Original 30-06 ammo, Corrosive or not?

[Rickf1985]

I found some original, still in the sealed boxes M2 Ball ammo for my 03A3. My dad had bought thousands of rounds of surplus ammo throughout the years and reloaded it as needed. These were in an ammo box that was either forgotten or just never opened after he bought it. the boxes are marked BALL
Caliber 30 M2
Ammunition lot U
16506

The head stamp on the rounds is U and 42.

Information

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[rcathey]

All Utah Ordnance 30-06 is corrosive.
Should be easy enough to clean up a bolt gun when you’re done shooting though. Burn it up!

[Bruce_in_Oz]

Are you sure you want to open and fire off what is probably "collectors" ammo, especially in its original, sealed packaging?

The biggest problem most people make for themselves is they do not clean their valuable firearms with the same "enthusiasm' and thoroughness demanded of generations of service personnel around the globe.

I grew up consuming prodigious amounts of corrosively-primed .303 in an assortment of Lee Enfields and P-14s. Proper cleaning was drilled into me by my "elders" from day one.

Before the early 1950's, pretty much ALL small arms cartridges of any provenance were fitted with "corrosive" primers because they WORKED, in all manner of temperatures and humidities and so-forth AND they were, given even "casual" storage, reliably ignited, even after decades in the ammo bunker. All that was asked / demanded of the users was to clean their firearms PROPERLY.

The idea for a priming brew that would not rust barrels overnight was a wild dream for decades. Problems with inconsistent ignition and poor shelf-life needed to be solved.

I may be wrong, but it appears that the big breakthrough was largely to do with the introduction of the M-1 Carbine. The "tappet" gas system was not "user-maintainable" thus, to prevent grievous weapon failure, "non-corrosive" primers were essential, To the best of my knowledge, ALL U. S. -made .30 Carbine ammo was non-corrosive. HOWEVER, I have encountered some "after-market" lots from European and ESPECIALLY Chinese sources that do not meet those requirements at all. Everyone should be VERY wary of Carbine ammo with "odd" headstamps and / or "creative" packaging. See also the VERY dubious 7.62 NATO ammo from The old Czechoslovakian (Black primer cup), Bulgarian (copper-washed steel cases) and Chinese ( copper-washes steel cases with bogus Brit NATO headstamps)are all corrosively primed. Ditto ALL French .30-06, most of it from the early to mid-1950's.

Basically, treat ALL ammo as CORROSIVE until proven otherwise, Clean your guns as if the ammo were corrosive. New barrels are a lot more expensive than some good cleaning materials and practices.

If you are desperate to use this ammo, go ahead, but clean THOROUGHLY as soon as physically possible afterwards, especially if you are n a place with a warm, humid climate near the coast, like where I live. In such places, you can just about hear the rust forming on uncleaned (and un-oiled) guns.

[Bruce McAskill]

There is not a great collectors value in thes. Most boxes in prime shape and unopened go for no more then $20 a box. People do not realize how many billions of rounds of ammo were loaded in WW2. One plant alone was 4 billion .30-06 a year. And there is still a lot out there.

[Rickf1985]

If someone wants to buy it and makes a viable offer it is theirs. Unfortunately I did open both boxes. I may find more as I go on. I have tree full spam cans that are unopened but they are garand ammo in clips.

---------- Post added at 10:26 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:24 PM ----------

If someone wants to buy it and makes a viable offer it is theirs. Unfortunately I did open both boxes. I may find more as I go on. I have tree full spam cans that are unopened but they are garand ammo in clips. I also have several boxes of 30-40 Krag ammo that I have no use for.

[Rickf1985]

Never thought of opening from the bottom, mainly since that would involve cutting the box. I have quite a few boxes since dad reloaded and would put the reloads back in the original boxes. If I come across anymore I will not open them.

[Sunray]

"...sure you want to open..." Too late for that. Box is open.
This guy says the Utah Ordnance Plant only produced ammunition during WWII and all production was corrosive. It's at the bottom.
USGI Ammo Primer Guide (Corrosive vs Non-Corrosive) **For Reference Use**

[pocketshaver]

the only ammunition made in world war two that wasn't corrosive was for the m1 carbine.

[Frank46]

I believe the French loaded M1 carbine with corrosive primers. From what I've read it's way beyond the mildly corrosive moniker some dealers use when selling corrosive ammo. From where I'm at, it's either corrosive or not and there is no such thing as mildly corrosive. Frank

[Bruce_in_Oz]

I remember the French 1950's / 60's vintage .30-06 in brass and steel cases.

Corrosive?

You could hear your barrel rusting as it cooled down! A LOT of FN-49 and Garand barrels demised because of that stuff in the hands of the unknowing or uncaring.