Corrosive 45 acp
- Thread starter gp45acp
- Start date
Aguila Blanca
Staff
I can't help thinking that the value of this stuff to collectors far outweighs its value as shootable ammo. Join up at M1911.ORG and sell it to a collector, then use the proceeds to buy Winchester or Federal modern ammo at Wal-Mart. I have no doubt you can double or triple the amount of ammo that way, and the modern stuff won't be corrosive.
Mike Irwin
Staff
""The salvation of your barrels.
Yep.
Years ago there was Syrian or Egyptian 9mm ammo coming in. The stuff was unbelievably corrosive; it seemed to leave about 10 pounds of corrosive residue with every shot.
It was so corrosive that it wasn't unusual for someone to shoot some of it, move on to shoot another gun for a bit, then come back to the gun he had been shooting and find that it had already started to rust.
In the middle eastern deserts it's not an issue. Here in the humidity zone, it is.
A friend of mine picked up a Helwan and a couple hundred rounds of corrosive as hell 9mm.
He spent the afternoon shooting it and at the end of the day threw it in his truck and forgot about it in the middle of a mid-Atlantic summer. For those of you not familiar with this area, it's not uncommon in summer to have relative humidity levels approach 90% on a daily basis, along with vicious heat.
DC metro can get so hot and humid that in the days before air conditioning many European nations considered a diplomatic posting to DC as a "tropical posting," the same as India or Indochina.
A couple of weeks later he remembered to get it out of the truck. He said the plastic bag he had put it in was soaking inside, and the whole gun was a mass of orange rust.
He brought it to me to see if I could do something with it. The magazine was firmly welded into place, and I couldn't even get the slide back it was so bad.
It spent a week in a bucket of 3 in 1 oil before I could finally drive the slide back with a hammer and piece of wood. That allowed me to punch the magazine out and get it apart. The barrel was absolutely trashed. It took awhile, but I finally got all the rust cleaned off and hit it with a baking lacquer, and he snagged another barrel.
Yep.
Years ago there was Syrian or Egyptian 9mm ammo coming in. The stuff was unbelievably corrosive; it seemed to leave about 10 pounds of corrosive residue with every shot.
It was so corrosive that it wasn't unusual for someone to shoot some of it, move on to shoot another gun for a bit, then come back to the gun he had been shooting and find that it had already started to rust.
In the middle eastern deserts it's not an issue. Here in the humidity zone, it is.
A friend of mine picked up a Helwan and a couple hundred rounds of corrosive as hell 9mm.
He spent the afternoon shooting it and at the end of the day threw it in his truck and forgot about it in the middle of a mid-Atlantic summer. For those of you not familiar with this area, it's not uncommon in summer to have relative humidity levels approach 90% on a daily basis, along with vicious heat.
DC metro can get so hot and humid that in the days before air conditioning many European nations considered a diplomatic posting to DC as a "tropical posting," the same as India or Indochina.
A couple of weeks later he remembered to get it out of the truck. He said the plastic bag he had put it in was soaking inside, and the whole gun was a mass of orange rust.
He brought it to me to see if I could do something with it. The magazine was firmly welded into place, and I couldn't even get the slide back it was so bad.
It spent a week in a bucket of 3 in 1 oil before I could finally drive the slide back with a hammer and piece of wood. That allowed me to punch the magazine out and get it apart. The barrel was absolutely trashed. It took awhile, but I finally got all the rust cleaned off and hit it with a baking lacquer, and he snagged another barrel.
See the Mosin Boys
Pretty much all of the ammunition that we Mosin Nagant folks can afford to shoot is corrosive.
"We" clean our guns after we shoot them.
My own procedure is to remove and dissassemble the bolt, then swab everything with Windex, then again with WD-40... I'm no chemist but that certainly seems to take care of whatever corrosive compounds existed, then I reassemble with my normal cleaning procedures, oil and a little grease where appropriate and I'm good to go.
My Mosin's have fired hundreds of corrosive rounds over dozens of sessions with no corrosion problems.
I'm not totally sure that, other than it's all you've got, there is any good reason to shoot corrosive ammo through your 45... but if you decide to do it, clean well shortly afterwards and you'll probably have the same experience that we Mosin owners have.
Pretty much all of the ammunition that we Mosin Nagant folks can afford to shoot is corrosive.
"We" clean our guns after we shoot them.
My own procedure is to remove and dissassemble the bolt, then swab everything with Windex, then again with WD-40... I'm no chemist but that certainly seems to take care of whatever corrosive compounds existed, then I reassemble with my normal cleaning procedures, oil and a little grease where appropriate and I'm good to go.
My Mosin's have fired hundreds of corrosive rounds over dozens of sessions with no corrosion problems.
I'm not totally sure that, other than it's all you've got, there is any good reason to shoot corrosive ammo through your 45... but if you decide to do it, clean well shortly afterwards and you'll probably have the same experience that we Mosin owners have.
Not exactly.
When KCl dissolves in water it forms ions (K+, Cl-).
It does not form compounds at that point, and the pH remains neutral.
Salts are used for buffering solutions to resist changes in pH.
KCl is very hygroscopic.
It will pull water out of the air and dissolve itself (the same as CaCl, Calcium Chloride, a well known desiccant).
With the presence of steel, water, and KCl in solution rust and pitting occurs.
Mike Irwin
Staff
As I said, chemistry was NOT my strong suite. 
That's good to know, though, that there's no production of acidic compounds.
That's good to know, though, that there's no production of acidic compounds.
Corrosive Ammo
Wow...What a forum. I have been out of the shooting game for about 20 years. I recently retired and this is one of the things I want to get back into. I am amazed at all the help you folks sent me. Thank all of you and I will be a regular here and at the range. gp45acp
Wow...What a forum. I have been out of the shooting game for about 20 years. I recently retired and this is one of the things I want to get back into. I am amazed at all the help you folks sent me. Thank all of you and I will be a regular here and at the range. gp45acp
That Egyptian stuff is what I have. Still have about half a case of it, if youre interested.
It must have been for the Port Said SMG's, as it came packed 36 to a box, which just happens to be the capacity of the Pot Said's mag. Besides being "hot" in the corrosive way, its pretty "hot" in the power department too.
orionengnr
New member
Amazing, what I can learn here...some of the members have some excellent knowledge, and the ability to communicate/contribute effectively.
Thank you.
Thank you.
As Mike said earlier, For cleaning, skip the ammonia and simply use lots of hot water with dish soap in it.
That is what I did -- under the watchful eye of a sergeant -- to my father's 1903 after he requalified in 1939 at Fort Clayton, CZ. The sgt also showed me some '03s that had not been cared for. The gutting of the rifling was awesome. Ironically, we had plenty of noncorrosive ammo down there. But we also had tons of this WW1 junk that shot perfectly well at targets, and we were under great pressure to use it. Dad really impressed me at the range. Of course, he was an infantry company commander with fourteen years' experience with the '03. I've had an '03-A1, an ought six 1917 Enfield and a Mauser 98. All very impressive rifles, but I doubt if I ever equalled Dad with any of them.
Cordially, Jack
That is what I did -- under the watchful eye of a sergeant -- to my father's 1903 after he requalified in 1939 at Fort Clayton, CZ. The sgt also showed me some '03s that had not been cared for. The gutting of the rifling was awesome. Ironically, we had plenty of noncorrosive ammo down there. But we also had tons of this WW1 junk that shot perfectly well at targets, and we were under great pressure to use it. Dad really impressed me at the range. Of course, he was an infantry company commander with fourteen years' experience with the '03. I've had an '03-A1, an ought six 1917 Enfield and a Mauser 98. All very impressive rifles, but I doubt if I ever equalled Dad with any of them.
Cordially, Jack
Don't know about the chemistry, but I am an old timer and did shoot corrosive ammo in the Army. Our standard procedure was to use hot soapy water (lye soap) and bore brush. Never saw a gun damaged or pitted if cleaned as described. However, cleaning must be done within hours after shooting.
BTW, we got the lye soap water by running hot water over bars of lye soap inside a tin can with holes. Your hands are also clean when you finish.
BTW, we got the lye soap water by running hot water over bars of lye soap inside a tin can with holes. Your hands are also clean when you finish.