Shooting surplus ammo

[thumperpaul]

Hi all
I have picked up some Canadian made 1944 surplus .303 rounds, and I was wondering what the chances for misfires/ hangfires are in such old ammo. The rounds I bought were in factory sealed boxes and other than a bit of patina on the casings, they look good. (see pic) I'm hoping to get to the range on Sunday to find out for myself, but has anyone else had adverse experiences in firing off surplus rounds?
Many thanks!

[troy2000]

The only problem I've personally ever seen with surplus ammo was some Pakistani .303 from the sixties. My nephew bought a batch with primers that had gone south, or at least we assumed it was the primers. About one out of five shots would either not fire at all, or hang fire. Nothing I like more than standing there with a rifle pointed downrange, wondering if and when it's going to go boom...

I make a habit of shooting surplus in my Mosins, and have never had a problem. Except for sticky-bolt syndrome from some of the lacquered stuff, of course.

[thumperpaul]

Thanks, Troy.
I saw a video on YouTube of a guy from Down Under (JollyGreenSlug) shooting off a mag of Pakistani stuff-out of the 10 rounds, 2 were hangfires. "The old click- bang!" I haven't heard many good things about Pak. ammo in general....How long do you wait before extracting a misfire?

[timberlord]

Yupper!
I have some of that Cdn ammo and have gone through alot ...great ammo ( some of the best actually ) , so long as it's been stored right .
If you find more , buy it...
Blast away

[thumperpaul]

Thanks Timberlord-that's good to know. I'm going to another gun show in February, and I definately will go straight to the guy's table who sold it to me to see if he has more.

[timberlord]

There was a time , I could get Cdn ammo . $3 for 50 , sold in a paper bag ...lol
Today , it's at gunshows where I find it.
Keep your eye out for war time Winchester ( WRA ) or 1980's South African ammo as well

[scarhead]

i find that the surplus ammo is getting harder to find. I am glad I read this thread due to the fact I was considering ordering 320 rnds of paki ammo, its only about 60 bucks, but there is obviously a reason for that.

[NRAJOE]

I've got 250 rds of Greek HXP...Fantastic stuff, but good luck finding any, or any at a decent price!

Also have 500 rds of South African....has some tarnish on some of the ammo and smells musty in the boxes...gotta clean it up.

Haven't shot my Irish contract No.4 MkII in almost a year....

[thumperpaul]

Hi all
Well, I banged through one box and part of another (about 60 rounds) last Sunday, and they performed flawlessly! Not a single mis/hangfire, and I got great groupings at 100 and 200 Meters. These rounds have a strong smell though-I heard one guy say "Jesus! All I can smell is Cordite today!" (gave me a bad headache.It was worth it though!) I noticed some "flakes" coming out of the barrel, and a fair amount of smoke as well. Guess that's normal?
Also, the first box of 48 I fired off had copper bullets (from 1944), and the spent casings looked in good shape. The second box (from 1943) had silver bullets, and most of the casings split at the crimp end. What was the composite of the silver rounds? (One guy said "Whoa-those would be useful around Halloween, huh?")
Anyhow, I boiled and "de-coppered" the barrel, and am looking forward to the next gun show-Hopefully this guy will have some more surplus rounds!

[scarhead]

boiled and de-coppered?

[billy]

sounds like he ran hot h2o down the bbl. and then used a copper solvent.
thats what i do also.

[Farmer]

Hi,
I had some aussie made 1942 ammo. They came wrapped in brown paper around the original banoliers issues in ww2.
about 1 in 8 failed to fire, but no hang fires.
I believe the reason they failed is that many tonnes of ammo was stored on barges in sydney harbour for mant years and the salt killed them.

[LarryO1970]

Originally Posted by scarhead

boiled and de-coppered?

It's how you clean your barrel after firing corrosive ammo...

[wunhunglo]

The second box (from 1943) had silver bullets,

The silver bullets are not for wherewolves, they were just gilded metal, which is a copper alloy. What was the headstamp of the rounds, were they mk7 or 8?
yup, cordite can be smoky & smelly and you're right, don't breath the smoke it will give you a headache.....(Check your WHYMS stickers....have I spelled it correctly?).
I know lots of guys who regularly fire this old stuff and usually there's no problem with it apart from the need for deep cleaning every time you fire it.

[Ricochet]

The "silver" jacket metal is copper-nickel, or copper-nickel coated steel.

[thumperpaul]

Wunhunglo, they are Dominion Arsenal Mk 7's.
I use Sweet's 7.62 cleaner to remove copper deposits. Stinky stuff, but it works great.
I also was lucky enough to find an original galvanized steel funnel specially made for "boiling" the Enfield. Works like a charm

[LarryO1970]

Originally Posted by NRAJOE

I've got 250 rds of Greek HXP...Fantastic stuff, but good luck finding any, or any at a decent price!

Also have 500 rds of South African....has some tarnish on some of the ammo and smells musty in the boxes...gotta clean it up.

Haven't shot my Irish contract No.4 MkII in almost a year....

Actually, Discount Hunting Gear, Discount Hunting Boots, Discount Shoes, Discount Ammunition, Discount Ammo, Discount Boots, Military Surplus, Outdoor Gear At the Sportsman's Guide has the Greek .30-06 for a pretty reasonable price.

I shoot Lake City, personally... but just recently purchased the Greek stuff. I have not fired any yet (with the weather being -12, no thanks) ... but I will advise how it shoots when I do.

[mym1a]

I guess I have been lucky no problems with surplus 8mm 7.62x39 ,or 7.62 x54 some of this ammo dating back to the 40's I'm assuming this ammo all had corrosive primers and used a solution to nuetrulize the compond/salts from the primers

[billy]

ive got some of the greek .
it's good stuff.
i wish i had a LOT more of it!

[UGLYGUNS]

CMP STILL HAS GREEK 30-06