When not to shoot corrosive?

Shoot the s#!+ out of corrosive, just be sure to clean you firearm as soon as you get home. I have an unissued, unfired 1954 Tula. After a few range days shooting corrosive and cleaning upon returning home with zero issue. I had put about 150 rounds through it one day then put it away until the next afternoon and some corrosion had begun. The bolt face, ejector and bolt carier have some staining on the chrome, nothing I can’t live with.
 
Butcherbill said:
The only time I avoid shooting corrosive ammo is when I don’t feel like cleaning rifles the same day I shoot them, has nothing to do with how pristine the gun is. In fact my one sks is a beauty, it looks the same as it did when I bought it and it’s only ever shot corrosive ammo. It’s not the boogeyman some people make it out to be, the primer leaves a salt residue behind and not acid or anything that’s actually corrosive. Flush it with water and clean as usual, oil and you’re done. It’s simple, real simple.
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ThrowBack said:
I shoot corrosive when I know I'm going to be able to clean within the day. I use my non-corrosive when I'm going to be away from home and it might be a few days before I get to cleaning my rifle.
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This is pretty much what I do. If I can't or don't want to fully clean it I shoot non corrosive. Sometimes if I am just shooting 10 or 20 rounds, I don't feel like doing a thorough cleaning, I just bring a box of non corrosive.

If it's dirty already from non corrosive and it needs a good cleaning anyway, or if I have a big day at the range, bring some friends, let them go nuts with the cheaper corrosive ammo, then I do the full tear down and clean.
 
If there is going to be a delay in when you can clean your rifle, I understand that the ammonia in Windex (or its knock-off cousin) helps neutralize the salts and buys you a bit more time to clean the gun. It certainly wouldn't hurt to spray the action, bore and inside the gas tube when you're done shooting if you have a long drive home when you're done shooting.
 
Propyro85 said:
If there is going to be a delay in when you can clean your rifle, I understand that the ammonia in Windex (or its knock-off cousin) helps neutralize the salts and buys you a bit more time to clean the gun. It certainly wouldn't hurt to spray the action, bore and inside the gas tube when you're done shooting if you have a long drive home when you're done shooting.
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It's really just the water in the windex that is doing anything, there isn't really enough ammonia to do much, and too much ammonia too often on steel isn't a thing you want anyway. Just bring a windex bottle filled with water and you're saving a few bucks.
 
I have an original un-issued all matching SKS. I shoot corrosive all the time. Too much fuss is made about corrosive ammo. My technique is simple, as soon as you get home from the range, strip the rifle throw all the small parts in a sink of hot water, pour hot water down the barrel and over the breach area. Swish all the small parts around in the sink and throw them in a warm oven to dry for 20-30 min. Check to see firing pin is moving freely (not really a corrosion issue but good practice for an SKS) Not too hot or the cosmo will leach out of the wood around the gas tube. The cosmo protects the wood from the water. Dry, clean and lube the barrel and parts and reassemble. Voila done. Remember the salt was only in the primer so it is a very small amount. Water dissolves salts, that is its main problem it soaks up water and becomes corrosive when in a liquid form. I have done this numerous time and I have never seen any signs of rust on mine. You can be really over the top if you like but remember it is still an SKS not a $15,000 sniper rifle. Yes it will get more expensive as time goes on but I really don't see SKS's ever becoming a thousand of dollars collector item. There are just too many of them. I paid $170 for mine and I have a spare I paid $180 for. Yes they now go for $240 but seriously I can't see the price going up like the SVT. Just too many SKS's out there.
 
I use Windex, then dry patch, then wipe-out or other gun cleaner, then oil. Ready for next time. Never had an issue with corrosion.
I shoot corrosive through my Type-81 and have no worries about ruining my $1000 rifle. Shoot whatever is the cheapest and just clean it before you put it away.
If I know I'll be playing with it the next day I don't clean it before bed either, just leave it and start shooting when I feel like it (I live on land I can shoot on so driving to the range or bush isn't an issue).
 
I don't mind cleaning a gun, however once I made the mistake of using corrosive in many guns in one outing. Little more cleaning then I would have liked
 
Unless it has some sort of rare collector or sentimental value, I'd shoot it. If it's just a standard Tula SKS, and there's nothing special about it other than the fact that it's not beat up...
 
Since they have been shooting corrosive in them since day 1 - I don't have any issues with shooting it in my 2 SKS. Once my Type 81 gets here (soon I hope) it will be fed mass quantities of surplus also. I kind of look forward to cleaning after a day of hammering a bunch of rounds down-range.....it is a good excuse to have a beer or two and get reacquainted with your guns inner workings...

;-)
 
sonofvarmint said:
Thanks for your comments, I guess it’s not really the cleaning that worries me, it’s the soaking of metal in water and the potential for rust from that process that kinda had me freaked, not so much the ammo. I have a hair dryer and an oven though, if that works for you it will work for me.
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One advantage of using hot/boiling water is that it heats up the metal, so once you stop applying water and dry it off it tends to evaporate any leftover water fairly quickly.
 
Unless you leave it untouched and with cosmoline intact, the first time you lift the dust cover and gas block assembly levers you are likely to scratch the finish a bit. So whether or not you shoot corrosive is irrelevant.
 
dand883 said:
One advantage of using hot/boiling water is that it heats up the metal, so once you stop applying water and dry it off it tends to evaporate any leftover water fairly quickly.
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Use a compressor to get rid of the rest of the water on hard to reach parts.
 
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