Surplus/Corrosive ammo

Hashhockey69

Hashhockey69

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I apologize in advance if this is a duplicate thread; I have searched for previous threads with negative results.

My question is about corrosive surplus ammo. I recently purchased an sks with 1400 7.62x39 from marstar. I went and fired about 150 rounds through it yesterday. I know when firing that type of ammunition you are to properly clean all gas affected parts and do a few pull troughs the barrel. (Minimum)

The problem is that shortly after coming home I was called into work out of town until Saturday, so I stripped the weapon a soaked all parts in CLP, gave them a good wipe and reassembled the weapon, before storage I lubricated all moving parts.

Now I am worried that since it will be stored for another 3 days it may be damaged? Is it too late to clean it when I get home on Saturday or is the damage already done?

I know this was a rookie mistake, hence why i put in the newbie section. But the only reason i did this was because I was short on time.

Looking forward to a response, and again I apologize if this is a duplicate thread.

Zach
 
People over-react to corrosive ammo out of pure ignorance. Corrosive ammunition has been around for more than a century, and because of very simple cleaning practices, the firearms that shoot it have also been around for over a century. A rifle needs to be cleaned after use. Period. The procedure for cleaning corrosive primer ammunition is only one more step. Wash or rinse the parts with water or liquid that absorbs salts, then swab or oil like you would normally do. Done, still 1/2 of a beer to drink.
 
I respectfully disagree!

I had brought out my FN FAL to the range and had shot a few 20rd clips of ammo I'd been told was non-corrosive. And, because I have a life, I didn't clean it the microsecond I got home.

A month later I was digging thru my gun cabinet and happened to see a glimpse of some green $hit developing out of the gas adjustment port. I freakin' had an attack. Cleaned it all out and thankfully, didn't ruin my bore (prolly chromed).

Fast forward to 2010. Shot my 858 and didn't know that the ammo was corrosive. Same scenario; shot the gun and stuck it back on the wall for a month. Took a lookysee, bore was dark. I almost died. No amount of scrubbing could brighten the bore. Brought it to the range with the intention of shooting the crap out of it and then selling it for peanuts on the EE. For some reason, shooting FMJ non-corrosive ammo cleaned he bore out and everything was ok afterwards.

So do me a favour; don't tell me that corrosive $hit is no biggie, 'cause I've been there/done that. :p
 
Hashhockey69 said:
I apologize in advance if this is a duplicate thread; I have searched for previous threads with negative results.

My question is about corrosive surplus ammo. I recently purchased an sks with 1400 7.62x39 from marstar. I went and fired about 150 rounds through it yesterday. I know when firing that type of ammunition you are to properly clean all gas affected parts and do a few pull troughs the barrel. (Minimum)

The problem is that shortly after coming home I was called into work out of town until Saturday, so I stripped the weapon a soaked all parts in CLP, gave them a good wipe and reassembled the weapon, before storage I lubricated all moving parts.

Now I am worried that since it will be stored for another 3 days it may be damaged? Is it too late to clean it when I get home on Saturday or is the damage already done?

I know this was a rookie mistake, hence why i put in the newbie section. But the only reason i did this was because I was short on time.

Looking forward to a response, and again I apologize if this is a duplicate thread.

Zach
Click to expand...

I had the same da*n thing happen years ago.

Got back from an outing and I had a panic phone call from work. I was on a plane about 4 hours later. Literally grabbing dirty clothes out of the hamper to take with me so I had something to eventually launder and use.

8 weeks later I got home and found that the gas pistons (and associated parts) on a Valmet M78 and a USGI M14 (now CA) were pitted. Not bad, and not deep, but still there.

I never forgave myself for that but sh*t happens.

Moral of the story is corrosive ammo is cheap but don't answer the phone until you have had a chance to address this and clean the gas system well, not just the bore. Remove or neutralize any salts left.
 
If you really can't get to it in a reasonable time, just rinse with water/liquid, then displace the water/liquid with very healthy blast of WD40 until you can find the time to clean it properly. I've got SKS rifles (and others) that my Father and I picked up in the eighties, before we knew what corrosive ammo was. There has hardly been a molecule of rust on any of them. It really isn't rocket science.
 
Honestly Sir, if you clean it within a couple days paying attention to the gas system and barrel with half effort, you will be fine.
I think people make far too big a deal out of the corrosive ammo situation.
Here's a story (git yer helmets on troops! :D) a friend of mine fired a couple hundred rounds through his SKS of corrosive. He left it in a gun bag for 3-4 weeks! He gave it to me to clean for him and remove the rust.
The only rust or corrosion I found at all was around the gas tube where it connects to the port on the barrel (around the rim) and inside the tip of the gas tube and the tip of the piston. I soaked it in Ed's Red and cheap CLP gun oil for a day, went at her with a little brass brush and she was good as new. No pitting, no permanent damage. Just a light fuzz of rust.
You wouldn't want to leave it for weeks and weeks obviously but at the price of surplus ammo in exchange for a half assed competent 20 minute gun cleaning, it doesn't seem like a decision at all to me :D
It's probably not even necessary, but I use a bit of hot water on the gas system and down the barrel after rubbing off the crud with a rag and passing a brass brush down the bore to displace the carbon first before spraying some hot water down there.
Then just clean with regular solvent as norma and oill. Make sure the solvent/oil touches any place you put water so as to displace the water and prevent promotion of rusting.
 
Get a spent M43 cartridge, drill a hole in the primer that is big enough for some plastic hose or surgical tube to pass through, and connect a funnel to the other end of the hose. After you have finished shooting, insert this cartridge into the chamber and pour water through the funnel to rinse out the residue in the barrel. Run CLP through it.
 
peter2772000 said:
From what I 've gsthered, an SKS has a chrome bore. Which means no problemo!
Click to expand...

peter2772000 said:
I respectfully disagree!

I had brought out my FN FAL to the range and had shot a few 20rd clips of ammo I'd been told was non-corrosive. And, because I have a life, I didn't clean it the microsecond I got home.

A month later I was digging thru my gun cabinet and happened to see a glimpse of some green $hit developing out of the gas adjustment port. I freakin' had an attack. Cleaned it all out and thankfully, didn't ruin my bore (prolly chromed).

Fast forward to 2010. Shot my 858 and didn't know that the ammo was corrosive. Same scenario; shot the gun and stuck it back on the wall for a month. Took a lookysee, bore was dark. I almost died. No amount of scrubbing could brighten the bore. Brought it to the range with the intention of shooting the crap out of it and then selling it for peanuts on the EE. For some reason, shooting FMJ non-corrosive ammo cleaned he bore out and everything was ok afterwards.

So do me a favour; don't tell me that corrosive $hit is no biggie, 'cause I've been there/done that. :p
Click to expand...


I'm not trying to be knob here, but does anyone else see a conflict in these two posts?
The way I see it, Peter's first post is likely to cause big trouble for the gas tube, piston, and bolt.
My method involves stripping the gun apart, and dunking these parts in BOILING water. I bought a kettle for $3 at a garage sale just for this. Then pour more BOILING water down the bore as 300Spartans suggests.
 
300Spartans said:
Get a spent M43 cartridge, drill a hole in the primer that is big enough for some plastic hose or surgical tube to pass through, and connect a funnel to the other end of the hose. After you have finished shooting, insert this cartridge into the chamber and pour water through the funnel to rinse out the residue in the barrel. Run CLP through it.
Click to expand...

I bought a 2 dollar syringe at the pharmacy, I just suck up hot water and spray it down the barrel :D
 
Thanks for all the replies everyone. Il finally be at home tomorrow so hopefully it will be fine. I didnt know anything about water down the barrel or in the bore for the SKS. We do that with our C7's after a long exercise but the water was never boiling and the only reason was because of all the blanks we put through it.

From what I gathered il boil some water, soak the gas tube, piston, and bolt then give them a good clean with CLP.

Again, thanks for all the tips everyone.
 
tootall said:
I'm not trying to be knob here, but does anyone else see a conflict in these two posts?
The way I see it, Peter's first post is likely to cause big trouble for the gas tube, piston, and bolt.
My method involves stripping the gun apart, and dunking these parts in BOILING water. I bought a kettle for $3 at a garage sale just for this. Then pour more BOILING water down the bore as 300Spartans suggests.
Click to expand...

No knobbiness detected ;)

My 858 had a non-chromed bore. The bore "looked" scrapped.
I "surmise" that my FNFAL has a chrome-lined bore. It didn't look yucky.

So my understanding is that corrosive ammo is indeed no biggie as far as the barrel is concerned IF you're running a chrome bore. How many people know for a fact that they are/are not shooting thru a chrome bore.

You are right about one thing straight away; I didn't really give any thought to the piston etc. So there's one more reason for either getting anal about scrubbing your gun in hot water or simply NOT running corrosive ammo. Which is what I stated to begin with; "Corrosive ammo "is" a biggie."
 
Hashhockey69 said:
Thanks for all the replies everyone. Il finally be at home tomorrow so hopefully it will be fine. I didnt know anything about water down the barrel or in the bore for the SKS. We do that with our C7's after a long exercise but the water was never boiling and the only reason was because of all the blanks we put through it.

From what I gathered il boil some water, soak the gas tube, piston, and bolt then give them a good clean with CLP.

Again, thanks for all the tips everyone.
Click to expand...

The Soviets introduced chrome barrels during 1951.
So not all rifles machined in '51 have chrome barrels but some do.
anything later (1952 and on) will have a chrome barrel. Unless it was refurbished with an older non chrome lined barrel (which is very rare from what I read)
Any info on the SKS can be found here http://yooperj.com/SKS.htm
The be all end all on SKS info on the web.
Cheers!
 
Before my ATT came in, all I shot was corrosive ammo. I started of being super fussy about boiling water and such and it was taking me a terrible amount of time to clean. I have it boiled down to this method now:

Fill a sink with hot water and some dish soap.

Swish parts around in it.

Blow off parts with a compressor.

WD in creases.

A good coat of CLP.

Reassemble.

Takes about 30 minutes.

I check my guns multiple times a week and so far no rust has ever popped up on the SKS, even after no use for over a month.
 
FastFord58 said:
Before my ATT came in, all I shot was corrosive ammo. I started of being super fussy about boiling water and such and it was taking me a terrible amount of time to clean. I have it boiled down to this method now:

Fill a sink with hot water and some dish soap.

Swish parts around in it.

Blow off parts with a compressor.

WD in creases.

A good coat of CLP.

Reassemble.

Takes about 30 minutes.

I check my guns multiple times a week and so far no rust has ever popped up on the SKS, even after no use for over a month.
Click to expand...

Sounds like a pretty simple and effective method, il try that next time and see the difference.

Thanks!
 
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