war 45acp ammo circa 1918 question

shootuadeal

i have several boxes of 45 acp on half-moon clips in long rectangular boxes that were military issue. my question is: on one side of the box it reads "after discharging cartridges immediatly de-cap and place in water" and other instructions. why does it say that? was it because they are corrosive or what. i figured someone here would know but if i need to i will post pictures of it tomorrow.

perry shooter

They needed to be cleaned after firing if they were to be reloaded.

MIKE WISKEY

probably the corrosive mucuric priming they used then. it would corrode and weaken the brass.

mark christian

Mercury based primers will weaken the brass after firing and this needed to be neutralized right away. In reality mercury primers were non corrosive (hell on brass, fine for steel) and it was not until the introduction of potassium chloride based primers (which did not harm brass) that the issue of corrosion raised it's ugly head.

Hawk Carse

I don't know why they said that, but...
First, I thought the US Army quit using mercuric primers in 1898 during the Krag and .38 Long Colt era.
Second, water would not dissolve the metallic mercury left after firing a mercuric primed cartridge.
Third, many mercuric priming compoungds were also corrosive with a chlorate ingredient.

v35

Mercuric primers were used till 1899 and discontinued because they damaged brass and deteriorated in a short time. They were replaced
by chlorate based primers which were reliable but corrosive to gun barrels. These were used through WW1 & WW2 (except for 30 Carbine) till about 1949.

givette

This begs the question: Early 20th Century Army procedure was to re-load? Why else include that statement about water immersion/de-capping at all?

Did they reload as standard practice at one time? Thanks, Joe
EDIT
Post immediately below: Thanks, Perry Shooter. Best, Joe

perry shooter

I think reloading was more of a norm years ago when we went through the transition between muzzle loading "where every shot was RELOADING[:I]" and the first cartridge firearms. Also many cartridges had names like "everlasting" evidently these were designed to be reloaded over and over. On top of that the NUTCRACKER style of hand tool was VERY popular. I have some factory boxes of military 230 grain 45Cal. projectiles made for reloading and have seen military reloading machines. Most of the first STAR progressive presses were sold to police departments , as back then the police would actually PRACTICE instead of just qualifying once a year.

shootuadeal

thanks alot for all of your resonses. i listed a couple of these boxes for sale on the auction side, if any of you are interested. im not sure how much they are worth but i think i started it low enough. what do you guys think?

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=143402494

Laredo Lefty

I recently aquired some 1918 .45acp ammo. I took some to the range to try out. They fired but with a slight delay almost like a flintlock. I was a little surprised that they fired at all............ Then I took my gun to the car wash.

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