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Russian 30-06 ammo

SCOUT5
Some time in the past I acquired, in a trade, 5 boxes of Russian made 30-06 ammunition from the JSC Barnaul Machine-Tool Plant. The boxes are printed in English and say Non-Corrosive. However the primers and the bullet bases are sealed with a red sealer. I always thought red sealer equaled corrosive. The case is not brass colored and has a green hue to them.

Just wondering if anyone knew if they are indeed non-corrossive?

Thanks........Scout
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Comments

10 comments

Date Votes
  • Nwcid
    Sealer = sealer
    Corrosive = corrosive

    I believe it is the Mercury in the older primer compounds that made them corrosive. The only way to know if a primer is corrosive is to either come from known lots of corrosive ammo or test them and see. There are a couple of different test methods.

    Nice thing about sealed primers is if it is reloadable you wont have to worry about primer crimps.

    The cases are steel and the green color is a coating on the steel. It is safe to shoot.
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  • rsnyder55
    I have some Yugo 7.62 NATO with red sealant that is non-corrosive.
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  • SCOUT5
    Thank you,

    Foreign ammo is .....well foreign and when I noticed the red sealer it just sent up a flag.

    Scout
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  • beantownshootah
    quote:Originally posted by Nwcid
    Sealer = sealer
    Corrosive = corrosive

    I believe it is the Mercury in the older primer compounds that made them corrosive. The only way to know if a primer is corrosive is to either come from known lots of corrosive ammo or test them and see. There are a couple of different test methods.

    Agreed.

    Its the fulminated mercuric primers that are corrosive. {Edit, OK, these aren't the barrel killers. FWIW, Chlorate is CLO3, different than chloride, and its an extremely strong oxidizer).

    I'd say 'older', but I believe corrosive primers ARE still being used and manufactured in parts of the world.

    Still, there is plenty of military-type ammo that uses the red-lacquer coating to keep moisture out, that is NOT corrosive. I'm pretty sure the Russian Wolf steel case ammo does, and its non-corrosive.

    I'd add that in this case, if the original ammo boxes are printed with "non-corrosive" in English, I think its fair to assume they are non-corrosive!

    Also, even assuming the rounds are corrosive, that's not such a terrible thing. Just clean the gun after shooting it, and you'll be fine. Hoppes #9 is designed to neutralize the corrosive salts from such ammo, or you can just spray down the gun/bore with Windex or another ammonia-containing product to accomplish the same thing prior to cleaning.
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  • XXCross
    FYI, mercuric primers are NOT corrosive. They will destroy the brass cartridge case but will not hurt the gun. Primers made with chlorate are hygroscopic and the residue will attract moisture, ergo, RUST. Avoid them both.
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  • 11b6r
    XXCross is right. Mercuric primers (fulminate of mercury) reacted with the brass casing, and weakened it. Corrosive primers, on the other hand, are based on sodium or potassium chlorate, a first cousin to table salt. Different countries used different sealants over military primers. FWIW, I shoot a ton or corrosive primed ammo. No biggy- hot water and Dawn dish dtergent, 5 minute cleanup. Dang near every M-1 Garand out there has been shot with corrosive primed ammo.
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  • Blairweescot
    Curious- is this Russian M2 ball 30-06, or is it just Russian 30-06?
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  • airmung
    Potassium/sodium chlorate primers are much more stable, meaning that they will last a lot longer in storage, without losing performance. That's probably why the Russkies used them. 100 year old corrosive primers still work properly. "Modern" primer compounds degrade more rapidly, especially under poor (hot and humid) storage conditions.
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  • SCOUT5
    The ammo box says it's hunting ammunition, 168gr soft point jacketed, so I assume is isn't the ball ammo asked about. I have a 1917 Eddystone Enfield I was going to trade and was throwing these in for the guy and he asked. He backed out of the trade but I still wanted to know. Corrosive just means you have to clean immediately and a little differently, as I've been told.

    Thanks again........Scout
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  • v35
    Potassium Chlorate (KCLO3) an oxidizer, produces Potassium Chloride (KCL) a salt after combustion.
    The salt strongly seeks moisture and is very corrosive to steel.
    Being water soluble, it is best deactivated by scrubbing out with water.
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