Dud primers

[Kirk]

I came across a box of 100 M2 ball .30-06 cartridges headstamped FN 57. Every case was clean and not quite bright - the brass had just a hint or tarnish but zero corrosion or any other defect. Primers were sealed. I figured they were corrosive & planned to clean up as soon as the last one was fired.

Retiring to the range, out of the first thre rounds, I had two duds & 1 hangfire before I quit. Had to swab the barrel with soapy water for 1 round!

Back home, I pulled a bullet & found the powder looked & smelled OK. The case held 52.5 gr of what looked to be 4895. I pulled the bullets, poured the powder into freshly primed cases and then seated & crimped the bullets. I haven't been able to get back to the range yet.

I wanted to scrap the brass (Beardan primed) but did want to do so with live primers. I deactivated the primers by holding the cases over a propane torch untill the primers cooked off. About 80% went pfffft. A few went PFffffft. A few more smoked but made no sound. A few went Pop with flame visible at the mouth. One went BLAM, like a normal primer, blew the primer from the case & startled me. If you try this, aim the mouth & primer pocket away from you!

Even though these rounds looked OK, they were duds. I have no idea how this ammo was stored over the last 50 years but it made a difference. I'd expected them to be OK - I fully would expect USGI ammo to be OK.

Information

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[JB White]

Much safer to simply squirt a small spritz of WD-40 into the case to deactivate the primers.
You could also drop them into a bucket of soapy water. Let them soak for a day or two just to be sure.

[Dave]

You say "I'd expected them to be OK - I fully would expect USGI ammo to be OK." You are aware this was NOT USGI ammo, I'm sure.

[Emri]

FN 57 ammo was loaded by FN/Belgium and distributed in many South American countries. I have a bunck from Columbia. I haven't tried shooting any in a rifle yet, but tested the priming compound for corrosiveness and found it to be non-corrosive. The 2 I tested went off just fine.

FWIW,

Emri

[smle-man]

I had a bunch of this ammo a couple of years ago. Many would not fire in my 700 but did in an 03. I attributed this to primers that needed a really hard strike to ignite.

[Kirk]

Ermi:

I was told in an earlier posting than FN 57 was most likely corrosive so I didn't take a chance. As I torched the primers, I held a piece of steel (cleaned the surface with a file) over 6 or 7 cases as the primer went off. The next day, it was rusty & today heavily rusted!

[Emri]

Ermi:

I was told in an earlier posting than FN 57 was most likely corrosive so I didn't take a chance. As I torched the primers, I held a piece of steel (cleaned the surface with a file) over 6 or 7 cases as the primer went off. The next day, it was rusty & today heavily rusted!

I have tested more than a few different kinds using the steel plate method, but fired them in a rifle. I may well have been confused about the FN57.

Sorry,

Emri

[DaveHH]

a while back from Widner's. It was cheap but about 1 in 5 was a no-go. I changed firing pin springs in my BYF 44 and it made no difference. I think that a lot of this old ammunition was abused in storage and the sketchy ignition is the result.

[Jim K]

I had the same experience with some 7x57 loaded by FN around the same time. They could have had a bad batch of primers, or the ammo was improperly stored.

Incidentally, the reason the US kept corrosive primers through WWII was that the then relatively new non-corrosive primers had not been sufficiently tested for long term stability. Requiring GIs to clean their rifles was preferable to having ammo that failed to fire.

Jim

[Harlan (Deceased)]

You're correct Jim.

As an example, the military had a lot of concern when they learned the m1 carbine needed to use the 'new fangled' non-corrosive primers because the carbine gas system wasn't field serviceable.