old gunner
Get a copy of Hatcher's Notebook and read the chapter on Gun Corrosion and Ammunition Developments. It discusses the old Acid Gas Diffusion theory and the Bureau of Mines research, but they (Bureau of Mines) concluded that gas had nothing to do with the corrosion.
Right.
I didn't word the sentence well and seem to have dropped a word or two when trying to edit it
I'd typed
His point was that the CN itself didn't corrode bores, and that a preious theory of corrosive gases of combustion was the cause, he proved those points, but he left the impression that CN wasn't responsible in anyway.
If he'd gone into the residues of the salts he'd have made things easier to understand.
I'd meant to say he'd proven his point by having disproved both the theory of the metal causing the corrosion, (through some bimetal electric field perhaps), and also disproved the previous theory of trapped gases.
I should have proof read that post better. I was getting onto that author for his awkward wording, and made the same error.
Then again I doubt he had a twelve pound cat laying across his arm while he was trying to type.
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The salts were the cause by drawing moisture from the air, the salts being hygroscopic. But the salts were trapped under the CN fouling, this is effect is explained fairly well in Farrows Manual of military training. If all CN was not removed before storage bores could develop blisters in the smooth surface of the fouling showing that corrosion was taking place, by then pitting was well advanced.
I have Hatchers Notebook in PDF.
I found the Beareu of mines study on Google Books.
There are Chemical erosive effects from oxides of nitrogen and Nitrious acid compounds formed by Nitroglycerine's products of combustion, but these are transitory rather than a cause of corrosion later on.
Once the real cause (primers) was discovered and proper cleaning techniques and cleaning solutions were developed the old CN bullets were given a pardon. But by then GM bullets had been perfected and there was no reason to go back.
Nickel fouling is still harder to remove, but with non corrosive primers its not as much of a problem.
I have seen Eastern Block pistol barrels that looked new bright and shiny till cleaned with strong solvents, the CN fouling having filled in pitting and left a bright shiny bore.
Also CN jacketed ammo found on the milsurp market is almost always corrosive primed, I wouldn't use it.
Plus CN has a tendency to clump up, with patches of fouling becoming more and more restrictive in the bore till they peel away leaving a void.
True, there are some bullets made with copper jackets, and even copper solids, but the majority are still GM jacketed.
My main point in all of this is that there is nothing inherently bad in brass jackets or solid brass bullets for that matter.
Ray
All the bullets I've used other than milsurp or recently manufactured milspec ammo has had copper alloy jackets.
Solid Bronze bullets are no new thing, they've been around since the early Lebel loads.
I've given some thought to turning bullets from rods of bronze alloy, I have an old catalog that lists these for laboratory work.
A better solution would seem to be cast Zinc alloy such as kirksite
The zinc alloy would give a bullet of 60% of the weight of lead bullet thrown by the same mold. Unfortunately if you cast zinc in a mold once used for lead the zinc bullets crystalize in a few eweeks and can crumble under pressure.
