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Old October 5, 2020, 09:52 PM   #1
Geezerbiker
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Odd ammo

I have a bunch of ammo and brass that came from an estate. Some of it is great, some is junk then there's the weird stuff like this.



The round on the left is a 7x57 factory DWM/Speer round. The one on the right really looks like 7x57 but there's that short stub of a bullet and the entire round feels like the same weight as an empty case although I haven't weighed it.

I have about 50 of these. Anybody know what they are?


Another oddity well to me anyway. I have a stripper clip of 5 LC 1975 .308 rounds (you know 7.62 by something) and one of the bullets was sitting further back in the case than the other 4. Upon closer inspection that one round has a cracked neck. These are factory Lake City rounds with sealed primers. Anyone here ever seen a cracked factory round like this?

Tony
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Old October 6, 2020, 12:29 AM   #2
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My best guess would be you have what were once called "gallery loads", a short, light bullet (sometimes even upside down) loaded with a tiny charge of powder (normally a pistol powder), intended for short range, possibly even indoor practice.

They will also take out small rodents, IF you can hit them.

The reason the round "feels empty" is likely because the powder change is only half a dozen grains, or less. Too small to be felt in the hand.

As to the cracked neck on the LC 75 round, I have seen that kind of thing, but not on ammo that new. Season Cracking is not an unknown thing, It is often the result of a less than perfect annealing of the brass.

However, it can also result from powder not properly stabilized during the manufacturing process. Decomposing powder releases nitric acid vapor which attacks the brass and weakens it, and can also cause cracks.

My guess would be that particular cracked case got a bad heat treat and over time "season cracked".

I have several hundred rounds of LC 68 stuff on 5 rnd stripper clips (for the M14) and its all fine.
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Old October 6, 2020, 05:48 AM   #3
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The 5 rounds mentioned are AP rounds. At one time I was big into collecting WWII surplus '06 AP rounds then later on I happened upon about 100 rounds of WWII ball ammo in boxes. The boxes were very fragile but I figured if I kept it long enough it would be collectable. That never happened... Anyway none of it has any signs of cracked cases and that's partly why I found it odd that this one was cracked. The bullet slides out with finger pressure and it's clean inside and the powder looks as good as new.

On the other hand, I once pulled down one of those WWII rounds and the powder inside looked like instant coffee and was sticky. Needless to say, I wouldn't consider shooting any of this ammo.

Your opinion on the 7x57 rounds makes sense. I don't have a rifle in that caliber or I'd try test firing one... I have a bunch of 7x57 and some of it is hard to tell if it's factory loads or someone's hand loads. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it at this point.

Tony
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Old October 6, 2020, 07:12 AM   #4
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Quote:
I don't have a rifle in that caliber or I'd try test firing one... I have a bunch of 7x57 and some of it is hard to tell if it's factory loads or someone's hand loads. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it at this point.
Given that you don't have a rifle in 7x57 I would ask if you do have a 7mm cartridge that you load for? You could pull them down and salvage the bullets for use in another rifle.

That bullet does look odd, but I think 44 AMP is correct about the gallery load. If you pull one of those apart it will give you a better idea of what it is.
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Old October 6, 2020, 01:32 PM   #5
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I don't have anything in 7mm. I was going to pick up a Handi Rifle in 7-08 but I was broke when they were practically giving them away and now they're too expensive for what they are.

My gun buying days are pretty much at an end unless I trip over something too cheap to pass up... I have 3 or 4 rifles that need work and when they're done, I'll maybe consider one more.

Tony
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Old October 6, 2020, 01:33 PM   #6
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1,536px × 1,152px is too big. Please reduce the size of your pictures.
Looks like the short 'bullet' might be a reversed one. As in loaded pointy part in. Pull it and see.
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Old October 7, 2020, 03:06 PM   #7
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Geezerbiker,

I shrunk your photo to 800 pixels wide. That will show up on about anybody's screen without the text running off the page and requiring a horzontal scroll bar be used to read it all. There are a number of free resizers online. Here's one.

As to the bullet, it may also be a backward normal Spitzer-nose bullet. Some of the European sub-sonic load shooters turn bullets backward both so it uses up some of the capacity in the case, but also in order to have the harder-hitting flat base forward for small game they take at modest ranges. Technically it should also be more stable because the center of pressure is moved behind the center of gravity, but I don't think that's a real factor in the choice to load that way. Being subsonic would also account for the light powder charge.
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Old October 7, 2020, 09:48 PM   #8
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The round on the right is a Swedish 6.5x55 training round like these:

https://ammunitionstore.com/products...ound-pack.html
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Old October 8, 2020, 12:27 AM   #9
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Originally Posted by Unclenick View Post
Geezerbiker,

I shrunk your photo to 800 pixels wide. That will show up on about anybody's screen without the text running off the page and requiring a horzontal scroll bar be used to read it all. There are a number of free resizers online. Here's one.

As to the bullet, it may also be a backward normal Spitzer-nose bullet. Some of the European sub-sonic load shooters turn bullets backward both so it uses up some of the capacity in the case, but also in order to have the harder-hitting flat base forward for small game they take at modest ranges. Technically it should also be more stable because the center of pressure is moved behind the center of gravity, but I don't think that's a real factor in the choice to load that way. Being subsonic would also account for the light powder charge.
I think you nailed it. I put it side by side with a 7x57 and it looks very close but I didn't take my digital calipers to it. I've got about 50 of these and no rifle for these either. I also have a couple boxes of 6.5mm bullets that I'll probably never use.

Tony
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Old October 8, 2020, 08:05 AM   #10
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Tony,

Follow MikeG's link and take a look. Yours isn't 6.5×55, but it sure looks like a similar bullet. Notice in the link you can see a slight bulge line in the middle of the neck, indicating where the bottom of the bullet is. With a reversed bullet, that would taper so slowly that the line wouldn't be visible. It's just not something I registered on the existence of previously.
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Old October 9, 2020, 02:39 AM   #11
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I looked at the link and the headstamp in the picture there matches the round I have here on my desk so I'm going to go out on a limb and say it's 6.5x55 training ammo...

Now what to do with it. It's obviously not worth a lot... I always regretted not getting a Swed Mauser when they were cheap. Now doubly so...

Tony
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