Corrosive ammo and Garand

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antsi

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I have a box of Korean surplus ammo that is reputed to be corrosive.

I'd like to start using it and save the brass for reloading, but I have visions of my poor Garand corroding away to nothing.

Can anyone recommend a cleaning procedure after shooting corrosive ammo in a Garand? How soon does it need to be done? Are there any particular nooks/crannies on a Garand that need special attention in the cleanup?
 
"...visions of my poor Garand corroding away to nothing..." It won't do that. However, just flush the barrel(use a funnel with a flexible tube), gas tube and op rod with very hot water then clean as per normal. Flush when you get home.
The brass will likely have corrosive salts in it and the primers may be berdan(not sure about that though). .30-06 brass isn't expensive nor hard to come by. I'd shoot it then pitch the brass. Midway, for example, wants $35.49 per 100, $163.99 per 500 for Remington brass. Midway isn't the cheapest source either.
When you get that far, think 165 grain hunting bullets or 168 or 175 grain match bullets with IMR4895, IMR4064 or Varget and regular large rifle primers. IMR4064 and Varget give better consistent accuracy than IMR4895. Use the 168's for distances up to 600 yards and the 175's past there.
I've never had any problems with any load out of any manual using IMR4064, but the Hornady manual has a chapter of M1 Rifle specific loads.
 
I have a box of Korean surplus ammo that is reputed to be corrosive.
Click to expand...

Which headstamp and lot# is it?

There have been LOTS of Garands damaged by some of that stuff, so be real careful.

You may want to just skip it :)

Thread over at CMP Forum..... PS is non corrosive, KA is corrosive and there are threads about some lots of that stuff too.

http://www.odcmp.org/new_forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=52023
 
Corrosive ammo is no big deal. It simply adds another step to the cleaning process.
As soon as possible after shooting, spray the gun down with windex, or just use really hot water. It washes away the salts which attract moisture which causes the corrosion. After you flush the gun with windex and/or water, dry it completely, and clean normally.
Standard solvents and cleaners and oils will NOT remove the salts. You need to flush them out prior to the cleaning process.
But that's it, that's all it takes. The only reason people have guns that are damaged by it is because they didn't take care of them properly. I have shot lots of corrosive 7.62 thru AK's and SKS's. You'd never be able to tell from looking at them, though.
 
I read article on corrosive ammo. Remember it mentioning that the primers contained a high level of mercury that when fired tends to make the brass brittle and no safe for reloading. If the Garand is a nice one I'd skip firing the corrosive stuff and just start off with some decent reloads.
 
The solution to corrosive ammo is to use Hot soapy water with a good rinse with scalding hot water afterwards. This flushes out the salts (the corrosive part) and leaves one with a nice clean bore. Clean and lube as normal and you're done. No issues with salts. You do need to get into the gas system and clean it as well.

Dave
 
Price an op rod or gas cylander lately? Man, I'd skip that jazz in an M-1.

Sure, for an AK or SKS--but you can clean an AK/SKS much more handily IMO--especially the gas system. M-1 gas systems are much more prone to damage and if you shoot corrosive you'd have to break them down EVERY time you shoot.
 
Thanks for the opinions.

The stuff I have is KA.
The Lot is KAD9362166524

Cleaning the gas system - I generally clean the rifle every time I shoot it, and I do take out the op rod. Not sure if that step is really a downside to me.

Any more opinions on reloading corrosive primered brass? If I can't reload the brass, that takes some of the charm out of shooting this stuff.
 
Nothing wrong with reloading brass loaded with chlorate ("corrosive") primers; it used to be done all the time when that was the only primer made. For absolute safety you could wash and dry the empties that first go-round. Depends on the overall quality of the Korean brass, of course; which I do not know. Check on the CMP board.

aka108 confuses chlorate and mercuric primers, not the same thing. I don't know how closely the Koreans followed US mil-spec, but the US Army quit using mercuric primers about 1898.
 
I've shot that same ammo in my Garand with no problems, but I have found that the gas cylinder needs to be removed to clean it right. When you put water or windex down the barrel it goes into the gas cylinder and into any little space between the barrel and gas cylinder. I say this from experience, I cleaned my gun without disassembling the gas cylinder, using windex in the barrel. Luckily I pulled it out of the safe the following day. I can tell you how sickening it is to see rust on the op rod. When I did pull it apart there was surface rust on the barrel unde the gas cylinder as well.
Needless to say, whenever I shoot any surplus ammo I take the rifle completely apart. It will never be used in a competition, and is certainly no match rifle, (or I wouldn't use corrosive surplus anyway) so I don't worry about the effects that dissasembly has on accuracy.
 
Good grief, people.

We fought ALL of World War II with the Garand AND "corrosive" ammunition. The Korean War was also fought with corrosive stuff, since the change to non-chlorate primers in GI ammo occurred mainly in the early 1950s.

The issue GI bore cleaner (what a smell!) was specifically formulated to dissolve the salts left behind by the primers.

Any original Garand dating to before the mid-50s has probably already fired many hundreds, if not thousands, of chlorate-primed rounds.
 
Korean ammo headstamps:

KA - Korrosive Ammo
PS - Perfectly Safe
Click to expand...


Well, careful with that. Many lots of the PS ammo have been found to have defective cases and there have been many case head separations or worse with that ammo. The CMP link I gave above breaks it down by Lot #
 
I have found a new and wonderful product for cleaning the corrosive residue off firearms.
Simple Green.
You can get it at CostCo and Walgreens and K-Mart sells it in the Automotive section.
This stuff works great.
Spray some of this down the bore and on the bolt, remover the gas cylinder and hose it down along with the cylinder lock and the lock screw.
Wipe it all clean and follow with your regular cleaning solvent and brushes patches what have you.
Repeat the Simple Green treatment and wipe dry then follow with a light coat of oil.

In haven't seen any traces of rust using this method, even several days later, it seems to get to the stuff that is embedded in the porus areas of the metal and the corrosive salts won't leech out later to bite you..
 
Many lots of the PS ammo have been found to have defective cases and there have been many case head separations or worse with that ammo.
Click to expand...

TR,

The KA - Korrosive Ammo, PS - Perfectly Safe is simply an easy way to remember whether a particular lot of Korean ammo is loaded with corrosive or noncorrosive primers, and says nothing about how any particular lot of either headstamped ammo will perform in your rifle.

Don
 
I picked up a couple of hundred KA and PS once fired cases at the range. Sized them, removed the crimp, and washed off the RCBS lube in hot soapy water.

Weighed the cases later and they were around 180 grains, which is about what US 30-06 cases weigh.

They shot well with cast bullets.

I hate shooting corrosive in a gas gun. Too many small places that have to be washed out with hot water. I have known of guys who cleaned their barreled actions in the shower with a toothbrush.
 
I have fired thousands of rounds of corrosive 30-06 in Garands.

None of my rifles have even the slightest trace of rust anywhere.

After I fire the last shot of the day I spray some Windex or Mean Green down the bore and wipe it out with a bore snake.

I clean it properly after I get home. No problem.
 
The issue GI bore cleaner (what a smell!) was specifically formulated to dissolve the salts left behind by the primers.
Click to expand...
Yes, but the active chemical that got rid of the salts was outlawed in the 70's as a carcinogen. That's why today's solvents won't get rid of the salts.
But hot soapy water or windex does, so again, don't fret shooting corrosive stuff. Just clean well and enjoy.
 
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