Corrosive Russian?

[leeshall]

Have there been any DOCUMENTED cases of Russian manufactured ammunition packed for commercial sales packaged and marked as having non-corrosive priming in fact having corrosive priming? I ask because I shot some "non-corrosive" Russian manufactured 7.62X39mm in an SKS and the barrel got rusty in just a few days. Might have been the high humidity here but I suspect corrosive priming.

[joem]

I've not heard of that happing but I shoot a lot of corrosive ammo. At auction I bought a big case of corrosive 7.62X39 for really cheap. Bought a old sks for $90.00 to shoot the stuff in. It ate the gas valve and was retired.

[Tuna]

When they first started to import Russian made ammo years ago there was quite a bit of so called non corrosive primed ammo that did in fact turn out to be corrosive primed after all. It was the same as when they first imported ammo from China and it was marked non corrosive while in fact it was corrosive. But as far as I know all of the ammo now made and imported is non corrosive.

[4F4Nam]

I seem to remember some of the early 7.62X39 imported being described as "mildly corrosive". To me that is like "slightly pregnant".

Ed

[joem]

I have a 7.62X54R russian case that had no flash holes in the case. The primer blew out and I saved the case. After a couple of months I looked at the case and the primer pocket was corroded and very green. I treat all com bloc ammo a corrosive.

[Art]

Have there been any DOCUMENTED cases of Russian manufactured ammunition packed for commercial sales packaged and marked as having non-corrosive priming in fact having corrosive priming? I ask because I shot some "non-corrosive" Russian manufactured 7.62X39mm in an SKS and the barrel got rusty in just a few days. Might have been the high humidity here but I suspect corrosive priming.

Your SKS must be a Yugoslav or one of the very early Russian rifles without a chrome plated bore. If the ammunition was corrosive there should also be corrosion on the piston and in the gas block and gas cylinder, maybe the piston extension as well. If there is not corrosion on those parts I'd look for a problem besides the primers.

FWIW I personally have never had any problem with any Com Bloc commercially packed ammo marked "non corrosive," and I've shot a bazillion rounds of it. I have some early Yugo ammo that was manufactured for the Yugoslav military that is definitely corrosive so corrosive ammo in 7.62x39mm is definitely out there.

It is my understanding, subject to correction of course, that the Russians haven't made any corrosive ammunition for their own military use in quite a few years but anything is possible.

[Griff Murphey]

I bought 500 rds of the green box commercial 7.62x54 LVE ball From Gulf Coast ammunition about 8 years ago. They advertised it as non corrosive. I zeroed the rifle (Romak 3 Dragunov look-alike), left it uncleaned for first round hit accuracy; took it turkey hunting, killed a nice gobbler. I had rust on the muzzle brake when I got home. No internal rust due to chromed barrel. Rifle was left uncleaned about a week or ten days.

I would just use caution with any of it.

[PhillipM]

There is no entity to DOCUMENT surplus ammo.