The Firing Line Forums

Go Back   The Firing Line Forums > The Skunkworks > Handloading, Reloading, and Bullet Casting

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old January 23, 2013, 03:32 PM   #1
BoogieMan
Senior Member
 
Join Date: April 4, 2012
Location: South Jersey
Posts: 2,217
Nazi Ammo

I won an old Steyr and I want to eventually reload for it. A lot of available ammo is old Nazi marked. What makes the old ammo non-reloadable? Is it primer pocket is to small or is there another reason. Can old surplus ammo be modified to reload? I have found modern cases that are reloadable as well as data for the cartridge. I kinda like the idea of period origanal ammo
__________________
Concentrated power is not rendered harmless by the good intentions of those who create it.
Milton Freidman
"If you find yourself in a fair fight,,,
Your tactics suck"
- Unknown
BoogieMan is offline  
Old January 23, 2013, 03:35 PM   #2
Gunnutfn49
Member
 
Join Date: January 3, 2013
Location: PR of Kalifornia
Posts: 77
no input, other than to give a "thumbs up" to your signature.
__________________
"...and which is worst of all, continual fear and danger of violent death, and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short."-Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan

...What he meant to add was, "unless, of course, all responsible citizens are armed to the teeth."
Gunnutfn49 is offline  
Old January 23, 2013, 03:39 PM   #3
BoogieMan
Senior Member
 
Join Date: April 4, 2012
Location: South Jersey
Posts: 2,217
Thanks. I wish I could claim credit. Dont remember where I found it. Might have been a t-shirt lol
__________________
Concentrated power is not rendered harmless by the good intentions of those who create it.
Milton Freidman
"If you find yourself in a fair fight,,,
Your tactics suck"
- Unknown
BoogieMan is offline  
Old January 23, 2013, 03:45 PM   #4
Jimro
Senior Member
 
Join Date: October 18, 2006
Posts: 7,097
Some is reloadable, some isn't. Pull apart one round and inspect the inside of the brass for a single flash hole and see if there is any corrosion on the inside of the brass.

Nitrocellulose offgasses nitric acid, so old ammo can be a tad unsafe to fire. However, if the ammo is in good shape, I don't see why a Steyr M98 (I'm assuming it is an M98, please correct me if I'm wrong) wouldn't handle the ammo just fine.

But, I recommend just getting some modern brass and loading your own. Leave the old nazi marked shells for the cartridge collectors.

Jimro
__________________
Machine guns are awesome until you have to carry one.
Jimro is offline  
Old January 23, 2013, 03:52 PM   #5
Magnum Wheel Man
Senior Member
 
Join Date: July 26, 2006
Location: Southern Minnesota
Posts: 9,333
had a case of the nazi stuff I sold for a buddy a couple years ago... I'm not positive, but I think it was berdin primed ( 2 smaller flash holes )
__________________
In life you either make dust or eat dust...
Magnum Wheel Man is offline  
Old January 23, 2013, 04:01 PM   #6
Gunnutfn49
Member
 
Join Date: January 3, 2013
Location: PR of Kalifornia
Posts: 77
http://www.petealbrecht.com/mauser/m...htm#ammunition

the above site seems to have some interesting information/links that might help you answer your question via headstamp on the ammo itself.

Good luck
__________________
"...and which is worst of all, continual fear and danger of violent death, and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short."-Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan

...What he meant to add was, "unless, of course, all responsible citizens are armed to the teeth."
Gunnutfn49 is offline  
Old January 23, 2013, 04:13 PM   #7
wogpotter
Senior Member
 
Join Date: September 27, 2004
Posts: 4,811
The main difference is in the primer types is both by size, & by how it is designed.

Neither is strictly non-reloadable, but one is way harder than the other making it less desirable from the reloaders standpoint.

"Reloadable" ammo uses Boxer primers. they have a single big hole in the center of the case's base, this is the flash hole. Because you need to remove the old, fired primer as part of the process this is really easy to do, you just poke a rod through the hole from inside & the primer pops out as the case goes up into the die to resize.

"Non-reloadable" cases use a different system, called "Berdan". The berdan has a solid center with 2 smaller holes off to the sides. because of this you can't just poke the old one out while resizing. You need a seperate "remove the primer step", independant of the actual reloading dies. There are several systems. A claw type that pierces & levers out the old primer. A liquid type where the case is filled with liquid & pressure snapped into the liquid to force the old one out.

Berdan & Boxer primers have other internal differences also, but they complicate things further by having differing dimensions so you have to actually find the less common primers as well.

Because of the added complications the Boxer type are more "standard" or "reloadable" just because of the convenience factor. If you can only find Berdan-primed brass it can be reloaded, but you're going to put up with a few extra steps in doing so.

Conversions have been done, but they are strictly for low pressure loads & frankly, are to my mind more trouble than they are worth unless you're shooting some really unimaginably rare ammo & don't mind shotgun pressure level reduced loads.
__________________
Allan Quatermain: “Automatic rifles. Who in God's name has automatic rifles”?

Elderly Hunter: “That's dashed unsporting. Probably Belgium.”
wogpotter is offline  
Old January 23, 2013, 04:18 PM   #8
Magnum Wheel Man
Senior Member
 
Join Date: July 26, 2006
Location: Southern Minnesota
Posts: 9,333
my retired machinist buddy has reloaded alot of the berdan primed cases over the years... by drilling a center hole, & reaming the primer pocket to the closest Boxer primer... ( if I'm not remembering correctly, he may have had to thread in a bushing to fit the boxer primer ??? I hate it when the grey matter starts acting old )

( I'm not sure, but if I remember correctly, the berdan primers fall between the large & small boxer type )
__________________
In life you either make dust or eat dust...
Magnum Wheel Man is offline  
Old January 23, 2013, 04:32 PM   #9
BoogieMan
Senior Member
 
Join Date: April 4, 2012
Location: South Jersey
Posts: 2,217
@Mag Wheel Man- This is what I was getting at. I dont have any shot berden primed stuff around to look at right now. I have the machine shop and I was thinking that the berden primer could be removed by drilling a center hole like a boxer has. The berden primer could be pushed out then the pocket could be bored to accept a modern primer. I am certain Im not the first to think of it. I was contemplating why its not done regularly? Primer dimensions are to far apart? Not enough brass to bore out? Etc....
__________________
Concentrated power is not rendered harmless by the good intentions of those who create it.
Milton Freidman
"If you find yourself in a fair fight,,,
Your tactics suck"
- Unknown
BoogieMan is offline  
Old January 23, 2013, 04:40 PM   #10
BigD_in_FL
Junior member
 
Join Date: December 20, 2012
Location: The "Gunshine State"
Posts: 1,981
Another thought: IF this ammo clearly has Nazi markings, it might be worth more unfired and sold to collectors
BigD_in_FL is offline  
Old January 23, 2013, 04:45 PM   #11
Magnum Wheel Man
Senior Member
 
Join Date: July 26, 2006
Location: Southern Minnesota
Posts: 9,333
but personally I'd save the nazi marked stuff for the collectors...

is that 8mm Steyr ???

I'm not sure of the parent case, but I see case forming dies, so you should be able to form them from another case... just in case there is too much corrosion, or the cases are worth more as collector items...
__________________
In life you either make dust or eat dust...
Magnum Wheel Man is offline  
Old January 23, 2013, 04:45 PM   #12
BoogieMan
Senior Member
 
Join Date: April 4, 2012
Location: South Jersey
Posts: 2,217
Quote:
Another thought: IF this ammo clearly has Nazi markings, it might be worth more unfired and sold to collectors
Its all over sights like Gunbroker. I will definately but a few clips full just to have and no doubt shoot some.
If possible it would be nice to reload berden primed stuff. I also have a 9mm Largo with a few hundred rounds of surplus berden primed cartridges. I havent found reloadable brass for that yet.
__________________
Concentrated power is not rendered harmless by the good intentions of those who create it.
Milton Freidman
"If you find yourself in a fair fight,,,
Your tactics suck"
- Unknown
BoogieMan is offline  
Old January 23, 2013, 04:51 PM   #13
oldpapps
Senior Member
 
Join Date: September 22, 2011
Location: Middle America
Posts: 518
Nazi Ammo

It is nice/proper to have period ammunition with a weapon.

As for the 'Nazi Ammo'.

Several things to think about.

Is it going to be safe? This was eluded to above. The casings may have deteriorated over the many years. They were getting bombed day and night, so what was the productions standards? Much of their ammo was made is satellite countries. Finland made great quantities, much of it had steel core bullets.

Will it fire consistently? Open up a few and if they have brown rust for powder, the others can be polished up for display.

It it corrosive? I would say a resounding yes to that. Do you want to pepper your prize with salts?

Depending upon what you decide to do, how well or if the primers will still work must be determined.

With all of these things, you could end up with plinker loads.

Now to the thought of reloading the cases. I'll bet that they are berdan primed. Yes, you can re-prime them. I've never done it and probably never will try.

With all of this said.
Back in the early 70s, the SO went to 9MMs and we received, at a good price, surplus 9MM Finish rounds. I shot many thousands of them. The weapons were S&W Model 59s and I can/could break one down in seconds. I boiled barrels and springs in a pan of water on top of a rag (no heat transfer from the pan) to de-salt them. I have more bent/mashed rounds than ones that wouldn't go off.

It's up to you to shoot the Nazi Ammo. I don't think it would be worth the time or effort to reload berdan primed cases. Your call.

Be safe,

OSOK
oldpapps is offline  
Old January 23, 2013, 05:10 PM   #14
BoogieMan
Senior Member
 
Join Date: April 4, 2012
Location: South Jersey
Posts: 2,217
@oldpaps- I may just grab a clip or 2 of the ammo to match the gun and consider it part of the display. I have found (a little pricey) plenty of modern boxer cartridges to shoot and harvest the brass. Your story uninspired me to try shooting 1930's cartridges.
__________________
Concentrated power is not rendered harmless by the good intentions of those who create it.
Milton Freidman
"If you find yourself in a fair fight,,,
Your tactics suck"
- Unknown
BoogieMan is offline  
Old January 23, 2013, 05:50 PM   #15
chiefr
Senior Member
 
Join Date: January 27, 2010
Location: AR
Posts: 1,401
2 Points
I aquired a quantity of the old nazi eagle ammo several years ago. This was great shooting fodder and all of it went bang.

Grafs sells PPU boxer primed ammo & brass. They also sell .330 diameter bullets. You can still find dies for 8x56R. Providing the buying panic has not affected this caliber.
chiefr is offline  
Old January 23, 2013, 06:44 PM   #16
Crankgrinder
Senior Member
 
Join Date: July 24, 2011
Location: Texas
Posts: 917
Its your ammo, but i dont think id shoot up ammo with nazi marks on it.
Crankgrinder is offline  
Old January 23, 2013, 09:32 PM   #17
reynolds357
Senior Member
 
Join Date: December 10, 2012
Posts: 6,161
The collector value of the ammo is more than the cost of new 8Mauser brass.
reynolds357 is offline  
Old January 24, 2013, 01:03 AM   #18
Hook686
Senior Member
 
Join Date: May 22, 2005
Location: USA The Great State of California
Posts: 2,090
My dad brought back a P38 from WWII. The magazine had 5 rounds it it. They were steel cased and berdin primed. I shot one. It fired just fine, but I do not consider berdin primed steel cases to be reloadable.
__________________
Hook686

When the number of people in institutions reaches 51%, we change sides.
Hook686 is offline  
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 03:19 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
This site and contents, including all posts, Copyright © 1998-2021 S.W.A.T. Magazine
Copyright Complaints: Please direct DMCA Takedown Notices to the registered agent: thefiringline.com
Page generated in 0.09147 seconds with 10 queries