Thread: Military surplus ammo

Poorly stored ammo shows tarnishing and corrosion, and this is cause to be wary of misfires and much worse, hangfires! If using ammo of this kind and you get a misfire, slowly count to ten before opening the bolt, and keeping the rifle pointed downrange. Hangfires usually go off within a couple of seconds so you have a safety margin before opening the bolt. If one goes off just as you get the bolt unlocked then you can suffer serious (possibly fatal) injury. The alternative is to pull the ammo and save the powder and projectile, reprime with fresh primers, and reload the components. The powder is usually OK, the problem lies in the primers.

Originally Posted by gundoc

Poorly stored ammo shows tarnishing and corrosion, and this is cause to be wary of misfires and much worse, hangfires! If using ammo of this kind and you get a misfire, slowly count to ten before opening the bolt, and keeping the rifle pointed downrange. Hangfires usually go off within a couple of seconds so you have a safety margin before opening the bolt. If one goes off just as you get the bolt unlocked then you can suffer serious (possibly fatal) injury. The alternative is to pull the ammo and save the powder and projectile, reprime with fresh primers, and reload the components. The powder is usually OK, the problem lies in the primers.

This appears to be the stuff in question.