Opinions on tarry bullet sealant - factory ammo

[Wapiti]

Guys I would like your opinion on this tarry, sticky stuff I found when pulling some bullets. Actually in the end, it will be 800 in all if I keep on it over time.

Some may remember a while ago, I posted this issue I had with the factory 7.62 NATO Winchester ammo loaded with the 135gn Sierra varminter. It was available for $25/box of 20 and I bought a heap. This is the projectile we primarily use here to thin out critters (in my handloads with 2206H) and is excellent at that.
So this factory ammo should be more of a good thing but after a few marked overloads, the last where the case brass flowed in around the extractor and right into the ejector hole, locking the bolt shut, I pulled some and found wildly varying powder charges, some strange ball powder, and the Garmin chrony showed velocities OVER 3200fps... way over the box speed of 3000.
Anyone interested, I detailed all of this in that post.
I also pulled 60 cartridges, stuffed around with the chrony and re-used the powder, and settled on a load (using the same powder, re-used) of 46gns instead of the up to 48+ that was in the factory load. That gave me just over 3000fps in a 20" barrel.

Anyway, I finally got around to start doing some more - pulling them, resizing the necks down again after pulling and was about to start up the RCBS thrower.
BUT I noticed this black, tarry sealant on the bullets I was pulling.
When tipping out the powder, I noticed a ring of ball powder stuck down inside the neck where there was a ring of sealant pushed down when seating the projectile at the factory. And the projectiles have this black sh*t on them still.

pulled1.jpg (690.4 KiB) Viewed 626 times

How I pulled the bullets, using a collet puller in an old press clamped in the vice on an angle frame, for odd jobs.

I don't know if you can see in this pic, the black tar on the projectiles that have been pulled.
Now the first 60 I pulled months ago did not have this tar on them, but this batch number is the same.
Now, some may remember that this ammo was made in Winchesters' military ammo plant, and is headstamped WMA, and is thicker brass in the body and necks that the normal alfoil-thin crap Winchester uses in its sporting 308 ammo. So great cases for re-using.
Apologies, I should've taken a pic especially of the projectiles, I thought I did. But I've locked the shed up for the day, too lazy to hobble back down there.

pulled2.jpg (685.87 KiB) Viewed 626 times

SO - the question is, what do you blokes who've reloaded a heap of old military cartridges over the years, think this black tarry sh*t will do burning up screeching down the barrel?
I plan to use it mostly in an autoloading rifle, for which parts in Australia unobtanium (especially with that mongoloid Albanese winding up the powers of customs and the AG's department that approves this stuff coming in), and some quite expensive rifles too that I don't want to compromise.
What do youse reckon?
Is this normally done?
Is it bad?

[Wm.Traynor]

Wapiti,
Try www.ozfclass.com
An old shooter/chemist, concocted a mixture for removing that stuff from the bores of a team of fullbore shooters who were visiting Canada (I think). This was back in the Olden Days; about 60 years ago.
If necessary, I will pm you his name.
Good luck

[Jorlcrin]

As far as getting the tarry gunk off, I'd suggest trying Orange Oil (D-Limonene).
You can buy tins of it as a (non-mineral-oil) paint thinner, but it works well on removing tarry gunk like old REGO stickers etc.

Might affect certain plastics, but for most things, it's a lot safer option than most other gunk-removers, and much kinder on your hands.

I've bought the tins of pure D-Limonene from Mitre 10 in the past(Paint section), but they also sell a spray called D-Solve-It, which is diluted with alcohol(I think).

There was also a small orange 100ml bottle sold by Planet Ark through our local Foodworks Supermarket, called 'Orange Power', which seems to be pure D-Limonene, and is sold for removing stickers, tar and other gunk.
Used to be able to buy it by the box in town, until the freight companies decided the D-Limonene is scarey to transport.
Weirdly, same freight companies will still happily ship pallets of insect spray and mentholated spirits to the same retailers, (MUCH more combustible), but that D-Limonene is too scarey dangerous to ship...
[Found this out by contacting the manufacturers....sigh]

My experience is that D-Limonene seems to work the best for removing that sort of crud.
Cant see that sort of gunk going through your Gas system would be a good thing; especially given the dire lack of parts for repair, these days....

[Wapiti]

Thanks heaps guys.
Wm.Traynor, geeze that site is a can of worms. Scared me.
Jorlcrin, that stuff in the orange bottle - my wife has a couple stashed at the places, I ask for it when I crack up over those paper labels that are stuck to anything made in China a mess on whatever cheap Bunnings tool I buy, then kick myself for buying it. She guards those bottles.

If I hadn't pulled the bullets Id've never known what is in some ammo.
I understand that they seal the bullet in ammo that's going to be in rain and humidity, or worse in someone coming out of the water.
But one wonders what the crap will do and what I turns into, carbon-wise, when it is burned up. carbon being hard as diamonds, of so they say.

I did consider swishing the bullets in thinners, that would dry fast too especially with a hit with a heat gun after, but it's the cases.
There's varying amounts of the tiny powder balls stuck to it inside the cases, big deal I can allow for a drop in powder by 1/2 a grain when I recharged them and just have to suck up the inconsistency.
My "tests" show that 1/2gn up and down doesn't make a lick of difference in the rifles I use for the task.
46.5gns gave an average of just over 3000fps but I'll drop it to 46 because of this extra powder stick inside the case on the tar.

But the primers are heavily ring-crimped in the cases and trying to decap them if not fired first to wash the tar out with solvent is not what I'd call a good idea.
And all because I'm suss on the crap they've sealed the bullets with in their el-cheapo procedure.
Decapping them when fired is easy enough, as is a few turns with a flash hole reamer.

The clear or tinted green, purple and red acrylic sealants we used to see in all the 7.62 surplus ammo that was everywhere in the '80's and 90's to seal the projectiles (and primers too) seemed to be pretty benign and we never saw a trace of it when cleaning guns, but sticky tar?

I suppose Winchester doesn't give a toss, this tar will be burned up on the way down the bore and I bet they couldn't care less about the result afterwards, just that the ammo meets the specs to keep water out. Dirty or damaged bores aren't their consideration.
Buyer beware.
I bought 800 rounds of this stuff in cartons of 200, and just found an 870 round metal "military ammo can" full too. F**k.
Maybe I'm being overly concerned for nothing.

[Zach]

Hopefully this link works. A forum post from '09 about this tarry sealant in a couple different gas guns. A few mentions of gunking up tight and/or fluted chambers in HK style guns with similar tar sealed 7.62 while others had fired many thousands of them without issue.

https://www.falfiles.com/threads/sa-7-6 ... nt.267435/

No personal experience, but I imagine the gas system would need some extra cleaning every now and then too.

[Wm.Traynor]

Wapiti,
re ozfclass, click on forums, then "Equipment and Technical"

[Damo300]

I've noticed this stuff in the 150g PPU 300wm. Horrible.
I'm assuming it's a sealant of sorts.

I certainly pull the lot and clean everything up before reloading with my own pills and powder. Pain in the arse to pull too. I only got one of those hammer type pullers. I drop a sponge in the base to catch the pills so not to damage them.
That crap sort of reminds me of that old windscreen sealant where you can wipe it off, but it sticks like S to B.

[Wapiti]

Wapiti,
re ozfclass, click on forums, then "Equipment and Technical"

I'll check it out mate. Thanks to all for the links too.

I stuck my head into the loading room later this arvo after coming back in, looked at the cases I'd just resized the necks of with a 3 thou tension bushing yesterday, thought, maybe I'll just put them all back together as is and went, nah.

[Wapiti]

I've noticed this stuff in the 150g PPU 300wm. Horrible.
I'm assuming it's a sealant of sorts.

I've got a heap of that stuff, shoots quite well in the field. I'm going to pull one and have a look and if it's in that too, I'm going to be extremely disappointed.

[Wapiti]

I pulled some PPU 300 Win mag bullets today, 150gn soft point and 168gn Match, admittedly only one each, as I still had the neck die set up with the correct bushing for PPU 300 for 3 thou neck tension.
There was no sign whatsoever of any sealant or tar, or anything else. Not in my stash anyway, thank goodness.

[Damo300]

I just pulled a PPU 150gr / 9,7g 300wm and it's definitely on them.

Screenshot_2026-09-29-19-18-27-12_99c04817c0de5652397fc8b56c3b3817.jpg (336.21 KiB) Viewed 491 times

[Damo300]

Yuk!

Screenshot_2026-09-29-19-19-02-94_99c04817c0de5652397fc8b56c3b3817.jpg (378.45 KiB) Viewed 491 times

[Wapiti]

A picture tells a thousand words Damo, thanks for posting that.

When I first pulled all those Winchester cartridges months ago to work out the variable powder charges, and the overloads, I never noticed the tar I did this time. It would've been obvious.
I wonder why the inconsistency.
Or why the PPU I pulled had none, and yours did.
I will try another couple of boxes. Not that there is anything I can do about it.

[Wapiti]

Oh by the way, a mate come out for a visit from Brisbane and saw the pile of 308 primed cases from this issue on the reloading bench.
I said I'd asked for opinions on a forum, this one. He is not a member.
But he is a member of another, AHN, which he amuses himself with at work sometimes at Smoko at the antics there.
Edit: He never posts anything, he is one of the million "lurkers" there, or so they call them, that will not as he says, lower himself to get into online arguments with the 20 or so armchair experts on there posting from their bedrooms 24hrs a day. Hey, not my words, his. It's only for amusement, like watching a car crash as he says.
He reckoned that someone here went on there with my original post and made their own post about it, quoting my info and asking the members there their opinions.
The replies he got, I'm trying to be polite here, was that some of them shoot this ammo even in their imagination and there is nothing wrong with it.
Even with my recording and posting of every bullet pulled, the powder weights in each recorded and provided, the batch numbers from the boxes, the impossible velocities even in the shorter barrel (20"), nope.
Nothing wrong with it. The blown primers one after another and then the extruded brass into every nook and cranny of one of the strongest actions on the market, nope.

Either that site is populated with (deleted), or that there are huge differences between batches.

I'm going to pull the bullets on some more PPU .300 and have a look. From some half used boxes I've found real accurate and have used on game, and the target versions too.
And I will try some 308 150gn as well.

[Wapiti]

Hey Damo, there's sealant/tar on both types of 300WM projectile made by PPU I have too.

300WM.jpg (690.88 KiB) Viewed 451 times

I did some searching online at smoko, and found some mention of a lot of European ammo makes seal their cartridges as a matter of course, due to the wet outdoor conditions hunters routinely walk around with. Seems like it's unusual to us.
As well, military ammo, or any that militaries will purchase for offensive use is sealed, the 168gn 300 is apparently used by some European defence forces too, didn't say which one, as precision rifle ammo.
AND apparently it's all burned up and is not supposed to have any undue fouling or wear issues, but who really knows.
So I was informed. But I can't confirm whether this is actually true.
It may be that I am worried for nothing. Hope so.

[Wapiti]

To all who've wondered, or those who are just bored, here's a pic of some of the pulled 135gn Sierra bullets from the WMA-21 headstamped 7.62x51 military-plant loaded ammo from the plain white boxed stuff.

135gnSealant.jpg (682.82 KiB) Viewed 448 times

Yee ha.

[Damo300]

Hey Damo, there's sealant/tar on both types of 300WM projectile made by PPU I have too.

300WM.jpg

I did some searching online at smoko, and found some mention of a lot of European ammo makes seal their cartridges as a matter of course, due to the wet outdoor conditions hunters routinely walk around with. Seems like it's unusual to us.
As well, military ammo, or any that militaries will purchase for offensive use is sealed, the 168gn 300 is apparently used by some European defence forces too, didn't say which one, as precision rifle ammo.
AND apparently it's all burned up and is not supposed to have any undue fouling or wear issues, but who really knows.
So I was informed. But I can't confirm whether this is actually true.
It may be that I am worried for nothing. Hope so.

Makes sense why they seal them.
No doubt the burn factor of this substance has been tested and I'm sure they'd give honest results, however I will still ere on the side of caution and continue cleaning the brass before is use it.
I'm even cautious of oil in the bore now and have started to pull a cloth through before I put rifle in the gun bag to go hunting.

[Fester]

We all get caught out with too cheap sales deals on occasion, but I have never shot anything military, just hear too many bad things to chance using it in my guns.

[Wapiti]

Mate in the 90's we shot so much of that stuff from L1A1's and M14's to control pigs. there was some sh*t, and some very good stuff out there.
Nobody pulled the bullets and replaced them, that was for the people with nothing else to do far away from where the pigs lived.
I'd spend 30-45 minutes every second or third evening grinding the tips on a Kmart bench grinder clamped to a wood post till I saw the point of lead, maybe making the 144gn European stuff maybe 140. It worked very well.
I recall the US stuff for the M14's was 150gn.
I remember distinctly a weekend shooter came out with us as a hang on and said, that's bodgy, won't work. I use this fancy-pants stuff, costs more so is better. Fair enough, but this work was costing everyone a fortune as it was and cheap wooden crates with 800-1200 7.62 cartridges was a huge saving for struggling graziers.

Anyway there was this mob of pigs I cleaned up from the back with a H&R M14 with a 4x Leupold scope, a full mag. The bloke watched in amazement as the skin on many of them was peeled back around the impact points like the crease lines on a giant date hole. He never criticised this method after that.

Nothing wrong with ex-mil ammo in the more modern cartridges, from the reputable companies. This is post-mercuric primers, strange brittle brass and stick-like spaghetti cordite. And rust pits starting overnight in the salts left behind as they sucked in the humidity from the air.
I never had bullets back then try and blow up the strongest rifle actions made nowadays as this 135gn stuff does though. The name "Winsh*tter" now seems relevant.

On the precision military ammo meant to pick off naughty terrorists and the inbred neanderthals... who only stop trying to blow people up or marry children when they stop to fold out their prayer mats and beg for the 72 virgins their fantasy begs them to believe (virgins won't complain about tiny todgers and 3-stroke wonders, after all)... it's bloody good stuff mate. Match projectiles, big name brands etc from makers who love the big contracts and income that performance brings.

[Fester]

Yeah, you can sure see why blokes chipped in and bought those bulk ammo deals, and pig shooters would justify it.
Ammo use is cheap for me, unless shooting dirt, then I need the precision.

Winshi_ter started this race to the bottom with ammo QC that shouldn't have been allowed to happen.
Although it's a very high-volume production thing, it's also an explosive device.
They get nothing from my wallet, since the Aussie-made .22 LR ammo went away.

Some blokes are just so slow to catch on; you hear the stories like, " The Winchester Precision deer ammo shoots so well, and a good deal, Then it's, "That forest buck just looked at me and bolted when the bullet didn't go off"

Better to pay $8 a shot than have that happen.