Spanish Surplus purchase... mistake?

sailskidrive · February 21, 2009, 11:28 PM

I went to the Upper Marlboro Gun Show today in Maryland. There was a vendor there selling large quantities of typical military caliber ammo and I couldn't make my way through the crowd to see what they had. So I walked around to the other side of their "booth" to dig through the bins of more obscure ammo. (aka hunting calibers). In one of the bins I spotted plain brown boxes stamped "Cargados en 1979" . Being naturally curious and eager to employee my 4 years spent studying Spanish in high school I picked up one of the boxes and read the other side: "20 Cartuochos, CAL. 7,62 x 51 NATO ESPANOL". Price $8 a box. One of the guys asked me if I wanted to buy some - I bought it all, 34 boxes, for $272.

Now I'm starting to worry that I'm the last person on Earth who hasn't heard to avoid Spanish NATO stamped surplus at all cost. I just bought a PTR-91 and a Remington PSS both in .308 on Friday. I can't wait to shoot the PSS, the PTR is something I've just always wanted.

BTW - I can't believe how dirt cheap the PTR/G3 mags are. I bought several new in the wrapper mags for $6 each! The funny thing is that the manufacturer dates on several of them are 10 years before I was born.

~Sail

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lipadj46 · February 22, 2009, 02:49 AM

What is the headstamp? There are 2 different common brands of spanish surplus from that time. I believe the stuff marked SB 79 or SB 80 is the good stuff the other stuff is not so good. I had 100 rounds of SB 80 that was just fine it came in tan squarish boxes.

sailskidrive · February 22, 2009, 03:25 AM

Yeah... it's marked SB 79 and has a NATO head stamp. I'll test it out next weekend when I get the Rem 700 PSS set up. The PTR91 is regulated in MD, so I'll need to wait another week to try it out.

~Sail

lipadj46 · February 22, 2009, 03:42 AM

That's a good deal on that ammo. If I recall it's berdan primed so not reloadable but you did well IMO.

February 21, 2009, 11:28 PM	#1
sailskidrive Senior Member Join Date: October 26, 2008 Posts: 726	Spanish Surplus purchase... mistake? I went to the Upper Marlboro Gun Show today in Maryland. There was a vendor there selling large quantities of typical military caliber ammo and I couldn't make my way through the crowd to see what they had. So I walked around to the other side of their "booth" to dig through the bins of more obscure ammo. (aka hunting calibers). In one of the bins I spotted plain brown boxes stamped "Cargados en 1979" . Being naturally curious and eager to employee my 4 years spent studying Spanish in high school I picked up one of the boxes and read the other side: "20 Cartuochos, CAL. 7,62 x 51 NATO ESPANOL". Price $8 a box. One of the guys asked me if I wanted to buy some - I bought it all, 34 boxes, for $272. Now I'm starting to worry that I'm the last person on Earth who hasn't heard to avoid Spanish NATO stamped surplus at all cost. I just bought a PTR-91 and a Remington PSS both in .308 on Friday. I can't wait to shoot the PSS, the PTR is something I've just always wanted. BTW - I can't believe how dirt cheap the PTR/G3 mags are. I bought several new in the wrapper mags for $6 each! The funny thing is that the manufacturer dates on several of them are 10 years before I was born. ~Sail :

February 22, 2009, 03:25 AM	#3
sailskidrive Senior Member Join Date: October 26, 2008 Posts: 726	thanks... Yeah... it's marked SB 79 and has a NATO head stamp. I'll test it out next weekend when I get the Rem 700 PSS set up. The PTR91 is regulated in MD, so I'll need to wait another week to try it out. ~Sail

February 22, 2009, 02:49 AM	#2
lipadj46 Senior Member Join Date: January 21, 2009 Posts: 494	What is the headstamp? There are 2 different common brands of spanish surplus from that time. I believe the stuff marked SB 79 or SB 80 is the good stuff the other stuff is not so good. I had 100 rounds of SB 80 that was just fine it came in tan squarish boxes.

February 22, 2009, 03:42 AM	#4
lipadj46 Senior Member Join Date: January 21, 2009 Posts: 494	That's a good deal on that ammo. If I recall it's berdan primed so not reloadable but you did well IMO.