.30 cal M1 Carbine LC 69 ammo, do I keep it?

[ccityguy]

So I went and ordered some of the Korean .30 M1 carbine surplus ammo from BulkAmmo.com. What showed up was a beat up rusty ammo can with 1080 rounds of Lake City LC 69 in a LC ammo can. I shot 10 rounds to check for function, no problems. My question is, did I stumble onto something good with the LC69 or should I return this and exchange for the 1980's Korean Surplus? Is one better than another?

Googled fu'd everywhere and the only real LC 69 explanations are for the M2 ball stuff.

 

[red_zr24x4]

LC62 will be American made.
The Korean I bought years ago for the M1 Garand was corrosive.
If the LC stuff is in good shape I'd keep it

 

[Colt556]

I would rather have the LC. Is it on stripper clips and in bandoliers or in boxes? I’d prefer it either way but the clips and bandoliers just ad to it IMHO.

 

[ccityguy]

Indeed, strippers, spoons and bandoliers included. Does it make sense to tumble it (loaded ammo) in walnut media to clean up the cartridges or just call it what it is and shoot/store it?

 

[BGDave]

The only LC 30 carbine to watch out for is LC 52. This is commie made and corrosive. I could be wrong about the date so waiting on AmmoManAaron to confirm.

 

[ccityguy]

I had seen that in multiple places to avoid the Chinese knockoff LC52 marked ammo, good to have that corroborated here.

 

[AmmoManAaron]

The only LC 30 carbine to watch out for is LC 52. This is commie made and corrosive. I could be wrong about the date so waiting on AmmoManAaron to confirm.

Confirmed. It's LC 52 headstamp, in tan boxes with blue lettering (in English!). The boxes have very little info and don't look like anything at all like other USGI ammo, so it's easy to tell it's the Chinese corrosive stuff. When loose, it's a *****. Externally, the Chinese did a good job of copying the USGI ammo. Any loose LC 52 I get, I pull it apart. The Chinese is berdan primed, the USGI is boxer. There is legitimate Lake City 1952 carbine ammo, so any boxer LC 52 gets put back together and shot. The pulled Chinese powder and projectiles get reloaded into once-fired GI brass. The Chinese brass get put into a perforated can which goes into the next bonfire - primers pop and the brass is contained - brass then goes to a scrap yard that buys cartridge brass.

The M-1/M-2 carbine gas system was not meant to be taken apart repeatedly, so I won't shoot corrosive ammo in it - you have to take it fully apart to get all of the corrosive residue out. I'll shoot corrosive ammo in other guns, but not a carbine. I would shoot that stuff in a Contender .30 carbine caliber barrel before I shot it in an M-1/M-2 carbine.

FWIW, the French surplus .30 carbine ammo is known to be corrosive as well.

 

[AmmoManAaron]

LC62 will be American made.
The Korean I bought years ago for the M1 Garand was corrosive.
If the LC stuff is in good shape I'd keep it

In 30-06, the Korean KA headstamp was corrosive and the PS headstamp was non-corrosive. A few lots of both kinds had bad brass and would very occasionally rupture lengthwise at the case head, usually splitting all the way through the primer pocket. A lot of bent parts and busted stocks were attributed to certain lots. If the Korean 30-06 is in boxes with lot numbers, it's worth doing some research.

With .30 carbine, I would prefer USGI but would run the Korean if that's what I ended up with. I'm still shooting some WWII USGI that looks brand new, but about half the cases split when fired. They split at the case mouth and part way down the body. My transferable M-2 carbine doesn't seem to care and I don't get any gas in the face, so I reserve it for shooting in places where I can't pick up my spent brass easily.

 

[red_zr24x4]

I know there's some Indian 308 to avoid, I can't remember the head stamp right off hand. There's a thread in the ammo section over at the M14 forum.
My brother had a ton of it, no problems out of his FAL. He gave me a mag full when I got my M1A, 2nd shot and the case head ruptured, blew the rest of the ammo out the bottom of the mag, no damage to the gun.

 

[AmmoManAaron]

I know there's some Indian 308 to avoid, I can't remember the head stamp right off hand. There's a thread in the ammo section over at the M14 forum.
My brother had a ton of it, no problems out of his FAL. He gave me a mag full when I got my M1A, 2nd shot and the case head ruptured, blew the rest of the ammo out the bottom of the mag, no damage to the gun.

The Indian is OFV. Sometimes it's amazing how much you can shoot before you hit one of the bad rounds.