Ammo question

[barretcreek]

Widener's has some early 70s vintage Korean M2 ball cheap. They state "it may be corrosively primed" so assume it is. Anyone have experience with Korean ball? Besides a bunch of hot water what will neutralize the priming residue?

[bruce]

The Korean M-2 was once widely available. All was boxer primed. The brass was very good for reloading. The KA was corrosive. Don't remember any problems with it. The PS was non-corrosive. There were a couple of lot numbers of the PS that had problems. Several sites had lists of the lot numbers that were good. Bought several thousand rounds of the Korean PS M-2 ball. Extremely good results. Some fellow club members bought the KA. Back then we mostly fired 03, 03-A3 and M-1917 rifles. Clean up was extremely easy... boiling hot water and a little bit of dishwashing liquid. Place muzzle in the solution and use a tight fitting patch and rod to pull the solution up into the barrel. When the patch reached the chamber, the vacume was lost and the solution would drain out. Repeat maybe five to ten strokes. Metal would get so hot it'd dry itself. Then simply oil the barrel until next trip to the range. Used the same process w/ lots of 7.92x57mm corrosive WWII German ball fired in various Kar-98's. Years of use... never a problem. HTH. Sincerely. bruce.

[psteinmayer]

The PS Ball is pretty good stuff. I have around a hundred and fifty PS 74 and PS 79 cases that are currently my Match cases. They are good brass and will reload well. If you reload them, remember to swage the primer pockets, as they are crimped (just like all US military brass)... unlike the Greek HXP cases, which are simply staked.

[kcw]

The KA ammo of 15 years ago was of excellent quality, but corrosive. A fellow gun club member had obtained a cherry IHC and shot a quality of the KA out of it unbeknown to me. Unfortunately he was a novice at the time and confused "boxer primed" with "non-corrosive". About a full year after the fact he's back at the range with that M-1 and chambers the 1st round, but the bolt won't go into battery. He tried to pull the op rod back but it won't budge. He calls me in a panic. A half hour later he's in my garage. The 1st thing I did was remove the trigger group to avoid any possibly of the thing going off. I then pressed the op rod handle up against a 2x4 in a partition and popped the round out of the chamber. That was when I noticed the KA stamp on the round. I asked if this was the ammo he used last? I then asked what he cleaned the rifle with afterward. "I didn't bother, it's boxer primed ammo". Of course the chamber had rusted so badly in the year's time that it simply wouldn't fully accept a fresh round. With the rifle now cleared I dumped quantity of WWII GI cleaner into the chamber and down the barrel, then went at it with both a new bronze bore brush & chamber brush. I then placed a piece of newspaper on the garage floor, pointed the muzzle down over it and blasted a good quantity of brake cleaner into the chamber. What gushed out the muzzle looked onto the paper like dark sand. Then looked down the muzzle end with a bore light in the chamber. All I could say to my friend was, "Sorry" and handed the rifle to him. Of course the Korean ammo is no more corrosive than old USGI as far as I know, but you can't be confusing important terminology.

[UUURah]

An old shooting buddy was quite a "cheapskate" too. When we would plan a trip to the range, he would go by the local Gun Shop, dig in a barrel the guy had for cheap ammo, and pick up 20 - 30 rounds for the trip. I don't know what they were, I wouldn't shoot them for any reason, but his M-1 sure smelled funny when he fired them. They didn't have that usual Cordite smell. I believe he paid about $10 for them.

He was also very lax when it came cleaning his pristine IHC. I would often clean it for him. One time when I took it home for cleaning, I found the top 6" of the Oprod pitted to hell.

Could it be the ammo? Could it be he only cleaned it like twice a year? Who knows...

[psteinmayer]

My Dad's SA Garand didn't corrode as badly as that, but I don't think he cleaned it as well as he should have... and certainly not immediately after a range trip. He shot a considerable amount of Czech AMA Berdan primed ammo, which shoots ok, but in my opinion is not of the same quality as the Greek, Korean, and certainly not Lake City. Well, the bottom line is... we wound up taking it to Schuffs to be rebarrelled and repaired (the muzzle would absolutely swallow a bullet with room to spare). My kid brother now has that Garand and (sadly) rarely shoots it... but when he does, I hound him about cleaning!

[RIPCORD2]

Head stamp KA is corrosive- Head stamp PMS is not. I have 2 large note books from Culvers forum article back to 2004.

Back then we were having a problem with this. Here is the deal. post dated 5/12/2004 Headstamp PS(Poonsang Metal Corp, Seol Korea) Sometimes confused as P8 is non-corrosive as they started production in 1973. Not so with Headstamp KA. All KA IS CORROSIVE no matter how it comes packaged-Enbloc clips or 20rds to a box. Headstamp KA stands for
(Korean arsenal , Pusan, Korea)

I hope this helps--RIPCORD2

[RIPCORD2]

Hi Barretcreek;

If you go to shooters-r-us.com get their flush out -salt problem gone. I use most of their produces. They are great -read their whole article. good reading RIPCORD2

[RIPCORD2]

Bruce,

I have the papers that were posted I think it was in 2005 with all the PS lot numbers and comments from different shooters on how good or bad the ammo was. They also encluded any major problems like ruptured cases ect. If you need a copy I'll send yoy one . Just give me your address in a PM. HTH. Sincerely. RIPCORD

[Griff Murphey]

Weren't there some blown up guns with this stuff? I seem to recall a list of lot numbers of suspect ammo.

Of course I was on the range when a friend blew up a Springfield Inc. D-Day commemorative M-1 using HXP from CMP. Investment cast repro receiver.

[Sunray]

Nothing is as good at cleaning out the salts as a bunch of hot water. No dishwashing liquid is required either. Does nothing. Neither does Windex. It's the water in both that does the job.
"...oil the barrel until next trip to the range..." With a dirty rifle. Needs regular cleaning after flushing the barrel and gas system.

[Phil McGrath]

My Dad's SA Garand didn't corrode as badly as that, but I don't think he cleaned it as well as he should have... and certainly not immediately after a range trip. He shot a considerable amount of Czech AMA Berdan primed ammo, which shoots ok, but in my opinion is not of the same quality as the Greek, Korean, and certainly not Lake City. Well, the bottom line is... we wound up taking it to Schuffs to be rebarrelled and repaired (the muzzle would absolutely swallow a bullet with room to spare). My kid brother now has that Garand and (sadly) rarely shoots it... but when he does, I hound him about cleaning!

Ahhhhh.... I thought AMA was Danish ammo and the Danish ammo I have fired in both my 03a1 and M1 has given better that avg. accuracy in both.

[psteinmayer]

Sorry, I think you are right... AMA might be Danish. Either way, it is Berdan. It did shoot ok.

[XLF30]

I shot about 800rds PS without a hitch, and reloaded the cases a number of times. No problems. I'd heard of the "problem" with the ruptured cases, but I had no problems, never heard of it really happening, just rumors. Was always my impression that it was more likely a gun with bad head space that dissed the whole lot of PS. Haven't we seen plenty of times where a Garand blew up with Lake City? If you had bad head space, anything might blow up. Perhaps someone here knows SPECIFICALLY of a gun that blew up on someone they knew, and the head space was known to be good. I'd shoot PS again if I could get it for a good price. Like the post right above mine that blew up with HXP.

[XLF30]

AMA is Danish, shoots well, relatively hotly loaded, Berdan primed.

[psteinmayer]

I just loaded another 50 rounds of my PS 79 brass for an up coming CMP match at KRGC in Kalamazoo.

[XLF30]

That's what I thought. No one has ever heard FIRST-HAND of PS blowing up a gun with known good headspace. I've always thought it was a hoax, misinformation, or just a bad gun that would have blowed up no matter what it was fed.

[psteinmayer]

I shot in a match on Saturday and talked with a guy who is going to give me an ammo can full of PS brass. He told me he witnessed first-hand a Garand blow up due to a PS round. He said it had to do with cracks through the primer pockets. He also said that if the round was ok for a first firing, it was most likely good period. Bottom line is that I know my PS brass is good... and any brass he gives me will be very carefully inspected. Otherwise, I think it's good accurate brass!

[PhillipM]

That's what I thought. No one has ever heard FIRST-HAND of PS blowing up a gun with known good headspace. I've always thought it was a hoax, misinformation, or just a bad gun that would have blowed up no matter what it was fed.

I have shot 800 rounds of PS and then reloaded them who knows how many times with no problems but the range master at a club I sometimes visit sends anyone he hears of using it a pic of a blown up M1 from their range where a PS case head split parallel to the bore through the primer pocket. It blew the stock off.

I read somewhere that late KA production is non corrosive, but I wouldn't trust that info.

[Tuna]

All KA made ammo is corrosive primed. Other then that the KA is excellent ammo. There have been no reports of any bad lots of KA ammo unlike the PS which does have some lots that have problems.

[XLF30]

And it was known to have good headspace before the event?

[maverick1]

Hello Guys, I just bought some 1960's pakastani surplus food for my Garand from lucky g, they said it wasn't corrosive. How do I tell (always clean my guns after shooting them) if it is?

[dave]

An old shooting buddy was quite a "cheapskate" too. When we would plan a trip to the range, he would go by the local Gun Shop, dig in a barrel the guy had for cheap ammo, and pick up 20 - 30 rounds for the trip. I don't know what they were, I wouldn't shoot them for any reason, but his M-1 sure smelled funny when he fired them. They didn't have that usual Cordite smell. I believe he paid about $10 for them.

He was also very lax when it came cleaning his pristine IHC. I would often clean it for him. One time when I took it home for cleaning, I found the top 6" of the Oprod pitted to hell.

Could it be the ammo? Could it be he only cleaned it like twice a year? Who knows...

It didn't have that 'usual cordite' smell because it was not loaded with cordite, no US or 30-06 was!