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Member Section => Down Range Cafe => Topic started by: billt on May 17, 2009, 07:14:23 AM

Title: Why So Much Foreign Corrosive Ammo??
Post by: billt on May 17, 2009, 07:14:23 AM
It seems like an almost endless supply. 7.62 X 39 MM, 7.62 X 54 MM, 8 X 57 MM Mauser, and several pistol calibers are all still being manufactured in corrosive form. Is there some kind of specific reason for this? I can't see it costing any less since non corrosive priming has been around since before the early 50's. You would think with the corrosive effects this ammo has if the guns that shoot it aren't properly attended to, they would shy away from it. Most all of this stuff is either Russian or Romanian-Bulgarian. I don't know of any corrosive ammo still being manufactured by the United States or Great Britain. Bill T.
Title: Re: Why So Much Foreign Corrosive Ammo??
Post by: Pathfinder on May 17, 2009, 07:30:48 AM
I think because the Europeans - especially the Eastern variety - didn't care about corrosive ammo, and made tons of it. Nobody bought it in the States - until now when there is nothing to buy, so it's being imported.

Anyone have facts other than my guess?
Title: Re: Why So Much Foreign Corrosive Ammo??
Post by: Rastus on May 17, 2009, 07:55:38 AM
Commie bureaucrats making quota not worrying about their troops maybe?  Also, it's the last available ammo out there...the least desireable so it is the last to go?   ???
Title: Re: Why So Much Foreign Corrosive Ammo??
Post by: fullautovalmet76 on May 17, 2009, 08:54:36 AM
I have wondered what makes a particular type of ammunition corrosive or non-corrosive. Can someone explain? Bill, I'm not sure which brands to which you are referring but I know Wolf and Golden Tiger (Russian manufacturers) advertise their ammo as non-corrosive. If that is not the case, how do you know that it is not the case?

Thanks!
FA

Title: Re: Why So Much Foreign Corrosive Ammo??
Post by: Pathfinder on May 17, 2009, 10:51:06 AM
I have wondered what makes a particular type of ammunition corrosive or non-corrosive. Can someone explain? Bill, I'm not sure which brands to which you are referring but I know Wolf and Golden Tiger (Russian manufacturers) advertise their ammo as non-corrosive. If that is not the case, how do you know that it is not the case?

Thanks!
FA

Local gun shop has 2 wooden crates full of stuff without a word of English on them - or the western alphabet for that matter. 2 Cases of Russian corrosive in stock, right next to 5 boxes of Wolf  -  for half the price of the Wolf.
Title: Re: Why So Much Foreign Corrosive Ammo??
Post by: ellis4538 on May 17, 2009, 12:01:20 PM
The use of corrosive primers!

Richard
Title: Re: Why So Much Foreign Corrosive Ammo??
Post by: fullautovalmet76 on May 17, 2009, 12:12:20 PM
The use of corrosive primers!

Richard

OK.....But what chemical process takes place on these types of primers, when fired, that makes them corrosive?
Title: Re: Why So Much Foreign Corrosive Ammo??
Post by: Hazcat on May 17, 2009, 12:18:54 PM
Some of you younger shooters may have never even heard of "corrosive ammo". Ammo made before around mid-1950 used primers with mercuric salts in the priming compound in the primers. Upon firing this ammo, these corrosive salts were deposited all inside the barrel of the weapon.

http://www.theboxotruth.com/docs/edu13.htm
Title: Re: Why So Much Foreign Corrosive Ammo??
Post by: fullautovalmet76 on May 17, 2009, 12:50:35 PM
Some of you younger shooters may have never even heard of "corrosive ammo". Ammo made before around mid-1950 used primers with mercuric salts in the priming compound in the primers. Upon firing this ammo, these corrosive salts were deposited all inside the barrel of the weapon.

http://www.theboxotruth.com/docs/edu13.htm

Ahhhh.....Thanks for the information, Haz; it was spot on!
Title: Re: Why So Much Foreign Corrosive Ammo??
Post by: Ping on May 17, 2009, 12:54:28 PM
Great info Haz. Thanks for getting it on here.  ;)
Title: Re: Why So Much Foreign Corrosive Ammo??
Post by: Hazcat on May 17, 2009, 01:40:59 PM
The box o truth is a pretty cool site with all kinds of info.