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发帖数: 11154 | 1 http://www.ammoland.com/2010/10/13/surplus-ammunition/
The term “surplus” simply means an over supply; yet when used in
conjunction with militaria or pretty much anything to do with the
military, it often evokes used equipment or to some a substandard
product.
This most certainly isn’t the norm when discussing surplus ammunition,
and in fact, a lot of military ammo could be considered far superior to
the commercial grade ammo in the same calibers.
...
Today surplus ammo comes in many shapes, sizes and calibers, but yet
there remains a disagreement among shooters as to what is rightfully
classified as “surplus.” Even those in the business have very distinct
opinions – and some of it differs from the aforementioned American
surplus.
International surplus ammo, say some experts can be identified from a
number of key distinctive aspects.
“Generally it has these characteristics: it is foreign, it is military
de-commissioned, it was produced many years ago - at least 10-25,
sometimes much older - and it should come in air and water tight
packaging, its markings are typically in a foreign language - unless
British of course - and the markings should be in metric units. Finally
its generally cheaper than new production ammo,” says Dustin of
LuckyGunner.com. Despite the moniker of “surplus,” it isn’t always
readily available.
While the very nature of surplus was ammo that was simply dumped on the
market, as collectors bought it up, shot it off and wanted more, surplus
ammo has become less common.
“There are always two sides to every coin. In this case, supply and
demand is what controls how easy it is to obtain.”
...
Surplus Ammo Safe to Shoot?
The other notable concern about surplus ammo isn’t just whether the
supply will dry up, but rather whether the ammo is generally safe to
shoot. Most shooters and collectors say the bigger danger is the
potential damage it can do to a rare firearm.
“There is no surplus ammunition that I would consider dangerous today,”
says Summerhill. He does note that old Carcano ammo from World War II
was considered dangerous, but the problem wasn’t the rifle, but rather
the conditions used to make the rounds. “That ammo was made under slave
labor in North Africa, and it was forced labor. So there was sabotage
going on, and as a result shooters after the war experienced bad ammo. “
The results could include gases that could come back into the shooters
face. He notes there has been some issues with 303 British coming out of
Afghanistan that includes worrisome problems such as “hang fire.” A
similar problem has been encountered with some Yugoslavian ammo,
including hang fire and failure to fire, but he says that keeping the
ammo in a warm space “seems to bring the ginger back to the primer.”
However, Summerhills says that much of the Cold War ammo is very good,
notably the supplies coming from Romania. If anything, he adds the
problem isn’t the reliability or the safety but the contents of the
bullets.
“My main concern besides safety is the corrosive primers,” says Wozny.
“I know that the ‘older,’ as in 1940s, 1950s and 1960s stuff is most
likely corrosive but some surplus ammunition even made in the 1980s and
1990s - such as the French made - are corrosive. You can’t always trust
the distributor to know, so you need to do some research.”
This is a real concern, as a lot of the surplus ammo hitting the market
these days includes salt-based primers or those with corrosive chemicals
high in mercury.(IE: Berdan Mercury Primers) For those in a dry climate,
as well as those who clean the bore with ammonia based Windex right
after use and normal gun car within 24 to 48 hours this shouldn’t be
much of a problem however.
As such the worry isn’t really justified.
“There is a lot of misinformation out there,” says Summerhill. “If you
keep the gun clean the ammo isn’t a problem. But issues like this can
result in a bias against surplus ammo that just isn’t warranted.” | L*******r
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