Is this safe to shoot?

[American_Fusilier]

My friend sent me these pictures of some Wolf 7.62x54r that have some corrosion on them.

He asked if they were safe to shoot.

I honestly don't know.

I told him to pull a bullet and see how the powder looked. If it was clumpy or discolored I'd throw them out.

I also told him if he did decided to shoot them he might have squibs or hangfires.

What do you guys think?

 

[CraigC]

It's just verdigris on the copper. If it was possible water contamination, the cases would be rusted. Just make sure the bullets come out.

 

[AMraider]

If there are only 20 of them I wouldn't shoot them. I don't believe these were sealed like the surplus rounds. If you pull one down you may as well pull them all. Only takes one to ruin your day.

 

[1nighttrain]

I’ve had old military ammunition that looked like this I cleaned them up, they shot well.

 

[AK Hunter]

Clean the dirt & corrosion off of the bullets & shoot them, I have shot much worse than that.

 

[tarosean]

That’s not corrosion

 

[PistoleroWadcutterGANG]

slap some 0000 wool on them puppies and you got 20 singles for safety sakes. Or sell them or nice profit.

 

[EMC45]

slap some 0000 wool on them puppies and you got 20 singles for safety sakes. Or sell them or nice profit.

Beat me to it. 0000 steel wool and a good cloth wipe down and blast them. The cases don’t look rusted and not all are covered in verdigris.

 

[4v50 Gary]

Cases are sound and not rust. I'd chute 'em in a bolt action.

 

[Lo-Profile]

Clean and shoot, I've seen much worse

 

[Mark_Mark]

Russians are literally laughing their porowski off right now!

 

[Ignition Override]

Probably many times safer than old POF .303 'Brit' ammo I shot.

It looked normal but the click-bang, hang-fires were not a good sign.

 

[Enfielder]

Run it.

 

[Mark_Mark]

old Egyptian 8mm Surplus…

Click… wait … wait … wait … BANG

WORST then a flint lock

 

[tmd16556]

Something acidic has gotten to them. If it’s just the paper packaging they should be fine. Just wipe it off and go. worst case is a cleaning solvent that also got into the powder and causes a squib.

If the corrosion came from the powder it’s bigger trouble. Nitric acid corrosion from powder decay would show if you pulled one of the bad ones. External corrosion would mean a clean bullet inside the case. Internal (or contamination) would corrode the base too.

The fact the lacquer coating is immaculate suggests external moisture on the bullets to me. Powder decay would rust from the inside.

 

[Carl N. Brown]

Probably many times safer than old POF .303 'Brit' ammo I shot.

It looked normal but the click-bang, hang-fires were not a good sign.

I had 50 rounds of that some fired normal, some had hang fires of varying length (mostly click bang like a flintlock). Good thing I was shooting from sandbags for group on target. If I had been trying to do a "mad minute" I'd have random ejected cartridge exploding outside the rifle.

 

[Thomasss]

If it were me, I would toss them. I 've seen too many issues with wolf ammo when the stuff looked good. Why take a chance and screw up a gun with that crap. All ya need is a bullet stuck in a barrel and you will have big trouble.

 

[Bronco72]

Mark Mark said

old Egyptian 8mm Surplus…

Click… wait … wait … wait … BANG

WORST then a flint lock

I remember that happening! Our eyes got real big

 

[NIGHTLORD40K]

old Egyptian 8mm Surplus…

Click… wait … wait … wait … BANG

WORST then a flint lock

Ive had multiple hangfires shooting old Turk 8mm. Also, some rounds were clearly hotter than others, indicating inconsistent loads or unstable powder. Super-corrosive too, my bore looked like a sewer pipe by the time I got home. Good thing I'm a compulsive gun cleaner.

Ironically, I just shot some new production Turk ZQ .308 ammo yesterday and had decent results.

 

[Mark_Mark]

Ive had multiple hangfires shooting old Turk 8mm. Also, some rounds were clearly hotter than others, indicating inconsistent loads or unstable powder. Super-corrosive too, my bore looked like a sewer pipe by the time I got home. Good thing I'm a compulsive gun cleaner.

Ironically, I just shot some new production Turk ZQ .308 ammo yesterday and had decent results.

new stuff is new stuff, mandatory standards and such… ever watch videos on 3rd world reloading shops! bearfoot and on the floor!

those would be cool to try! on someone else’s gun! lol

 

[NIGHTLORD40K]

I had 50 rounds of that some fired normal, some had hang fires of varying length (mostly click bang like a flintlock). Good thing I was shooting from sandbags for group on target. If I had been trying to do a "mad minute" I'd have random ejected cartridge exploding outside the rifle.

Got hit by a primer that popped out of a .30-06 round my idiot buddy threw in the campfire once. It shocked the hell outta me, but no damage. The bullet popped out too, but only made it about 3 feet.

 

[AK Hunter]

Do you think every bullet fired during war time was perfectly clean??
Choot-em!

 

[DustyRusty]

One year, the CMP issued Greek ammo for the Garand matches/. They also issued Scotch Brite pads to get the green stuff off of them.

 

[Walkalong]

It's just verdigris on the copper.

Could be, could be powder breaking down, pull a couple of bullets and check. If the powder looks and smells good, it's just exterior corrosion from something, tumble them clean and shoot.