Hungarian M44

B

BoogieMan

New member
I finally won a bid on a decent MN thats Hungarian made.
I am waiting for it to arrive and also want to order some ammo.
Is all surplus 7.62x54 ammo corrosive?
What would the Hungarian head stamp look like on this ammo if they loaded it?
Does one ammo tend to perform better than the next in the carbine length MN?

For the money I will likely grab 1 or 2 more of these things (not Hungarian) and just bubba one for fun and keep the others untouched. Along with several cans of ammo.
 
Consider all Russian and Warsaw Bloc surplus to be corrosive, and clean accordingly.

If you want to compare ammo in your M44, reloading is going to be the way to go. That will give you non-corrosive ammo, as well, for not much more than surplus prices, once you have the brass.

Prvi Partisan makes pretty good boxer-primed ammo for the Mosins.
 
I buy Wolf and Tula with brass case when I can get it . I have a bunch of Polish surplus and I'm not shooting it in my Russian M44 anymore or any corosive steel case ammo . I don't mind cleaning it but once in a while I've seen bolts lock up with steel case surplus ammo most of the time if you get ruff with it it will break lose but some times you can break internal parts of the bolt .
 
I was trying to get away from reloading. But, I guess its like anything else, if you want quality ammo you either have to pay the price or make it.
 
To your question on the surplus ammo, yes most of the surplus ammo is corrosive. However if you clean it right it's not a problem.
I have several milsurps and that's all I shoot out of them:

hm1d.jpg

FYI - My Polish M44 is second from the left

Normally I bring a small bottle of windex out to the range. After I'm done shooting (and before I pack up) I spray a bunch of it down the barrel and run a patch or two (also soaked with windex) down the barrel. I plug the barrel (so the windex doesn't go all over the place) and head home. Once I clean it generously with Hoppe's # 9, let sit over night, then clean/oil it completely the next day or soon there after. Excessive? Probably but I've NEVER had a problem with surplus ammo.
 
corrossive ammo

I tie my rifle to a chair muzzle down and use a transmission funnel and pour a couple of jugs filled with hot soapy water down the bore, then use a cleaning rod with a bronze brush with some liquid dishwashing soap and pass though the barrel several times, then pour another gallon of hot water down the bore and clean as usual with some bore solvent until the last cleaning patch looks clean, then run a oily patch for preservation

I bought my Russian M44 back in the early 90's and the barrel is still bright and never showed signs of rust after 20 years of firing surplus military issue ammo

I also use Windex to clean the bolt assembly, or sometimes I drop the whole bolt assembly in hot soapy water to neutralize corrosion.
 
I think you're being a bit over protective.
I bought a jug of ammonia from a grocery store for about a fraction of that price. I then mixed the ammonia 1 to 10 (if I recall correctly, check this forum for a comparison rec) and kept it in a rinsed small traveling saline bottle. After shooting, while the barrel is still warm, I would sop up a patch and send it down the barrel. A few more dry patches soak up the excess (and salts from the corrosive ammo). The warm barrel dries out the rest. Then I cleaned with regular Hoppes/gun oil after I got home. I only shot corrosive ammo through my surplus rifles and they never showed rust.
Military rifles are tough. Take care of them, but don't worry about babying them.
 
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Water is what needed to remove the salts . . .
Here is what I do, with NO rust ever. When I get home from the range, I put a large tea kettle filled with water on the stove while I strip the rifle down. (I worry about water trapped in between the stock and metal.) With the rifle stripped down, I hold the tang and pour HOT water through the bore and rinse the bolt. I do this off the deck so I balance the rifle on the railing and the water goes on the ground. Next, I use a cleaning rod and brush with dish detergent to scrub the bore, from the breech if possible, then rinsing again with HOT water. Note the metal will be HOT, use an oven mitt. While the rifle drains leaning against the deck rail, I thoroughly, rinse the cleaning rod so as not to transfer any salts back to the rifle. I actually also have two 30 cal. rods and keep one strictly for non corrosive and post washed bores. After I rinse the cleaning rod, I clean the rifle as usual with #9 followed by some Kroil.

The use of HOT water heats the metal and helps dry the rifle before I put it back together. Probably, the best trick is to clean as normal after rinsing, as this will help get rid of any remaining moisture. HTH
Best,
Rob
 
please dont stress yourself over corrosive ammo, whatever rifle your getting has already seen plenty of it, my last mosin saw about 1200 rounds of it in a relatively short period of time w/o issue, my carbine has seen a full tin and my finnish will also see a ton in its future, mosins are so easy to clean and the hour in the car after shooting will not hurt it
 
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