Is milsurp 5.45 toxic

[JustinJ]

I ran across an old copy of The Gun Digest Book of Assault Weapons 5th Edition. In the chapter about the HK G36 the book talks about challenges Germany faced in deciding on a standard issue rifle for its military after the East and West were rejoined. One thing mentioned is that Russian designed AK74 ammo was extremely toxic and harmful to the firer by W German standards. It goes on to say that the AK74 muzzle device blew highly toxic heavy metals from the priming compound back into AK74 shooter's face, poisoning him. I believe most of the 7N6 ammo on the market was made long before the Wall fell so there is a question of safety in using this ammo. Any thoughts or additional info?

 

[MtnCreek]

I don't know anything about the 5.45, but most ammo is toxic. Toxic primers, toxic powder (?), toxic exposed lead.

That said, I don't think safety standards were much of a concern in the commi-bloc.

 

[ball3006]

It is only toxic to the shootee....................I shoot alot of it and I haven't croaked yet....,.chris3

 

[Cop Bob]

I think that they are speaking of the trace amounts of Mercury in the primers... Not that big a deal... Mercury is and was used in so many different products for so long, and the effects of it are, in my opinion a little over blown..

It has been used much larger amounts in positions sensor switches, common house hold light switches, doctors thermometers (remember the big ones that used to hang on the wall in every dr's office in the land). fire suppression rain heads, electrical breakers, Jewelers, and precious metal recyclers use it to recover gold and silver. And it is GREAT for getting heavy lead buildup out of pistol barrels... It is in EVERY one of the new government mandated florescent light bulbs... Go figure..

A minor trace amount in a primer is not something that I would live in fear over... however, I wouldn't really be trying to take a big hit of the stuff into my lungs...

Moderation in all things..

Actually, it is fulminate of mercury in those primers... I'm not sure how that changes the health implications... I do know that fulminate of mercury has been used in primers and in Mil ordnance and kitchen matches for over 100 years.. hand grenades, artillery shells, small arms.. etc... I remember many years ago our Bomb Squad recovered some old WWII Japanese hand Grenades, and some old German Potato Mashers that you could see crystals formed around the threaded joint on the striker caps (German stuff) and on the thread where the fuse was threaded into the body of the Jap stuff.. they said it was crystallized fulminate of mercury and that they were not going to try and open them as the friction of turning the cap or fuse could detonate due to the properties of the fulminate.. (I thought they would be cool collectibles if de-milled)

Me I dunno... I was happy to take their word for it and walk away... They were the ones with the bomb proof underwear..

 

[zoom6zoom]

It tends to cause acute lead poisoning.

 

[bigfatdave]

I find it hard to believe that a particular type of ammunition is ALL toxic.
It doesn't even make sense, the German Army would have been limited to a single ammunition manufacturer located in another country, and thus did not adopt a particular gun?

 

[Cosmoline]

The 5.45x39 was called the "poison bullet" in the Soviet-Afghan war because of it's tumbling effect. I wonder if that name got lost in translation somewhere between the USSR and East Germany, so that they thought it was actually a toxic bullet.

IIRC the Germans are also convinced that reheated spinach will kill you. Countries all seem to have their own peculiar urban legends.

As far as mercuric priming, that applies to a lot of older military rounds. I don't know if 5.45 was still mercuric primed in the 1980's. Seems odd if it was.

 

[bigedp51]

If you remember we here in the U.S. went to steel shot in our shotgun ammunition to eliminate the toxic heavy metals found in the lead shot. There is also bans on lead bullets and lead priming compounds in indoor ranges.

The Germans solved the "toxic" 5.45x39 ammunition problem by selling 58,000 metric tons of it as surplus to other countries. This also solved the "toxic" problem of the West German ammunition manufactures from going bankrupt by not producing toxic 5.56 NATO ammunition.

Even the U.S. Military is trying to produce "green" non-toxic ammunition, the problem is these newer priming compounds do not have as long a shelf life as the older priming compounds containing lead.

If its any consolation all worn out U.S. military tires had to be shipped back to the United States for disposal because the Germans didn't want these American toxic tires in their landfills.

 

[amd6547]

I will be happy to dispose of all the toxic 5.45 ammo properly.