Testing for Corrosive Ammo

[jbt308]

Is there any way to test to see if ammo is corrosive? Externally or internally?

thanks

[W.E.G.]

Yep.

Primers are the source of the corrosive element in corrosive ammunition.

Use two ordinary nails.

Drive them into a piece of wood.

Dremel the heads shiny.

Use pliers to pull a bullet from the round of ammo. Discard the bullet and dump the powder.

Chamber the primed case. Hold the muzzle against one of the nails. Fire the primer against one of the nail heads. This will produce a good coat of soot on the nail head.

Apologize to wife for shooting gun in the house.

Put the board with the nails in a humid area of your house.

You will have rust on the sooty nail in a couple days if the primer is corrosive.

[owlcreekok]

Around here you will have rust on that freshly dremeled nail in about thirty minutes. That would be with no primers of ANY kind within a hunnert yards.

[jbt308]

Hehe, same here. In FL, everything loves to rust, but I catch your meaning.

Just thought of something, but, if I shot the emptied cartridge(primer only), wouldn't I still need to super-clean the rifle? I'd rather not expose it to any potentially corrosive ammo.

Thanks

[crcksht]

Originally posted by jbt308
Hehe, same here. In FL, everything loves to rust, but I catch your meaning.

Just thought of something, but, if I shot the emptied cartridge(primer only), wouldn't I still need to super-clean the rifle? I'd rather not expose it to any potentially corrosive ammo.

Thanks

Yes you would need to clean-out the corrosive salts, because like W.E.G said, the primer is usually whats corrosive, not the propellant.

[Survey Punk]

Instead of Garys method I use a soldering iron to pop the primers. Takes a little rigging and shimming but is doable.
Rig the iron tip against the primer, plug in and leave the room. *POP*! Case will fly about the room with some force. Be careful!

JB

[kerplode]

Could you hold the case over the nail with vice grips and use one of those little propane torches to pop the primer, or is that a bad idea?

You'd obviously need eye and ear protection as well as gloves, but other than that it seems like it would work...

[MasterGunner]

The primer is the source of the corrosion in ammunition. One of the priming compounds is a salt. Salts collect moisture and the residue promotes rust.

However, the salt is easily removed with hot, soapy water. So, if you pop a couple of primers in the rifle it's no big deal.

Remember, the FAL has a chrome lined barrel that is designed to resist corrosive ammo. The FAL gas plug is designed to cutoff the gas port for the shooting of rifle grenades. Viola! All you have to do is pull the bullets on your rounds in question. Dump the powder. Fire the cases in your rifle with the gas cutoff. The salts will be confined to the barrel and easily cleaned out with hot, soapy water.

Make sure that you completely dry the barrel and give the internals a light film of oil when you're done.

If I'm checking a round for corrosive primers, I have a bare piece of sheet steel plate. I pop the primer against the steel pate and put it in the basement for about a week. The humidity will combine with the salt (if present) and a rust spot will appear to confirm corrosive ammuntion.

[jbt308]

All good replies, thanks for all the info, especially on the gas shut-off. I think I might actually just make a small rig out of some wood and pop the primers that way, might as well not foul up the gun AND I get to work with my wood tools. hehe

thanks again

[ppo84]

Beware of "popping" primers in unsupported cases(i.e out of the rifle chamber). They will go "BANG", not pop, and have a tendancy to exit the rear of the case(whether crimped or not) with enough velocity to impale themselves in your fingers, eyes and any other unprotected body parts. I highly suggest using your rifle to fire them and then spend a few mins. cleaning.

[Super B]

I would use a control nail too. One known non-corrosive round, one unknown round, and one nail with NO primer on it.

[rwwje]

What Super B said. I just put the primed cases over the "nails through board" and fire the primer with another nail and hammer. I never use the "barrel over the nail" method (can't argue with the safety side of that method) as I think it's unnecessary and a PITA to clean the gun afterwards. You don't need to get out the dremel; just degrease the nails (using soap and water, alcohol, solvents, etc.; duh - don't use cemment/adheshive coated nails) and hit it with a little sand paper. And, Gary, do it in the garage, not the living room (firing off primers, that is).