Old military ammo?

[ckcollins2003]

A friend of mine at work was cleaning up his reloading station and garage and brought me a box of goodies. Within that box is a bag of 100 or so old 7.62X51 rounds. They are copper washed and each has a different date on the bottom but nothing else. He told me a magnet will stick to the bullet and sure enough it does.

If you know anything about these rounds I'd appreciate any knowledge. Also, are they fine to shoot? I'm not worried about the age as most are from the 80's and 90's but more worried about them being corrosive or bad for a barrel.

Thanks and happy holidays INGO!

 

[E'villeGunner]

A friend of mine at work was cleaning up his reloading station and garage and brought me a box of goodies. Within that box is a bag of 100 or so old 7.62X51 rounds. They are copper washed and each has a different date on the bottom but nothing else. He told me a magnet will stick to the bullet and sure enough it does.

If you know anything about these rounds I'd appreciate any knowledge. Also, are they fine to shoot? I'm not worried about the age as most are from the 80's and 90's but more worried about them being corrosive or bad for a barrel.

Thanks and happy holidays INGO!

I've been shooting "corrosive ammo" in my K98 for years. With no ill affects. Most of my 8mm ammo is from the mid to early 50's. If I'm not mistaken the corrosive part is the primer itself.

Just clean your rifle after you're done shooting, you'll be fine.

 

[jblomenberg16]

Sure it is 7.62x51 (7.62 Nato) and not 7.62x54r that was used in a variety of Soviet weapons? The copper wash and attracting the magnet sounds like the latter.

 

[CarmelHP]

First, is the bullet magnetic or the case? NATO 7.62 often has steel jacketed bullets. What's the headstamp? I don't think I know of any headstamp that's only a date and nothing else, are there at least two numbers? One may be a factory designation. If it's 7.62x51mm then it is unlikely to be corrosively primed, but not impossible.

 

[ckcollins2003]

I've been shooting "corrosive ammo" in my K98 for years. With no ill affects. Most of my 8mm ammo is from the mid to early 50's. If I'm not mistaken the corrosive part is the primer itself.

Just clean your rifle after you're done shooting, you'll be fine.

Will definitely be cleaning after firing this old stuff... I feel dirty just holding it lol.

Sure it is 7.62x51 (7.62 Nato) and not 7.62x54r that was used in a variety of Soviet weapons? The copper wash and attracting the magnet sounds like the latter.

Yes sir, 7.62X51. Same size as my .308 rounds.

First, is the bullet magnetic or the case? NATO 7.62 often has steel jacketed bullets. What's the headstamp? I don't think I know of any headstamp that's only a date and nothing else, are there at least two numbers? One may be a factory designation. If it's 7.62x51mm then it is unlikely to be corrosively primed, but not impossible.

The bullet is magnetic. The magnet won't stick to the case... which leads me to believe the bullet either has a steel core or has a steel jacket (which is why it's copper washed I'm guessing?). As for the headstamp, there are 2 sets of numbers, the first is a 19 on all of them, the second (assuming the date) is different, like 92, 87, etc. It's not just a full date but that's the only way I could read it that I would know of. I'll see if I can get a picture with my phone real quick... it might suck too much to show anything right now.


Edit: Here's a picture, as you can partially see, there's a '92' at the bottom and at the top it reads '19'

Edit #2: The quality of my camera phone sucks!

 

[03A3]

That looks like Norinco ammo. There was a good bit of it that came into the Country before the ban.

 

[sakima]

Ammo

I agree with 03A3...looks like the Norinco ammo.

If it is Norinco 7.62X51, I have read both good and bad about this ammo with more bad than good.

There seems to be a consensus this ammo has corrosive primers, so treat accordingly.

 

[CarmelHP]

I agree with 03A3...looks like the Norinco ammo.

If it is Norinco 7.62X51, I have read both good and bad about this ammo with more bad than good.

There seems to be a consensus this ammo has corrosive primers, so treat accordingly.

We have a consensus. I think it's probably Chinese with factory number and a date. I have heard this referred to as "mildly corrosive" which I take to be akin to "a little bit pregnant."

 

[ckcollins2003]

Figured it was corrosive by the way it looks. Usually if it doesn't look clean it isn't and with my luck it's definitely going to be corrosive. No words with blown up guns from this ammo is there? As long as it's just not accurate and corrosive I'll still shoot it. Heck I can always find stuff to shoot with free crap ammo.

Thanks for the knowledge gents.