Bought some M118 Match

[threeoheightguy]

Hey guys,

I just picked up 800 rds of LC M118 Match for $500. I'm pretty happy with 62 cents per round! There is a total of 40 boxes, with 8 that were opened (none fired). Some of these rounds have corrosion spots/streaks ranging from minor to heavy corrosion. Is there anything I can do to clean these up? I'd like to shoot some of the rounds from the opened boxes through my M1A to see how it does and to finally use some LC Match brass for reloading.

For those interested:
Came in two ammo cans with Lot#'s 60-13 & 60-21

Inside there was of mix of lots:
12019 (9 boxes)
60-28 (1 box)
-79H130-002 (1 box)
-20-23 (3 boxes)
60-13 (9 boxes)
60-21 (17 boxes)

I was also wondering what information, if any, can be gathered about these rounds based on lot number.

Also just out of curiosity what could these bring if they were to be sold again?

[medalguy]

The ammo can be tumbled in walnut to remove most of the corrosion, but be sure it's worth cleaning up first. Some people will tell you tumbling ammo is dangerour and it will blow up your tumbler. Don't believe it. Ammo manufacturers tumble ammo prior to boxing it up and I've done it for almost 40 years safely.

Now, I mentioned be sure it's worth cleaning up. If there's heavy corrosion, I would just toss it. It's likely weakened brass and not safe to fire. Smudges and fingerprints and the like can be polished off with cob and a little Nufinish car polish. That ammo should be safe and give you good reloadable brass. The corroded ammo is probably not worth trying to salvage the brass.

Reselling M118 ammo? If it's in sealed boxes and clean, it will fetch around $1 a round, possibly more if you have someone who really, really wants M118. Personally I prefer to load Sierra 168 gr in my own brass to suit my own rifles. And it's cheaper too.

[kraigwy]

What's the year (marked on the bottom of the case?

In the 70s the army stopped putting money into up grading their machines. Started out pretty accurate, then in the early 80s they started going down hill (machines were wearing out). In the late 70s the AMU started to see the this coming and started Mexican matching the ammo (pulling the 173's and replacing with 168 Gn SMK).

I started doing the same thing to M118s for my Marksmanship Unit.

The army finely listened to the AMU and started making M852 (basically the same thing but loaded with the 168s) Remaining stocks of M118s were put in Brown Boxes and called "special ball" for sniper use.

We were getting both, M118 and M852. I still made Mexican Match with the M118 when I couldn't get M842.

Also, M118 was made for 4 grove barrels. Most of our Match rifles had the 6 grove Barnett Barrels. The M852 worked great in the 6 groove barrels. We still had some NM M14s with the heavy "military" issued 4 groove barrels which shot the M118 better then it did the M852.

I started issuing two rifles to my rifle team. The Barnett barrels for M852, and the military 4 groove barrels when all we could shoot was M118, saving a bit of money from buying less SMKs.

Then comes the push for sniping programs and sniper ammo. The Brown Box M118 didn't preform as well as people wanted so the Army started issuing M118LR which is about the same thing but built on new machinery and using 175 SMK bullets.

So to answer your question, the older the M118, the better it should shoot. It will vary a bit from lot to lot. If I remember right, LC-72 was about the best I've shot. Some '76 shot pretty well too.

But I'm out of the game now, my Super Match only gets reloads. Though I still have a few thousand of those pulled 173s I load and shoot for short range practice (mostly offhand, the way I shoot off hand there is no reason to was money on fancy 168 & 175s). The 173s still shoot better then I do when I'm standing on my hind legs.

[threeoheightguy]

Thanks for the help guys!

Lot 12019 is from 64 (by far the cleanest, near perfect)
-20-23 is from 72
60-13 more on this below
60-21 is from 77

I was going by rounds from opened boxes only. 60-13 looked like someone may have mixed up the rounds in the open box as there were multiple dates throughout the 70's. I assume it would follow that that lot is actually from 77 as well seeing as it's so close (in Lot #) to 60-21.

Other lots I mentioned in the first post didn't have an open box and only the 64 lot had a date on the outside of the box.

I managed to shoot some of the loose ammo that didn't have a box. Was only six rounds but it went bang and grouped quite well for a quick test (sub moa).
I'm happy with my purchase so far!

[4EVERM-14]

As kraigwy posted the m118 may or may not shoot well in your rifle. Mex-Match it with 168's and it could be as good as Federal GM Match. LC 77 was and still is my favorite.

[threeoheightguy]

When you say Mex-Match I assume you're leaving the original powder charge in there and just swapping bullets. Is that safe or is the load data for the 168 and 173 near identical? My handloads are 168 SMKs on 41.5 grs of IMR 4895 so that would make the Mex rounds near identical if M118 was loaded with IMR 4895.

[kraigwy]

Yeap, just pull the 173s and stuff in the 168, (or 175s)

Dont have to change anything else.

[4EVERM-14]

threeoheightguy When you say Mex-Match I assume you're leaving the original powder charge in there and just swapping bullets. Is that safe or is the load data for the 168 and 173 near identical? My handloads are 168 SMKs on 41.5 grs of IMR 4895 so that would make the Mex rounds near identical if M118 was loaded with IMR 4895.

You may experience a slight change in POI at distance . I had a two minute difference between my handload and M118 at mid-range[600yards] IIRC lot 3# 60-21 had excellent statistical results[extreme spread, standard deviation] meaning it should group well.