question about corrosive ammo & bore cleaning

[bmwauto]

ok i shoot a lot of surplus ammo from the early 80's and my concern is , is it corrosive? people are telling me most surplus made before mid 90's is ,so if that's the case i like to know the right way to clean the barrel, i heard hot soapy water or windex and then you'r normal cleaning ,now i bought this bore cleaner for corrosive ammo from a gun show as you see in the picture,should i use it to clean the barrel or do the hot water method thing? i just want to make sure i don't get any rust from the salt in the barrel from shooting old surplus ammo ,i know the barrel is chromed line but i would like some advice, thank you

[djpaintles]

That old GI Bore cleaner is pretty nasty stuff. If nothing else I think you'll find boiling water more pleasant to use.

Sweet's 7.62 is another option for corrosive stuff. It has some ammonia in it and will clean copper out at the same time, just don't leave it in the bore for too long......................dj

[bmwauto]

So is this bore cleaner any good will it mess up the barrel?

[SilentBob]

Corrosive ammo is corrosive due to the potassium/sodium in the primer, hot water or ammonia will take care of the salts.

I have a S&W AR15 5.45 upper that I shoot nothing but Russian surplus 5.45 thru it, after the range I dump hot water in the upper and the BCG, dry it and spray it down with Windex. I punch the bore with Sweets 7.62 and call it a day, I am approaching 2000 rounds in 2 months through the upper with zero issues .

Hot water and Windex is far easier and less obnoxious then the old school G.I. cleaner, the old cleaner should not mess up the barrel but use it in a well ventilated area and treat it like Sweets (no longer than 15 minutes in the barrel).

[Visceral_Malice]

I've heard that cleaner is pretty toxic and to use caution with it. Basically as long as you rinse your barrel and parts with anything it will remove the salts and then just clean as normal. I shoot surplus out of my mosin and my saiga 5.45 and I just hose them down with windex after then clean immediately. I've never had any problems yet.

[7.62GUNR]

Corrosive ammo is corrosive due to the potassium/sodium in the primer, hot water or ammonia will take care of the salts.

I have a S&W AR15 5.45 upper that I shoot nothing but Russian surplus 5.45 thru it, after the range I dump hot water in the upper and the BCG, dry it and spray it down with Windex. I punch the bore with Sweets 7.62 and call it a day, I am approaching 2000 rounds in 2 months through the upper with zero issues .

Hot water and Windex is far easier and less obnoxious then the old school G.I. cleaner, the old cleaner should not mess up the barrel but use it in a well ventilated area and treat it like Sweets (no longer than 15 minutes in the barrel).

I also have a M&P in 5.45 and just started shooting 7N6 corrosive in it. When I get home I split upper and lower......pump Windex with ammonia D down the bore from the chamber end then come back a few minutes later and run hot water down the bore. The bolt/BCG are much more of a hassle as it gets EXTREMELY sooty and hard to clean all the tough spots. The big trouble spot seems to be the channel that the firing pin rides in.

[FullAssault]

If it's NATO marked it's not corrosive anything else that's east block , Chines or surplus treat it as so!

[7.62GUNR]

If it's NATO marked it's not corrosive anything else that's east block , Chines or surplus treat it as so!

israeli with the round/domed shiny primer are corrosive and I'm not real sure if the early paki is or isn't.

[FullAssault]

israeli with the round/domed shiny primer are corrosive and I'm not real sure if the early paki is or isn't.

Is it NATO marked?

[SilentBob]

7.62
I have the same issues with 7N6, it is dirty ass ammo, no matter how much I clean the bore it still remains some what dirty. My concern is making sure that I remove the salts so it does not harm the barrel.