help with old ammunition question

[atr]

I need some help...
a good friend of mine passed away and left his widow a lot of military 30-06 ammunition which I have agreed to help her dispose of. My question is: When did military 30-06 ammunition stop being loaded with corrosive/mecuric primers? There is a vast quantity of this ammunition with 1940's headstamp.....it is beautiful ammunition but I want to let whoever buys it that it may have corrosive primers.

best
atr

[JimB..]

Early 1940’s almost certainly corrosive.
Late 1940’s probably corrosive.
1951 not corrosive.

That’s the “rule of thumb” I was once told. Need someone better informed than me to give a precise answer.

[Remiel]

https://imgur.io/a/1B5s4

Here's the cmp chart from the old fourm

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

[crandall crank]

IMO...as long as you are honest and up front about the possibility of corrosive primers, then it is up to the potential buyer to decide.

[Mk42gunner]

My personal non corrosive primer date is more like 1954. I treat any US surplus from before that as corrosive, and most foreign stuff even later.

I remember buying several boxes of Chinese 7.62x39 that was labeled as non corrosive in the early 1990's that sure would cause flash rust for being non corrosive.

A bit of water during cleaning did away with the problems.

Its not difficult to prevent harm, but it would be a shame to not take the extra steps and ruin a good rifle.

Robert

[schutzen-jager]

iirc - date does not hold true - GI match ammo used corrosive primers years after they went non corrosive in issue ammo - also manufacturers did not make the change over till stocks of the corrosive was exhausted - different times at different facilities - if ammo is cleaned + stored properly the corrosive still has value -

[ascast]

schutzen-jager best advice. I think some was well into the fifties, like 54 or 56. Corrosive would be negative feature, but it never hurts to have a stock of hardball on hand.

[stubshaft]

I still have and shoot some SL43 ammo which I know is corrosive in my Garands. Shooting it is not the death knell of a barrel and it is easily cleaned with hot water and bore cleaner.

[GregLaROCHE]

IMO...as long as you are honest and up front about the possibility of corrosive primers, then it is up to the potential buyer to decide.

I agree with you, but corrosive or not, will effect their true value. If you are just trying to get rid of them cheap, someone could pull the bullets and change the primers. I’ve heard of people doing that and re-using the same powder and bullets.

[TD1886]

Yup have to agree that corrosive primers is going to ruin your barrel as long as you clean it properly. Look at all the old rifles we have around today that have pretty pristine barrels and corrosive primers is all they fired. I don't know if the old military bore cleaner for that which came in a green pint can and smelled gawd awful terrible is still around anywhere, but it's a good cleaner.

[charlie b]

I would just sell it as is. Label it as military surplus ammo. If it is a single or two headstamps I'd include that in the description.

Anyone who uses old ammo and does not clean their gun is on their own.

[lead collector]

Proper clean up afterwards is the only thing that is really important. Caution the buyer, write a few cleaning instructions on the boxes, or what ever you are comfortable with.
I dont mind shooting this type of ammo, and I treat it the same as I would black powder. Clean up as soon as I am finished shooting, and clean the daylights out of it.
There are recipes for cleaning solutions out there, but good old warm water, with a little dish soap works for me.
After a few passes, clean as normal, and recheck in a few days. Never had any troubles with any that I have shot.

[dale2242]

Any US made M2 ammo made before 1955 is treated as corrosive by me.
My guns are cleaned accordingly.
Any foreign made M2 ammo is treated as corrosive.

[Bigslug]

1953 is what I've come to regard the cutoff as for U.S.-made .30-06

Anything with USGI headstamps from the '40's WILL be corrosive but I've found to be otherwise good stuff. Take your bottle of Ballistol "Moose Milk" to the range with you.