Firing corrosive ammo

[Ponder_MD]

I have a metric buttload of corrosive primed, Eastern Bloc ammo for my Mosin M44. A couple of the cans are not in great condition and I really don't see why I should hoard them. I'd rather hoard my modern PPU ammo and shoot the corrosive stuff during practice.

Questions:
How quickly must I treat the barrel to prevent corrosion? Must I do it at the range or can I drive home and clean it on the bench as soon as I get home?
Is water really the best neutralizer? Is Hoppe's solvent also effective?

Thanks.

 

[Bountied]

I have a metric buttload of corrosive primed, Eastern Bloc ammo for my Mosin M44. A couple of the cans are not in great condition and I really don't see why I should hoard them. I'd rather hoard my modern PPU ammo and shoot the corrosive stuff during practice.

Questions:
How quickly must I treat the barrel to prevent corrosion? Must I do it at the range or can I drive home and clean it on the bench as soon as I get home?
Is water really the best neutralizer? Is Hoppe's solvent also effective?

Thanks.

You need to clean it when you get home before you store it. Use water on a patch a few times to rinse out the residue, then dry patch, then run an oily brush, then wet patches with rust preventer, dry patch, Rem oil patch. It only really corrodes your barrel if you don't clean it after the range trip. My BIL shot corrosive ammo, didn't clean it and the next time he took it out the barrel was pitted pretty badly. You can shoot corrosive ammo just clean the gun well after.

 

[ken792]

You’re not neutralizing it, but removing it. The potassium chloride salts are water soluble, but not oil soluble. Cleaning with oil based solvents will certainly mechanically remove the salts stuck among the carbon fouling, but not flush it entirely.

My Mosin I got over a decade ago still has a nice shiny bore from cleaning with soap and water after each time I shoot it.

From Hatcher’s Notebook regarding a 1922 Bureau of Mines study on the causes of bore corrosion.

 

[Red1917]

Don't stress over it too much, just clean it when you get home and it'll be fine. I just run some warm water down the barrel followed by some dry patches then oiled patches, and wipe down the bolt/receiver area. Never had a problem

Its when you let it sit for a while that it will cause problems

 

[Ponder_MD]

Great information here. I too, had a prejudice against water but you guys have swayed me.
What's the best way to get water into the barrel? I feel like a wet swab may not be enough.

 

[6-Pack]

I always used a few patches of windex down the barrel and scrubbed the bolt face with Windex before using Hoppes. I have quite a few C&R firearms that have seen almost exclusively corrosive ammo and I’ve yet to have a problem.

Windex first, then dry, then oil.

 

[Doco Overboard]

Great information here. I too, had a prejudice against water but you guys have swayed me.
What's the best way to get water into the barrel? I feel like a wet swab may not be enough.

A small tin funnel soldered to a copper tube to a cut off cartridge case.
Solder the other end of the tube to the case ID.
Bend it in a S shape so you don’t have to pour the water over the rifle.
Be sure to swap the chamber and not just the bore because of the emergent gas that gets back around the case before it fully expands.
Theirs nothing wrong with corrosive ammo if you manage it’s use effectively and wisely.
Another good way to clean a rifle from salts is to place the muzzle down on a hardwood block to keep the rod from exiting the muzzle.
Even with clean bore primers. The rod stays straight in the bore.

 

[ken792]

After I brush 10-20 times and use an oil based solvent to clean out as much carbon as I can, I put the rifle horizontal, or muzzle sloping downwards slightly, on a table and swab from the muzzle with dish soap and water on a patch. I repeat with water until it is no longer soapy.

 

[mawkie]

I've used ammonia to good effect (that's why 6-packs use of Windex works). The British used hot water, allows it to evaporate quickly and does dislodge the salts effective. Made easier when you routinely boil water for tea. They used an S shaped funnel for Lee Enfields (I have one, very handy).

 

[BFMIN]

SNAP!
Now I'm looking (unsuccessfully) for the water jug!

 

[willtill]

I always used a few patches of windex down the barrel and scrubbed the bolt face with Windex before using Hoppes. I have quite a few C&R firearms that have seen almost exclusively corrosive ammo and I’ve yet to have a problem.

Windex first, then dry, then oil.

^This

I stress more over possible pitting on the face of the bolt, from the corrosive primers, than the bore.

 

[BFMIN]

Bolt-face & firing pin tip plus F/P channel, another reason I like the L-E with it's detachable bolt head.
I've never found the Windex necessary, just HOT water, then a dry patch or three & one pass with an oily patch then clean normally back at home.

 

[Park ranger]

Why not just shoot the NC stuff? Life is too short to shoot corrosive ammo.

 

[Inigoes]

Great information here. I too, had a prejudice against water but you guys have swayed me.
What's the best way to get water into the barrel? I feel like a wet swab may not be enough.

Pour it down the barrel from a small water bottle.

The MDS tradition is to throw your guns into the bay.

 

[mawkie]

SNAP!
Now I'm looking (unsuccessfully) for the water jug!
View attachment 437633

There ya go!

 

[BFMIN]

Great information here. I too, had a prejudice against water but you guys have swayed me.
What's the best way to get water into the barrel? I feel like a wet swab may not be enough.

Those automotive offset, or flexible, filter funnels with a length of 1/2" OD flex hose (or whatever dia fits your needs) all glued with RTV Siloicone & taped to a cartridge with the head cut off work excellently!

 

[Combloc]

I've been shooting corrosive ammo for almost 40 years now with no problems at all. The most complicated thing I've done (and this is VERY RARE) is to run the first patch or two through a warm barrel at the range with a water ammonia solution that I keep in an old Chicom plastic oil bottle. The rest is a normal cleaning at home using Hoppe's No. 9. In fact, it's almost always JUST a cleaning at home with Hoppe's No. 9. The trick is to be THOROUGH when you clean. It's amazing how much some folks will turn a simple cleaning into a space shuttle launch.

 

[Sirex]

I have been trying to shoot the corrosive ammo thru the Mosins first, and save my commercial ammo for the Vepr or if needed later on. I have a squirt bottle filled with a Ballistol/water mix, and squirt it down the bore after the gun has cooled little bit and run a quick brush thru it.

 

[6-Pack]

Why not just shoot the NC stuff? Life is too short to shoot corrosive ammo.

Back when a crate of 7.62x54R was $50 for 440 rounds (AP no less), you couldn’t get any cheaper. 7.62x25 was dirt cheap too. I don’t think I’m the only one who stocked up back then.

8mm Mauser was another one that was cheap in bulk.

Of course, that’s back when a Mosin was $49 and you could get an SKS for $89.

 

[ZachW]

I shoot literally 1000s of corrosive rounds out of my mosins every year. I always clean it within a week and never have any sign of corrosion in that time. I always finish up cleaning with a wad soaked in clp just to leave a coat of oil in the bore.