Corrosive ammo? .30 Carbine M1

[scottka]

Hey guys, I really haven't spent much time over in this part of the forum. I just normally browse it from time to time. I have a question for y'all though... We recently inherited my grandpa's M1 Carbine and quite a bit of .30 carbine ammo. The ammo is all in what I assume to be "mil-surp" ammo cans. They are the kind that you insert the key and twist which peels a metal band off around the lid of the can. Many are marked Evansville Ordinance which I thought was neat.

Having said that, finally onto my question... I've read a lot about corrosive ammo. How would I know whether the ammo I have is possibly corrosive or not? I didn't know if all older ammo was or if it was some other determining factor. We're wanting to get out and shoot it, but we sure don't want to hurt anything.

Also, we have two of the ammo tins/cans that aren't even opened. Is that worth anything like that or should we crack 'em open and shoot 'em? Not planning on selling them if they were worth something... just wanted to know whether to save them like that or not.

Thanks a lot!!

 

[Fordtough25]

They might be worth something, to me ammo is there to be shot. Save the box and cases if it makes you happy. I personalyl have no use for old ammo sitting around, I have kepy some old casing's though,

 

[jrainw]

My understanding is that all usgi carbine ammo is non corrosive. A collector might pay enough for it you could buy new stuff though.

 

[curraheeguns]

All USGI .30 carbine is non-corrosive and the link below should answer your question on value!!

USGI 30 CARBINE AMMUNITION

If I were you I would sell them to someone that would appreciate the collector value and buy twice as much modern stuff.

Simpsons Ltd is expensive, but I bet if yours are the same age and sealed in a case you could easily get this per box for yours as an unopened case.

 

[scottka]

Thanks a lot for the info guys...

curraheeguns...
you really thinking someone would pay that kind of money for these rounds. I said I wouldn't sell them, but dang... maybe just one of the cases. haha. I tried to google and find these ammo cans for sale, but haven't had much luck finding unopened ones.

 

[steif]

carbine

I think you are safe to say this will be non corrosive, I've not seem any EC, but I have seen some Chinese surplus marked LC 51 or 52, can't remember what one. This was corrosive ammo, when they copied it during and after the korean war, they even copied the headstamp. It was in white cardboard boxes and looked like regular gi stuff. The only way to tell for sure was that it was berdan primed. Otherwise you would never know it was chinese made.

I have seen quite a bit of EC carbine and 45 ammo, the evansville plant made some 6 billion rounds during WW2. Still great stuff and very collectable.

 

[Mgderf]

I think you are safe to say this will be non corrosive, I've not seem any EC, but I have seen some Chinese surplus marked LC 51 or 52, can't remember what one. This was corrosive ammo, when they copied it during and after the korean war, they even copied the headstamp. It was in white cardboard boxes and looked like regular gi stuff. The only way to tell for sure was that it was berdan primed. Otherwise you would never know it was chinese made.

I have seen quite a bit of EC carbine and 45 ammo, the evansville plant made some 6 billion rounds during WW2. Still great stuff and very collectable.

A lot of corrosive ammo also gives off an ammonia smell when fired.

 

[steif]

A lot of corrosive ammo also gives off an ammonia smell when fired.

That is true. I never thought about that.

I was generally referring to the people that absolutely take no chances with corrosive ammo. I know several guys like this, they will go crazy if they think that the ammo is corrosive and refuse to shoot it. I know that proper cleaning is essential for corrosive, and some of these old military guns were built for corrosive, but they avoid it like the plague.

What I meant to say in my original post was that EC stamped carbine ammo is non corrosive, all us made ammo for the carbine was always non corrosive. This was done because the designers were afraid of the small tappet that drives the operating rod might rust shut in a short time with corrosive. The soldier can clean it, but it takes a small wrench to get the castle nut to remove the tappet, and they feared that a guy might not have access to one in the field.

I see some WW2 carbine ammo for around $25-30 a box, including the steel case EC ammo. But, of course it is getting harder to find because more is being shot up all the time.
EC stamped 45 ammo is corrosive. I saw a list somewhere that had the cut off dates and lot numbers when they switched all ammo to non corrosive, I think it was in 1952. Anything later than 1952 is non corrosive as far as I can remember.

And finally to answer your question to the OP, It is non corrosive, and I would not shoot it because it does have some collectors value. I would find some new production ammo to shoot. But, if you have a couple boxes that look bad, or the boxes are broken or torn, I would shoot that. a lot of the value is in the complete good condition boxes.