Name of the 30-06 ammunition -military,special forces?

[Grandpatime]

What is the name of the special forces or sniper ammunition?The bullet is blue-ish tint about 125-130 grains at 3600fps has about 3,500 ft pounds ME.

[TATER]

How far back ya-go'en??

[Art Eatman]

SFAIK, during the era of the '06 as our military cartridge, there were no special forces, and snipers used either Ball ammo or possibly match ammo.

Orange tip for tracer, black for armor piercing. Red tip had some sort of explosive material in it. I ran across a red-tip, somewhere; 1928 headstamp, IIRC.

Blue tip might have been incendiary, but don't quote me on that. I know that Phil Sharpe described all these in his "Complete Guide to Handloading", but I'm 1,400 miles away from my copy of that book, right now. :)

Ball, M1, was the WW I-era 172-grain stuff, replaced by the 153-grain Ball, M2. Plain copper, no paint.

[shooter_from_show-me]

Blue tip might have been incendiary, but don't quote me on that

You are correct Art;). I have (2) .50cal rounds that are blue tipped. Father-in-law brought them back from Vietnam. I have them on my reloading bench.

[Art Eatman]

How 'bout dat? Olde Phart's memory ain't all gone.

Yet.

[TATER]

There was some fragmentary stuff, The Bullet itself looked like pewter. I could
see how one might describe it as bluish. But, they did not have a color coded tip.

[Grandpatime]

not tipped blue.Imagine it like a blue chrome covered bullet.it looks experimental
i seen a website selling it .I cant remember the name though:confused:

[Grandpatime]

http://www.discountgunsupplies.com/product/30-06%20SpringField%20RBCD

[uncyboo]

http://www.rbcd.net/Special%20Application%20Ammunition.htm

[Grandpatime]

wonder how they work on game?I know they work good on humans thats why it military :D

[Scorch]

Sounds like some experimental armor-piercing rounds.

[kimberclassic]

The round you are seing is not, and has never been, a military round. The official military designation for .30-06 ammo is Cal. .30, Model of 1906 (M1 or M2 as stated previously)

What you are looking at with the blue tip is a commercially made frangible round, made (or distributed) by a company called RBCD.

Military armor piercing ammo had a black painted tip. Check uncyboo's link.

[Lee Lapin]

Art,

Just to set the historical record straight, as far as I know it...

US Army Special Forces was formally created at Ft. Bragg, NC on 19 May 1952, with the creation of HHC (Headquarters and Headquarters Company), 10th Special Forces Group. Its first commander, COL Aaron Bank (who had served in OSS in WW2) joined the unit on 19 June 1952. At that time, 10th SFG consisted of COL Bank, one warrant officer, and seven enlisted men. (Paddock, Alfred H. Jr, US Army Special Warfare: Its Origins, Revised Edition, Lawrence: Univ. Press of Kansas, 2002) I had a passing acquaintance with COL Bank during the years I worked at Ft. Bragg, the last time I saw him was at the 50th Anniversary Special Forces Association Convention in Fayetteville, NC in 2002. He passed on in 2004 at the age of 101. He was quite a character, to put it mildly.

And snipers at the time (WW2, Korea, early Vietnam) who had .30-06s used match ammo when they could get it (which was usually seldom to never), AP (due to its heavier 163- 168 gr. bullet) when it was available, and ball (150 gr. bullet) when nothing else could be had. So some of the old timers told me, at various times and places.

In the days when Special Forces, and other Army and USMC snipers used the .30-06, they almost always used issue ammo, not some kind of exploding-pants commercial stuff, as per Extreme Shock ammo.

fwiw,

lpl

[CGSteve8718]

Well, while not officially recognized then as they would be today as SOCOM or the generic "special forces", there certainly were units that would fall into that category during WWII. The OSS' Jedburgh teams and other paramilitary operators, UDT, Marine Raiders, 1st SSF (Devil's Brigade), and the British SAS to name a few.

[Art Eatman]

That I never heard of something doesn't mean it didn't exist. But my uncle was a National Guard armorer, not long after WW I, and a gunsmith in his later years. He and my father "grew up" on the '06. I came in on the deal in 1950; later, with the Garand in Basic in '54. Served with combat vets in Korea. I never heard any mention of "uncommon" ammo.

As snoopy as my father was, I halfway figure that if there were some "neat stuff", he'd have glommed onto it at least as a souvenir. Once he got past D-Day, he apparently regarded the whole deal as a more interesting form of deer hunt.

About the only place I've ever learned of specialized ammo for the '06 was that which was mentioned in Phil Sharpe's book. To some extent, I figure that if any body knew of oddball and experimental bullets, he would have.

Enough of my nattering. :)

[bigwrench]

"blued bullet" 120-130 grain .30 cal.? Sounds like v-max moly to me. Such as hornady loaded in there varmit xpress about 10 years ago.

[shooter_from_show-me]

Here is what I have as a reference, just larger scale .50BMG vs .30-06;)

http://www.thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=371981