Why is steel ammo lacquered?

[Johan412th]

Stupid question... Why is steel russian ammo sometimes lacquered?

[raymeketa]

To keep them from rusting. The same reason some are copper plated, tinned, zinc coated, etc, etc.

[Johan412th]

Huh. That simple eh? Thanks for the answer. I kept finding conflicting information. Is there anything special about zinc?

[raymeketa]

Zinc and various alloys of zinc was simply another of the many coatings that were tried. Much of the WW 2 US made steel cased ammo was zinc coated.

Where were you finding conflicting information? What did it say? Just curious.

[Johnny P]

The local gunsmith had more than a few .45ACP pistols brought in with lacquered Russian ammo stuck in the chamber. Virtually all liked just a tiny bit going into battery. Whether through heat or solvents the ammo had done a good job of sticking in the chamber.

[joem]

That lacquered 7.62X54 does the same thing to .223, 91-30 and other firearms. I think they changed to some sort of polymer that's not bad.

[Johan412th]

Zinc and various alloys of zinc was simply another of the many coatings that were tried. Much of the WW 2 US made steel cased ammo was zinc coated.

Where were you finding conflicting information? What did it say? Just curious.

Other forums, that was all I could find. Just that it tends to rust and can't be stored for long, and that polymer was better/worse. It was seriously all over the board. Pun intended.