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Ammunition maintenance

VIPER5051

Private
Minuteman
Jan 26, 2010
4
0
34
Indiana
i was reading a book on the history of snipers and ran accross something odd. it said that snipers used to polish their ammo back in WWI. i can see the advantages in feeding but does it help accuracy? if so what would you use to polish ammo? hopefully i put this in the right section as ii just joined. thank you in advance.
 
Re: Ammunition maintenance

Depends.

If the ammo was old or poorly kept and corroded badly I could see it. However polishing match ammo might actually be a bad thing. If you get the cases too smooth or use a polish that acts as a lubricant then you can increase bolt thrust because the case can't grip the chamber walls when it swells under pressure.
 
Re: Ammunition maintenance

In Vietnam we would paint around the bullet at the neck and over the primer with nail polish because of the dampness and humidity.

I still do that with the ammo I have in my side arm magazines.
 
Re: Ammunition maintenance

I don't know about WWI, but it must be something that the real snipery types do because Berringer did it in Sniper
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Re: Ammunition maintenance

Ok here goes ww1 trenchs dirty rats gas lots of mud I think they had to take care of there ammo we as people today can not relate what those guys seen and did there I said it
 
Re: Ammunition maintenance

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: pale horse</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Ok here goes ww1 trenchs dirty rats gas lots of mud I think they had to take care of there ammo we as people today can not relate what those guys seen and did there I said it </div></div>

+1... Pretty much what I was thinking of. From what I've seen, WW1 was not a fun place to be. My maternal grandfather told me that he had a time when his feet weren't dry for several weeks at a time. Every time it rained the trenches became a mud hole from the ponding of the rain water. He said that the water keeping the feet wet caused a lot of problems for a lot of the men over there. I have seen on TV and in books where "trenchfoot" was a real danger to loosing a foot or leg.

My vote is to keep the ammo clean and maybe better water resistant.
 
Re: Ammunition maintenance

thanks. i figured it wouldnt be anything all that substantial but it always bothered me. i have some relatively dirty milsurp ammo for my Mosin Nagant that i thought about cleaning up(i am waiting to get enough money to buy all the supplies i need to reload ammo myself). i have heard that it would be a bad idea to put loaded ammo in a brass tumbler but anyone know an easy way to do alot of ammo?
 
Re: Ammunition maintenance

WWi Brit ammo used a silver coloured metal for the bullet- used to grow verdegries real quick. Sniping was seldom at long range but keeping ammo clean was a real effort (Great grandfather used a .500 Jefferies for anti sniping supression-The Brits used many colonial hunters for this job). Good aircrew used to chamber check every round they loaded into belts or drums...sometimes as much as 10% wouldn't chamber! Have photo's from east Africa where my grandfather was W. Bells gunner...showing them checking the ammo and also how much of it was 'scrap'!
 
Re: Ammunition maintenance

Interesting bit of history there - thanks for posting that!

I use a headspace gauge to check all of my reloads which will be shot in competition, which is a lot easier than checking them in a chamber.

Actually, I check factory handgun loads, too, because an autoloading pistol may have function problems with marginal cartridges which a bolt gun will not.
 
Re: Ammunition maintenance

thanks for all the info everyone. by the way the book i read it in was "Out of nowhere : a history of the military sniper" by martin pegler. it is a good read if you ever get the chance. goes from the renaisance to modern day and has a lot of cool info. i am really starting to love this site!
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