[heckinohio]

I always try to make the local flea mkt., once a month. Kinda hit the ammo jackpot........706rnds of strippered, boxed 8mm brass, few dated 1937, most in the 1960's, $150. I havnt shopped ammo lately. I ran it across my mis-calculator at .21.4 cent per???

About 500 are on strippers, those are boxed; some 4-5 boxes collapsed handling them. Are these Mauser rifle strippers worth anything???

Same guy had some 1943 French 30-06 in Garand clips, he had tumbled it till it looked new......seems I remember a warning somewhere about over tumbling loaded ammo as it might make the powder crumble........???........& run the pressure way up...???? I avoided it, not enuff quantity to attract me anyway.

PJH

 

[WRMorrison]

Lots of people tumble loaded rounds all the time (I do) and have never noticed any excessive pressure signs. Not sure if it matters though on the date of the powder.

-WRM

 

[SlugCatcher]

i bought a bunch of 30-06 from an estate sale and it was tumbled excessively.


Looks pretty but , I'm still pulling all of it cause I can't tell if it's factory or reloads now.

 

[CaptMax]

Great score on the ammo PJ, nothing wrong with tumbled ammo either.
Just be cautious of the '37 dated ammo if it is German as that does corrode from the inside out, you may want to pull some to see what the insides look like.
CaptMax

 

[MG08]

Tumbling the ammo does not seem to be as big a problem as the "french" part. Pretty much my experience with french is it is unsafe to shoot. the 30 cal we had 20 years ago, had over pressure, under pressure and ruptured cases. We tore it down for the bullets and scrapped it. Recently had a commercial company using French 50 bmg for testing. The stuff goes bang, but suffered longitudinal splits in the cases. Incredibly inaccurate and the only reason they shot it was that they did not know any better. Once I saw what was happening, we stopped and scrapped it .

We have tested and discussed tumbling before. In general home use it does not appear to be a problem. Commercial stuff done for days in a cement mixer may be another matter. I tested my ammo. My way in a Dillon vibrating cleaner. YMMV.

Good score on the ammo by the way.

 

[kkkriverrats]

Tumbling the ammo does not seem to be as big a problem as the "french" part. Pretty much my experience with french is it is unsafe to shoot. the 30 cal we had 20 years ago, had over pressure, under pressure and ruptured cases. We tore it down for the bullets and scrapped it. Recently had a commercial company using French 50 bmg for testing. The stuff goes bang, but suffered longitudinal splits in the cases. Incredibly inaccurate and the only reason they shot it was that they did not know any better. Once I saw what was happening, we stopped and scrapped it .

We have tested and discussed tumbling before. In general home use it does not appear to be a problem. Commercial stuff done for days in a cement mixer may be another matter. I tested my ammo. My way in a Dillon vibrating cleaner. YMMV.

Good score on the ammo by the way.

French cal.30 (30'06) from the '50's is considered unsafe with results like MG08 describes.

 

[frazer42]

I had a bad experience with French full length 30-06 blanks. They were white nylon with a metal base. Several people I know suffered energetic dis-assembly of their M1. Lots of maypops and flint-lock blanks.(the kind that go off after you eject them)

 

[Muscles Glasses]

I've seen what we thought was an overpressure in a garand using french 30-06. The gun survived but it certainly was NOT happy firing that round. I'd stay away.

 

[rugman59]

I bought a hundred rounds of .50 cal french reloaded stuff from J&G Sales six or seven years ago. Is it not safe???
I doubt I'll get a fifty any time soon.

 

[Frank in GA.]

I bought a hundred rounds of .50 cal french reloaded stuff from J&G Sales six or seven years ago. Is it not safe???
I doubt I'll get a fifty any time soon.

If it was the stuff that was reloaded by Summit Ammunition you're probably alright, as I understand it there were some problems with the original primers loaded by the French which was resolved by Summit. Just check the primers to see if they look like they have been replaced or not to tell.

Really, though you ought to just give it to me to test for you. That would give you more room to find other stuff that's just gathering dust too.

Frank

 

[MG08]

I dug out some of the French 50 cal brass. See photo for results. head stamp is "12.7" and "SF-2-81".. these primers look to be "replaced" but that is just my opinion. YMMV. Fired in a QCB (fixed Head space) Post M2HB mfg'd by Desert Ordnance.

 

[Frank in GA.]

I dug out some of the French 50 cal brass. See photo for results. head stamp is "12.7" and "SF-2-81".. these primers look to be "replaced" but that is just my opinion. YMMV. Fired in a QCB (fixed Head space) Post M2HB mfg'd by Desert Ordnance.

View attachment 12994
View attachment 12995

I'm thinking those primers are the ones that haven't been replaced but, you would know better than I. One things for certain though, those are one shot cases. Definately no reloading those for sure.

 

[belt fed frog]

French 50 brass primed =Original issue w/ small flash hole
French 50 Sliver primed =re-manufactured w/larger flash hole

 

[rugman59]

If it was the stuff that was reloaded by Summit Ammunition you're probably alright, as I understand it there were some problems with the original primers loaded by the French which was resolved by Summit. Just check the primers to see if they look like they have been replaced or not to tell.

Really, though you ought to just give it to me to test for you. That would give you more room to find other stuff that's just gathering dust too.

Frank

Whew! the box has a tag 'Summit, New primer' Should be good to go then.
Those separated and cracked cases? A bit of TIG work and some filing,,,,, Ship them off to Iran.

 

[MG08]

Sounds like you should be good to go. Watch the brass for signs of failure.