Why Russian troops face deadly risks with north Korean ammo
The Russians primarily rely on ammunition supplies from North Korea, the quality of which is often questionable. We explain why ammunition from Kim Jong-un is sometimes more dangerous for the user than the enemy.
The Russians have long exhausted their ammunition stockpiles from Soviet times and, despite increased local production, they cannot meet demand. Hence, they have to resort to imports from abroad. One of the largest foreign suppliers of ammunition to Russia is North Korea, which provides significant quantities.
The quality of the received ammunition is notably poor, which has been criticized many times. Now a recording has emerged showing a three-person crew of a 57 mm S-60 anti-aircraft gun mounted on an MT-LB armoured personnel carrier during combat.
After loading the next magazine and firing a shot, the gun explodes, injuring three Russian soldiers. Detailed analysis shows that the gun's locking mechanism failed, and the entire force of the explosion was directed toward the crew. This could have happened for several reasons.
We explain the reasons for the explosion of the S-60 gun
It is possible that the locking system was already damaged or weakened due to material wear. However, a more likely cause was excessively high pressure in the cartridge chamber, which exceeded the safe pressure level multiple times and blew up the locking system.
The culprit in such cases is most often faulty ammunition. If the cartridges were stored in suboptimal conditions, e.g., for several decades in humidity, the propellant charge could degrade and change its burning rate. This must be within specific limits because too rapid burning causes a massive pressure increase and acts like a bomb.
This problem is known among civilian shooters, where the use of faster-burning pistol powder in the production of intermediate ammunition for rifles can have disastrous results. The principle is universal for larger calibres as well.
The second possibility is simply too much of the correct powder charge in the cartridge than intended, resulting from production errors, which also cause an explosion when fired. It can be assumed that often, the undernourished workers in North Korean ammunition factories might make mistakes when dosing the powder into cartridges with one or two grains (one gram is 15 grains).
Therefore, huge precision is required in ammunition production, and the lack of it causes human losses even without the active involvement of the opponent.
