Would you salvage the powder?

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ColoradoMinuteMan

ColoradoMinuteMan

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I've had this box of rusty Wolf 7.62x39 for a while now. It's roughly 700 rounds. Someone offered to give it to me for free and I took it thinking I could salvage the projectiles and maybe the powder. I don't see any reason not to salvage the projectiles, they are in good enough condition.

I was thinking about salvaging the powder as well for some 7.62x39 reloads. My thought process was I could disassemble them and weigh the powder individually on a sampling of 10 them and just use the average weight as my starting load. Any thoughts on that?

The cartridges are sealed and is expect the powder is in good condition as this corrosion looks mostly just like surface corrosion. I might take a few of the worst ones and inspect the powder, inside of the cartridge for contamination and then light the powder to make sure everything looks good. If those are ok if expect the rest to be fine. What are your thoughts on that?

Thank you!
 
I would say to sample at least 20 to be a bit safer, using the lowest charge as the starting load rather than the average. You might get good performance at even that low charge
 
ArchAngelCD said:
Why not just shoot them? If not I would only keep the bullets.
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I have no doubt that my firearms would eat this stuff, I just don't think I want to run 700 rounds of iron oxide abrasive coated ammo through the chamber. It just seems like an unnecessary amount of wear when it's only my time to break them down. I already have 7.62x39 brass.
 
If it was one of SKS's or AK47's, I would rub the rounds to remove any raised spots, dribble oil or slather grease on the cases, and go fire them!
 
ColoradoMinuteMan said:
I have no doubt that my firearms would eat this stuff, I just don't think I want to run 700 rounds of iron oxide abrasive coated ammo through the chamber. It just seems like an unnecessary amount of wear when it's only my time to break them down. I already have 7.62x39 brass.
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Only time you say? I have a strong feeling after pulling the first 100 you are going to hate that ammo. You are not going to harm an AK-47 in the least with that ammo. It's exactly what that gun was designed to eat without a hiccup. Enjoy emptying the cases instead making a job of it.
 
They will be no fun to pull. I hope you have a collet puller. Also may help to seat them a tad deeper to break the "seal" and then try and pull.

I would just choot them!:D

They either go bang or they don't.
 
Yea, I agree shoot those rounds and have fun. Tumble them if you want to clean them up a bit. Hand clean them? Not for me on ammo I got for free.
 
The best way to pull those bullets is by pulling the trigger. It will also show you which ones have a good charge of powder. Tumble them for a few minutes and then go shoot them!
 
You guys don't see any danger in tumbling them? You hear stories of it breaking down the powder but I've never seen any evidence, only anecdotal Comments. I guess I could do a handful in some walnut shells for 20 minutes and then take a look at the powder.
 
I vote to clean em up and shoot em.

Take the ones that are badly rusted and touch/turn them on a belt sander.

There's a reason why AKs have loose chambers.

Lots of people report no problems tumbling loaded rounds.

I personally don't do it. But that's just me, and I have never had any real need to do it.
 
If it were mine, I would do as others have suggested. Clean them up, and shoot them.

Tumbling doesn't break down powder. I understand the concern, but the myth has been dispelled. You might want to sand off some of the real tough stuff before tumbling though.
 
After a major fire, my range no longer allows steel jacketed bullets. I had over 1,500 rounds of ammo from the 80s that I had bought for under 2 cents each. So I started pulling bullets, dumping the powder and loading the steel cases. It's not that difficult. Use a collet puller after seating the bullet a tad deeper to break the seal. You will blow right through them.
 
I've salvaged thousands of bullets and the powder that was in them. I weigh 10 or so and average the powder weight. After a couple of hundred choose 10 more and weigh the powder and average it. The rounds in the pic don't look all that bad except a few need some extra care.
 
Jes a couple thoughts; I think I'd sort the worst ones out and tumble the others in my normal tumbling media to get the rust off then shoot them. (not wanting to start the old, tired "tumble live ammo?" discussion). I might look at the ammo/headstamps to figger if maybe they are all of the same lot, and perhaps save the powder and use it as you suggested, hoping the same lot uses the same "blend" of powder. Also, check the insides of a few cases to make sure the corrosion didn't go all the way through.

BTW; there's only one way to eat an elephant, that's one bite at a time. If you wanna pull 700 bullets, just do as many as comfortable at one sitting; 100 or 50 or 10...
 
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I salvaged about 150 M 1906 30/06 a couple of years ago. It was some US Cartridge Co. 1918 Mfg. G.I. ammo. The primers were unstable with hang fires. I weighed the powder from a number of cartridges and averaged it. I took the pulled bullets and powder and reloaded them into some once fired M2 ball F/L sized cases with fresh primers. They shot fine.

Salvaging powder and bullets can be done, if done properly as long as the powder hasn't been damaged.
 
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