetic acid in vinegar capable of dissolving the red primer lacquer?
Are milsurp lacquered cases sealed (obviously the primer), but also between the projectile and the case?
My issue is timing. It's a tedious job doing this process by hand, about 1-2 minutes per cartridge. I'd love to just have a shallow pan, dump 200 shells in, let them soak for an hour and then give them a light buffer with the steel wool. Another thing with my current hand method, is that sometimes I have to use pressure and I worry about thinning the case; not so much for 'danger of split' because it's heavy milsurp, but because of looseness in the chamber.. crappy accuracy. If the corrosion was chemically loosened, less pressure needed, shallower scrapes with the wool.
Can the milsurp be submerged for loosening corrosion/cleaning purposes?
My main concern is the projectile/case junction; I feel confident in standing them up with the liquid line near the shoulder (any corrosion is on the body anyway, not the neck); I don't think vinegar would deteriorate primer lacquer.
I've only read of one person submerging loaded ammo for cleaning and I hunted using all kinds of different words, using google discussion (forum) search, with lots of posts saying you can't submerge loaded ammo. Factory like amercan eagle I can understand but it's not lacquered milsurp.
I'm working with Czech S&B '82 production berdan primed ".308W" aka 'we have to distance ourselves from NATO'; it's really 7.62x51. Headstamp says '.308W', box says ".308 Winchester" and below that in much smaller letters; "7.62 x 51 mm"
Just adding extra info and putting the keywords out there if anyone else has the same problem.
Help is much appreciated.
Are milsurp cartridges watertight sealed?
I've found vinegar in fine steel wool to be an amazing method to make a cartridge look like it just came off the line. As soon as I'm done with the wet steel wool I press the headstamp on paper towel to prevent possible primer lacquer degradation then wipe the rest of the cartridge down.
The cases are mildly green lacquered, but after almost 30 years of what looks like cool, damp storage they're tarnished, with some spots of mild brown (not the green, deep seated into the brass) corrosion. Vinegar and paper towel takes off the tarnish, and turns the corrosion a light pink colour, but doesn't remove it from the case. Steel wool is needed to properly remove the corrosion but it also strips off all the protective lacquer, leaving a gliscening, beautiful cartridge. I plan to lightly oil these exposed brass cartridges if I put them back for long term storage. I also make sure all the acidic vinegar is wiped off the naked brass and that they're air dried.
I have two main questions; is the two-carbon aliphatic, 'non-polar' chain on acetic acid in vinegar capable of dissolving the red primer lacquer?
Are milsurp lacquered cases sealed (obviously the primer), but also between the projectile and the case?
My issue is timing. It's a tedious job doing this process by hand, about 1-2 minutes per cartridge. I'd love to just have a shallow pan, dump 200 shells in, let them soak for an hour and then give them a light buffer with the steel wool. Another thing with my current hand method, is that sometimes I have to use pressure and I worry about thinning the case; not so much for 'danger of split' because it's heavy milsurp, but because of looseness in the chamber.. crappy accuracy. If the corrosion was chemically loosened, less pressure needed, shallower scrapes with the wool.
Can the milsurp be submerged for loosening corrosion/cleaning purposes?
My main concern is the projectile/case junction; I feel confident in standing them up with the liquid line near the shoulder (any corrosion is on the body anyway, not the neck); I don't think vinegar would deteriorate primer lacquer.
I've only read of one person submerging loaded ammo for cleaning and I hunted using all kinds of different words, using google discussion (forum) search, with lots of posts saying you can't submerge loaded ammo. Factory like amercan eagle I can understand but it's not lacquered milsurp.
I'm working with Czech S&B '82 production berdan primed ".308W" aka 'we have to distance ourselves from NATO'; it's really 7.62x51. Headstamp says '.308W', box says ".308 Winchester" and below that in much smaller letters; "7.62 x 51 mm"
Just adding extra info and putting the keywords out there if anyone else has the same problem.
Help is much appreciated.
If this has that feature it would just be something of a luxury they added.
