51 year old Chinese made ammo!

[03Lightningrocks]

The ammonia smell is of the nitrocellulose powder breaking down i.e. degrading. If you can pull a bullet and get a look at the powder it will probably have a powdery coating. The brass cases can be compromised by the attack from the ammonia in some instances, which would be my biggest concern. Have you seen any split cases? If you can smell it it means the case sealant, if any, has lost it's properties and moisture could get in exacerbating the corrosiveness of the ammonia. But hey I'm still shooting some .22 WMR and .22 LR from the 1960's.

Are those brass cases or copper-washed steel?

Good question. Let me try to hit them with a magnet. Stand by.

They must be copper washed steel. A magnet sticks to them like glue.

[03Lightningrocks]

Pull one and check if you like, but given that it's old com-bloc ammo, it's almost certainly berdan-primed, and therefore useless for reloading unless you have a specialized berdan punch and spare berdan primers. I wouldn't worry about internal corrosion, unless it was causing problems. Just my take on it.

Out of curiousity, what are you shooting this from?

Just saw your question. Only my "junker" SKS and my "junker" AK47. I was concerned it would be corrosive, so I don't use it in my nice AK's or SKS's.

[03Lightningrocks]

Shoot it.

Or give it to me.

HaHaHa... OK...I believe I will choose shoot it.