Thread: Corrosion on .303 Ammo

Hey guys, just after your opinion here as I've never had to make this decision before. Would this ammo be dangerous to shoot. Got 100 rounds of this stuff and about 30 have corrosion like this. Should I just pulled the projectiles???


Any body got grenades?

That one looks a bit dodgy.
It depends how far the corrosion has eaten into the case. Put them in the tumbler for an hour then see what they look like.
If you do shoot them use a good pair of safety glasses.

Yea this is the worst one shown. Haha there in the tumbler as we speak!

Yeh Id clean it up with some emery paper or a steelo. As long as the primers are ok it should be good to shoot. That one pictured does look a little dodgey though.

Anything that corroded cannot be trusted!!! I have seen them blow apart in Lee Enfields before and they weren't as corroded as yours

Originally Posted by Steveh054

Anything that corroded cannot be trusted!!! I have seen them blow apart in Lee Enfields before and they weren't as corroded as yours

In that case, I will pull them! I like my face and my guns way better than this ammo! Cheers guys!

I would be VERY wary about firing loaded ammo that has been put through a tumbler.
This is a known risk for over-pressure. I'm guessing tumbling could knock the surface inhibitors off

You probably already know this but make sure you clean the barrel after shooting that milspec ammo. The primers are what makes it super corrosive.

DONT SHOOT THESE ROUNDS FOR GODS SAKE!!!!!!!

"Yea this is the worst one shown. Haha there in the tumbler as we speak!"

Ive deleted what i initially wrote as I hate to be rude BUT no!......... .303 ammunition was loaded with strands of cordite, long thin strands of propellant. Now imagine the following, the ammo that you had was designed to have a specific burn rate, with a specific powder! now that you have put it through a tumbler, you have broken the strands down to a small powder, vastly and Extremely changing the burn rate! also remember this is old ammo, imagine using pistol powder in a rifle cartridge, that's what you have done...... if your not familiar with reloading, think a really bad day at the office and double it!!

PULL the projectiles, the original round I would have fired happily but now after a tumbler NOT A CHANCE!!!

Also the Mil ammo used macuric primers which did have the bad habit of stuffing barrel, the best trick and you may not believe me was boiling water down the barrel, it cleaned up the barrel fast removing the residue and it was hot enough to dry! then use your normal cleaners.

Yip I'm with the Tertle on this one, heres my post from a similiar thread a while ago-

Originally Posted by big_foot

I remember one of my first times out shooting a fulla took me up for some goats, gave me his .222 and he took an old .303 with ammo that looked a lot worse than that. After we both emptied our mags I reloaded and continued to blast away then caught a glimps of my mate beside the fence ramming some #8 down the barrel. Had one only make it a couple of mm up the barrel, lucky it didnt go a bit further and allow him to chamber another round, but yea moral of the story its not really worth fucking around with.