Cleaning Aluminium Tanaka Cartridges

Post by Spencerman

I know that I have seen this mentioned somewhere else on this forum, but I'll be buggered if I can find it now that I want to, so, here is the problem in the problem section.

I have not encountered this problem until the other day when I wanted to give a couple of my guns a jolly good thrashing, and decided that to make things easy, I would use the same cartridges for all of them, rather than use different types for each. So, I loaded up my H&K USP and my Sig P226 (both made by tanaka) with the real look cartridges, and made sure that they were both well oiled up etc.

I started with the USP.

Chambered the first round, fired it, and jam. Cleared the jam, chambered the next round, fired it, and jam. Third round, same thing.

I got rather annoyed as this continued, and I wasnt about to go through 15 rounds like this, so I unloaded the weapon.

Next I went on the P226.

Chambered the first round, fired it, and jam. Cleared the jam, chambered the next round, fired it, and jam. Third round, same thing.

Again I was not going to go through all the rounds this way, so I loaded them into my 92F (which also jammed a couple of times, but I was too pissed off to care at this point).

Now, I am considering stripping out the real look pin from both guns and throwing them in the bin, I am so annoyed with them.

Has anyone else had the same problem and managed to overcome it? I never really had it at first, but then I didnt give them a good run through until now. If it were not for this fact I would say that maybe it needs a good clean, but this is all fine.


Next problem.

I have not seen this mentioned anywhere else on the forum, but I have had it with about ten of the Tanaka rounds so far, and was partly the reason that I wanted to change. They look great. They work great. They are more fiddly than removing a bra to put together. Trouble I have had is once they are fired. I cannot get the bloody tip off. Then they start to corrode because I havent cleaned them, but I cant clean them because I cant remove the tip and it is getting more and more solid as time goes on. Eventually I have binned them, and have ended up with a grand total of 5 left now, which are still unfired. If I switch back to these, not only do I have to lay out for a load more cartridges, but I still worry that I will only be able to use them for one or two shots before I cannot remove the tip again. I dont want to use pliers as they will damage the cartridge.

Any suggestions?
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Post by oakers

Have you tried wd40 on the rounds at the joint before you unscrew the tips?

Post by kickback


Hi Spencerman,

If the cartridges are that tough to unscrew then the thread has probably become fouled with gun powder residue,the best method is to soak the shells in vinegar or a mixture of vinegar and baking soda,that should loosen them up.

Kickback

Post by Claymore

I had this problem with my USP and have mentioned on the forum but god knows where.
I manged to get about 2 rounds to fire from mine then a jam jam jam you get the picture, also one jam ended up breaking my barrel and cracking the slide.
The real look rounds appear to be larger than the tanaka ones and the slide on my USP would never go full home, to get these rounds to work i think takes more adjustment to the barrel although i am not sure that would work. As i say the rounds are bigger for instance the mac 11 real look rounds are a lot bigger and you can only get about 16 in a mag, i have had some success with the 11 but not great so i went back to the proper rounds.

I really dont think the real look rounds are worth the effort, i bought them as the seals on the tanaka round blow off and break and become a pain but at least they work. I have now gone back to the tanaka rounds and the guns work great again.

As for them getting rusted together as kickback says baking soda and vinigar in water should help or soak in wd but at the end of the day you need to clean straight after firing, not that you need to be told that now

Post by Mark

Warning The use of vingar will cause damage to the Tanaka aluminum "bullet" due to the vinegars acidic nature. The amount of time that the aluminum bullet should be in the baking soda/vingar solution should be a matter of seconds not hours or minutes as i am sure that the bullets will dissolve if left in the solution for long periods of time..The best "fix" for this problem is to soak the cartridges in a good penetrating oil and then try to remove the bullet after a few days.

The Tanaka cartridges are a pain to load and they have those terrible little 5mm O-rings. But, the Tanaka cartridges rarely have problems and i like them as they work the best..

The moral of the story is to clean your cartridges,magazines and modelguns thoroughly after firing them regardless if you don't really like them and never plan to use them again.
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Wanted to buy: MGC Sten MK3....trades?(still)

MGC MP40 Marushin MP40 Nakata MP40 TRC MP40

Modelgun manufacturers, past and present:CMC,CAW,Hudson,HWS,LS,MGC(R.I.P. 1960's~2007) Marushin,Marui,Kokusai,Shoei,Tanaka and Western Arms

Post by reemo

You can also use a product named CLR for badly fouled cartridges and inner chambers.

If it looks like a tiny "coal mine" in your chamber, give it a dunk in CLR (CLR stands for Calcium Lime Rust).

Also, dont be afraid to use brake cleaner. That is how we scrub badly fouled inner gun barrels. (On Yugoslavian AK's etc)

Liquid wrench is another option.

I have Marushin cartridges that jam like that once filthy.

What makes matters worse on Marushin (UZI) cartridges is that the threads are towards the rear. Constant slamming from the bolt makes the rear of the bullet "swell".....the threads get even tighter as the shell deforms.

Advice? If you can get them apart? POLISH THE THREADS with a good metal cleaner such as Noxon or No 7 brand........not sure if these products are in the UK, but they have been stateside for decades.
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