Caution about surplus military and East Bloc 7.62x39 mm ammunition...

[KYoon]

For those of you using such ammunition, make sure to throughly clean your barrel, gas tube, and bolt/bolt carrier after you're done firing for the day.

The primers used by the various East Bloc nations are corrosive, and it will corrode your barrels even though they are chrome lined.

Corrosive primers are used because they ignite more reliably during very cold weather which is an important consideration for armed forces. Furthermore, there are long-term storage issues that are of concern; the old primers - mercury fulminate based primers, were notorious for having short shelf lives. The current corrosive primers have longer shelf lives; this is another reason why corrosive primers are used.

[zero]

What about russian ammo, is it slightly corrosive, i heard it was but i don't know for sure.

[KYoon]

The Russian, recent import, ammo is not supposed to be corrosive, but you are always well served to clean your firearm the same day in which you use them.

The problem is that the primer might have salts that adhere to various placed your barrel and bolt. These salts will not only attract moisture, but they will also begin to oxidize some of the metal parts.

Armed Forces around the world have been using corrosive primers because of their reliability. They tend to produce reliable flash during extremely cold weather. However, there are alternatives to corrosive primers today. The Russians and other Eastern Bloc nations have not gotten around to using the newer priming compounds.

So, clean your firearm throughly after firing them, just to be on the safe side.