South African surplus in an AR-15?

[TangSafetyM77]

I just received my Colt AR from WildAlaska. I'd recommend doing business with him. I want to shoot it right away, and I was digging through my available .223 ammo. Most of what I have is the South African surplus purchased from Ammoman about 3 years ago. It is 1986 manufacture in the brown plastic battle packs. I am concerned about using it in my new high-dollar gun.
I am concerned because the last time I shot this ammo was through an AK I used to own in .223. I never worried about cleaning it much since, well, it was an AK. So one day a couple of weeks after a range session I broke down the gun to clean it. I pulled the piston out of the gas tube and looked in the tube to see nasty, aggressive, flaky rust on the inside of the tube. I cleaned it up the best I could, it had pitted in a lot of places. It never affected the function of the gun, but I showed to my gunsmith. He thought that maybe the ammo had corrosive primers?
I guess I am looking for some opinions on this ammo, as I have read favorable reports from AR users about the SA surplus. I just don't want to damage my brand new rifle. Is this ammo a little corrosive? Is it OK to fire through my AR without a special cleaning regimen? I have nearly 2K rounds of the stuff!

 

[DMK]

Does your gun have a 5.56 or the tighter .223 chamber?

If it's 5.56, then go for it. That's good ammo. I have never heard of any .223/5.56 being corrosive. The gas tube could have rusted just from never getting any oil and a humid environment.

If you have a .223 chamber, it's my understanding that 5.56 surplus is a no no. All my ARs have 5.56 chambers though.

 

[Jim K]

I used some South African 7.62 NATO in an FAL and it would not extract due to soft cases. Polishing the chamber solved the problem. But the ammo was non-corrosive and I really can't imagine any .223 from anywhere that uses corrosive primers. But using non-corrosive ammo does NOT mean that there is never a need to clean a gun.

I will note that sheet metal parts like the AK gas cylinder tend to rust more easily than machined parts, and that, plus the heat, is more likely to have caused the rust than corrosive primers. In addition, corrosive primer rust should show up more in the barrel than in the gas system. BTW, there is no such thing as ammo that is "a little corrosive". It is corrosive or it is not.

AFAIK, that ammo is non-corrosive and should be perfectly OK in your rifle.

Jim

 

[TangSafetyM77]

Thanks for the replies. My chamber is 5.56, this is a Colt 6920. I just wanted to feel OK about this ammo.

 

[shermacman]

Two points from my vast reservoir of knowledge:

The difference between .223 and 5.56 is that NATO 5.56 packs a slightly bigger whollop. If the barrel says .223 then don't use 5.56 ammo. However, it will not say .223 it will say 5.56.

http://www.ammo-oracle.com/body.htm

There is no such thing as corrosive 5.56 ammo.

I could be wrong, but I'm not.

 

[Dave Markowitz]

That South African ammo isn't corrosive. It's good stuff and I wish the supply hadn't dried up.

 

[TexasRifleman]

Agreed, if you decide you don't want to shoot the SA stuff, sell it to me.
It's good stuff.

 

[Mr. Chitlin]

I've shot a ton of SA through quite a few AR's and never see any signs of corrosion. And I am not real keen about keeping my AR's spotless. I bought 'em to shoot, not pamper. I still have about 20 battlepacks to shoot up.

 

[gaven]

I put about 3000 rounds of south african through a brand new bushmaster
without any problems and i didnt clean it after every session.
It is good accurate ammo and has a flash retardant added to the powder.

 

[P0832177]

I have one tub left and and half a tub on stippers. I am glad that I bought the ammo when I did. I still thing the UPS man had to have a hernia repaired after that. Now I am going to pick on the USPS man!

 

[Jeff White]

I've shot several thousand rounds of SA M193 through my Colt 6920. It's good shooting stuff.

Jeff

 

[Flatfender]

The British Radway is great too!
http://www.aimsurplus.com/acatalog/NATO__223_SS109.html

Heck, even the poly Wolf is fine.