The Russian Mosin Nagant Forum

Well, I ordered a sealed can of surplus Russian ammo from SGA last week and it arrived yesterday. This ammo is already loaded in 5-round stripper clips, packed 3 clips to a box that looks like it was designed to go in the little leatherette ammo pouches that often accompany a Mosin Nagant rifle as an accessory. Anyway, I pried the can open with a pair of pliers and a really strange, rather strong odor came out of the can. It was kind of hard to describe since I'd never smelled such an odor before. Not foul or particularly unpleasant, just odd. Do (or did) the Russians pack that ammo with some kind of gas to prevent corrosion or something? Anyone know what that smell might have been? The smell is gone this morning; I can't smell it on the ammo or the boxes, and I've already thrown the metal container away. Just curious, not particularly concerned.

70 year old borscht fart?

There is a thread going somewhere that is talking about that very thing. I think it is in the reloading and ammo forum.

I opened mine yesterday too. There was an odd odor from the rounds in the cardboard. I think it was some kind of preservative used on the rounds themselves.

Poison gas used to kill rodents in the ammo plant, very important not to get the slightest sniff of it or permanent brain damage will result

"DANE BRAMAGE?'.........eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeekkkkkkkkkkkkkkk!

You gotta be kimdhdtwidlkcyxrdjf

llems ddo yna eciton t'ndid I

I have noticed that quite a few times and the only thing I ever smelled close to it is a ropelike stuff we used to pack lead joints years ago when I was an active pipefitter in the commercial world. We used to call it oakum and if I remember right it was treated with something to make it swell when contacted with water or liquid after the lead was poured and the pipe was in service. Kind of almost smelled like liquorice and was almost oily to the touch. This was the old bell and spicot pipe where you set the pipe in place and pounded this stuff in place with packing irons. Then you melted the lead and used an asbestos wrap and clamp around the pipe and poured the molten lead in till the joint was filled. God how we have advanced to better and safer systems these days. That oakum was the only thing I ever smelled that was close to what comes out of those spam cans in a smell I ever recall. Bill

Smells like mine was oxidizing tin and galvanized metal, if they were gray/white in color. I get that same smell when I cut galvanized metal with a torch, or like they said " Deadly Battlefield Russian Rat Poison" ...left over from the WWII Extermination Camps.

Thats how they are getting rid of the radioactive gases from the Chernobyl plant.

I'll bet THAT's what it is!!!!! Does the ammo Glow in the Dark????

hieny wrote:I'll bet THAT's what it is!!!!! Does the ammo Glow in the Dark????

Only if you put it in a bucket of heavy water - the radiation needs the right stuff to bounce off of in order to give off a glow.

tinman507 wrote:70 year old borscht fart?

Hey...that's my joke!

Okay, this subject has been discussed in detail over on the reloading and ammo forum, if anyone is interested. Starting about page 3 with the smell. Here's a link: viewtopic.php?f=30&t=5182

I opened one yesterday and it had a odd smell too.. I was joking with my brother that I hope its not nerve gas or come form of chemical warfar.. lol

tinman507 wrote:70 year old borscht fart?

Mine smelled like pine sawdust. Probably what the cardboard is made from.

Jolly Green Chopper wrote:Smells like mine was oxidizing tin and galvanized metal, if they were gray/white in color. I get that same smell when I cut galvanized metal with a torch, or like they said " Deadly Battlefield Russian Rat Poison" ...left over from the WWII Extermination Camps.

Do not cut galvanized metal without a mask, it gives off Zinc oxide fumes when cut, and breathing that crap in can give you what is called metal fume fever, all the symptoms of the flu for about 24 hours. Get enough of it in you and it's hospital time.