Surplus Korean '06 Blow-up

[Uncle Grinch]

Today at the range I was firing my 03A3 in our Vintage Rifle Match and due to time constraints, I picked up a can of surplus Korean 30-06 (corrosive type). It was mostly KA-74 with a few KA-71's mixed in. I have used it many times before since it shoots fairly well in my Springfield.
During the rapid fire drill something went POOF! and I was blasted in the forehead with some hot gas. Nothing serious, but very scary none the less. I stopped and cleared my weapon and waited until the range was cold and called the match director over. He got one of our members who is a doctor to check me out.

Anyhow... to make a long story shorter, one of the KA-71 rounds split from just ahead of the extractor groove to the primer pocket.

I plan on breaking this stuff down and salvaging the powder and bullets since I have 400 plus rounds left.

Anyone else experience problems like this with this Korean crap?

[Ricochet]

There have been several reports on the milsurp boards of failures just like that with the 1950s vintage Yugoslavian 8mm. (I'm still shooting it, though.)

[StarMetal]

blslryr,

My best friend had some French 06 for Garands and he fired it in his 03A3 match rifle and the cases would split. He gave me a bunch and I fired it in my 03 Remington and it worked fine. His chamber was every bit as tight as mine, maybe tighter and headspace dead on the money. We just shook our heads. It may have been that had I fired more I would have gotten splits. Perhaps he just shot the bad rounds.

Joe

[grumpy one]

I had a small split in a 1954 Kynoch surplus 30-06 a few months ago - it blew through the bottom of the extractor groove, parallel to the groove. Didn't amount to much, just a puff, and a faceful of gritty stuff. I didn't stop shooting the group, and intend to shoot the rest of the batch if I ever go back to shooting J bullets. Seems like something that happens - it certainly wasn't a high pressure round, nor do the Kynochs have a high pressure load. Might have been a machining tolerance problem when the case was grooved.

[omgb]

Over the last two years I've fired more than 3,000 rounds of this stuff. Most of it was the corrosive '74 stuff but some of it was non or mildly corrosive. Any way, I'v had zero problems.

[762cavalier]

Over the last two years I've fired more than 3,000 rounds of this stuff. Most of it was the corrosive '74 stuff but some of it was non or mildly corrosive. Any way, I'v had zero problems.


Corrosive is corrosive period. Mildly corrosive is just a term dealers use to sell ammo. mildly corrosive is like a little pregnant either it is or it isn't:-D

I haven't shot much of the KA 74 but still have 500 or so rounds of it that will probably be broken down for components as I don't like to clean right away call me lazy if you want , the truth doesn't hurt[smilie=1:

[Dale53]

I had two identical ammo failures in a 03A# many years ago. I am almost ashamed to say that the ammo was U.S. military stuff (from 1918). It had been given to me by a young "friend" who failed to mention that the reason he was giving it away was that he had case head failures with it. Needless to say, after I found out about that he got a STRONG lecture from me.

FWIW, that particular type failure is a BAD case failure. Guns have been destroyed and people seriously hurt.

Dale53

[Uncle Grinch]

I tend to agree that corrosive is simply corrosive and there is very little difference in most of WW2 and later versions of this stuff. Cleaning up after it is no real problem as long as you limit it to single shots and bolt actions. Immediately after my shooting session, I pull the bolt and dose it with some ammonia spiked windex, then I shoot a good bit down the chamber until it runs out the muzzle. That should protect it enough 'til I can get home and give it a thorough scrub.

Since most of my shooting is with my home cast boolits, the corrosive stuff is mostly Turk '42 (of which I have never had any problems with) and this Korean '06. As a matter of fact the Turk ammo still looks as good as most modern ammo.

I save my Lake City and Greek HXP '06 for my Garand Service Rifle match. Ironically, the Korean actually shoots better than the Lake City in my '03A3. None the less, it will soon be broken down and reloaded in my LC and HXP brass.

[Char-Gar]

I have a case blow out in my 03 many years ago (1961). It was Pre-WWII Remington Palma Match ammo. The gas went back through the bolt and blew the striker back to full cock. No damage done to me or the rifle.

[swheeler]

Mike; the picture shows "brittle" brass, that's my take on it, could only be one or could be a whole bunch of them- if it were me I would break it down into components(jet the brass-jet, that's old oilfield slang)), take the safe road you'll never be sorry.

[NickSS]

I have had this same problem occure with several different makes of brass in several calibers over the years. Once it was with brand new factory brass in a 223 Madel 70 Winchester. Each time it occured it looked just like your case. In fact I have a 30-06 LC 55, a 303 British, a 223 Remington and a 22 Hornet Remington cases in my collection of failed brass that exhibits the same failure. In the case of the Remington 223 I sent the rest of the box back to Remington and they analized the brass and told me that is was brittal and was brobably caused by the way it was stored. Personally I didn't believe them and think that they were just covering up a manufacturing defect that got through inspection. They did buy me a new box of ammo and a new bolt for my rifle as the face was torched by the hot gas that excaped. This is why you wear shooting glasses.

[floodgate]

blslyer, NickSS and others:

I have had this type of failure, too, notably in some WWII RA 42 '06 surplus, back in the '60's, and posted a query on "Shooters" a couple of years back, and got a clear and comprehensive answer from our friend "Linstrum". Look closely, and see if the metal around the "blowout" has a "coppery" color. If so (mine did), what you and maybe the others are seeing is "de-zincification", an electrolytic reaction in the presence of moisture and iron which eats out the 30% of zinc from the brass alloy, leaving a much-weakened copper matrix which gives way under pressure. The iron can come from staples left in the recycled cardboard (remember the WW II paper drives? I do), and the reaction can occur if the paper boxes or dividers get at all damp. So, Remington wasn't actually LYING to you; but they really should have given you a better answer. Now, just about all our ammo (except surplus) comes in plastic dividers, and doesn't touch the cardboard of the box.

[Chime in, Linstrum, if I misunderstood or mis-quoted you!]

floodgate

[Paul B]

Dang! I've been converting that Korean brass to .35 Whelen. IIRC (I'm too lazy to run out to the shed and look) the headstamps are mostly PS8 or something like that. Years run from 74 to 76.
Paul B.

[kywoodwrkr]

Someone else has gotten a list of known problems with certain batches.
Maybe it was on Jouster, I don't know.
The M1 board would be where I would search there.
Found this via Google.
http://www.thehighroad.org/archive/index.php/t-95571.html
I know these are PS but think there was a list of the KA as well somewehere.
FWIW
DaveP kywoodwrkr

[Bad Water Bill]

blslrys & others just saw your post and had to reply. Be VARY CAUTIOUS with KA72 & 73 ammo. I have had the same thing happen with this ammo and like you decided to break it down.Upon pulling the boolets found at least THREE different powders bearing the same head stamp.Have been told by the range master that I am not the first to have this problem. The brass & boolets are ok but powder is questionable. It seems to be loaded to the max or bad. BEWARE. My powder is now FERTILIZER in the yard. The rifle survived & my son who was shooting next to me pulled brass out of his arm. ALWAYS wear glasses. Sorry for the long post but the sharing of info is why we are here. Bad Water Bill

[Uncle Grinch]

While going through my remaining batch of surplus Korean 30-06, I came across several rounds that were leaking corrosion around the bullet.

I haven't pulled any yet, but will post a few pics if anything else turns up nasty.

[georgeld]

Wow!
Glad I don't burn that stuff. Can't guess how many decades it's been since I've fired factory ammo last.

Only twice I've had problems. First time was some very old, stored in an unheated garage in a tabacco can for many years. "06, steel jacketed 240gr an uncle gave me. Said it was WWI. Shot some and fired fine, had one hiss long and hard, lodged the slug about 3/4 up the bore and was almost impossible for the 'smith to drive it out with his electric hammer.

The other time. I loaned a cousin of the wife's my .300Win '17 Enfield for an elk hunt as I felt (still do) that his .30.30 is not an elk gun. I had some 7mmags and .300Win's mixed up and he never noticed til the third shot made a strange noise and the case was split in three place's at the shoulder. No damage we could find. Gun has shot fine many times since then.

Oh yes, on a hot day, left one in the hot chamber too long and blew a primer that smoked my contact lens. You bet, wear those shooting glasses!!

[mosin9130]

Few weeks ago I ordered from Amazon the "Hatcher's Notebook", an old but very interesting book that explains many things and also what happened to you and why. The brass of the your case is too soft. More important, the author shows how a standard load in a soft brass case is more dangerous than a very heavy load in good brass case!

[mhb]

is a very serious problem, as it lets high pressure gas escape in volume to the rear. This type of failure is caused not by too-soft brass, but rather from too- hard brass. Hatcher illustrates an example of such a failure in FA 34 brass, and correctly identifies the cause as excessive work hardening of one side of the head due to an off-center primer crimp. I've seen and examined several such failures, and there has nearly always been very clear evidence of exactly the same condition described by Hatcher - an eccentric primer crimp.
mhb - Mike

[mosin9130]

Yes, you're right, Mhb.
I've written 'soft' while I was thinking 'hard' (twice!). The brass is too hard.
Sorry for the mistake!