Corrosive Ammo

[Mike Fontaine]

Hi Guys,
I was just given a bunch of ammo in many different calibers some old some new. Some of the boxes say "Non-corrosive." What makes it non-corrosive and why is some ammo corrosive? With the stuff that might be "corrosive" can the bullets be salvaged? I've got about 2000 rounds of 06 that looks pretty old so if I can salvage the bullets ...
Mike

 

[baltz526]

after shooting the old ammo your rifle just needs to be cleaned. soap water baking powder like cleaning a black powder gun. a larger issue to me is what use, it was loaded for. some military machine gun ammo in 30-06 was very hot

 

[old #7]

I believe the primer material is what made the rounds corrosive. I can't remember the name of the primer that was corrosive.

baltz526 wrote

after shooting the old ammo your rifle just needs to be cleaned. soap water baking powder like cleaning a black powder gun. a larger issue to me is what use, it was loaded for. some military machine gun ammo in 30-06 was very hot

+1

 

[JD338]

Corrosive primers used potassium chlorate in the priming compound. When ignited, the potassium chlorate (KC103) produced potassium chloride (KC1), which attracted and held moisture resulting in rust.

JD338

 

[Mike Fontaine]

So I can salvage the bullets and brass???

 

[280SOLIDBASE]

Although I never had any experience with military 06' brass and bullets, I have found in some of my .223 military brass, some of the brass had 2 flash holes side by side within the primer pocket. I found this out the hard way when de-priming...that brass snaps a decapping right off the expander ball!!

A bore light to peek inside the necks will let you examine the brass prior to resizing and decapping.

I would imagine that brass manufactured within the US uses the single flash hole while foreign brass may use the double flash hole.

From the Speer Reloading manuual # 10 (1979):

The heart of the primer is the explosive mix. It is a complex chemical formulation combining initiators, fuels and oxidizer. In earlier times, primer mixes were formulated with fulminate of mercury, potassium chlorate, or both. From and ignition standpoint both work well. But the former attacked and weakened the cartridge brass, making it unsuitable for reloading. When firing, chlorate primers produce a metallic salt that attracts atmospheric moisture which causes barrel rusting and eventual ruin if not removed promptly after firing. Because of the undesirable side effects, both of these primer mixes were abandoned many years ago. Modern non-mercuric, non-corrosive primers use lead styphnate as a primary initiator. This or other modern primer components, have no harmful effects on gun bores or cartridge cases. Virtually all U.S. commercial ammunition has been assembled with lead styphnate priming for about half a century.

Primers used in the U.S. are often referred to as Boxer primers, after the designer, Edward M. Boxer, a British Army officer. They were first used just after the Civil War. About the same time an American ordnance officer, Hiram Berdan, introduced a similar priming system in this country. The Berdan system differed in that the primer anvil was a small projection formed in the bottom of the primer pocket. The Boxer primer anvil is a separate piece inserted into the primer cup. From a strictly manufacturing viewpoint, the Berdan system is simpler and cheaper. But from a reloaders viewpoint, it is a serious drawback. Berdan primer pockets have two or three off centered flash holes making it very difficult to decap from inside. Fired Berdan primers must be pried from the primer pocket, a slow and tedious task. Boxer primers are easily pushed out with a pin through the flash hole."

Although this manual is old; I don't know if there is any "updated" info on this. You may be better off firing the ammo; clean your weapon WELL and scrap the brass.

 

[280SOLIDBASE]

Mike,

I don't know of any reason you could not salvage the bullets, unless they have a crimp on them, you should be able to pull them

 

[JD338]

So I can salvage the bullets and brass???

Yes you can. Keep in mind that military brass may give you a challenge depriming and you will have less case capacity than commercial brass so start low and work up.

IMHO, 30-06 commercial brass is cheap so I would just buy some new brass and start fresh.

JD338