The Firing Line Forums

Go Back   The Firing Line Forums > The North Corral > Curios and Relics

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old April 30, 2013, 09:24 PM   #1
BerdanSS
Senior Member
 
Join Date: April 3, 2011
Location: to close to other houses
Posts: 1,176
Unexpected find...need help identifying ammo.

My wife's little brother is renting a house from a lady their parents go to church with. She told him to clean out the garage and repaint it and she'd take the labor off his rent. While cleaning he found an old coffee can (biggest one I've ever seen) filled with ammo.

800 rounds of new un-opened Remington High velocity .22 LR
Unopened box of stingers
600 rounds of old flat point .22 LRs
half a box of .32 short colt.
10 rounds of .32 S&W
handful of .25 APC


and then these:

Headstamp reads FNT 1950---30-06 maybe?


------------------------------------------------------------------

Grenade Launching Round?
BerdanSS is offline  
Old April 30, 2013, 09:27 PM   #2
BerdanSS
Senior Member
 
Join Date: April 3, 2011
Location: to close to other houses
Posts: 1,176
The rest of it for kicks





BerdanSS is offline  
Old April 30, 2013, 09:51 PM   #3
Mike Irwin
Staff
 
Join Date: April 13, 2000
Location: Northern Virginia
Posts: 41,367
FNT is Spanish, Fabrica National de Toledo.

Need case measurements to know for sure what it is. Could be 06, 7mm or even 8mm.
__________________
"The gift which I am sending you is called a dog, and is in fact the most precious and valuable possession of mankind" -Theodorus Gaza

Baby Jesus cries when the fat redneck doesn't have military-grade firepower.
Mike Irwin is offline  
Old April 30, 2013, 09:52 PM   #4
Mike Irwin
Staff
 
Join Date: April 13, 2000
Location: Northern Virginia
Posts: 41,367
what is the head stamp on the grenade launching round?
__________________
"The gift which I am sending you is called a dog, and is in fact the most precious and valuable possession of mankind" -Theodorus Gaza

Baby Jesus cries when the fat redneck doesn't have military-grade firepower.
Mike Irwin is offline  
Old April 30, 2013, 09:56 PM   #5
BerdanSS
Senior Member
 
Join Date: April 3, 2011
Location: to close to other houses
Posts: 1,176
mike


the launcher round HS is from the top, counter clockwise

C

_l

5
BerdanSS is offline  
Old April 30, 2013, 10:05 PM   #6
BerdanSS
Senior Member
 
Join Date: April 3, 2011
Location: to close to other houses
Posts: 1,176
OAL 78.02

Case Length 57

Bullet diameter 7.21

Neck diameter 8.05

Rim diameter 12.05



I was way off, as soon as I measured it I started thinking 7mm Spanish Mauser maybe?
BerdanSS is offline  
Old April 30, 2013, 10:22 PM   #7
Jim Watson
Senior Member
 
Join Date: October 25, 2001
Location: Alabama
Posts: 18,453
I don't think that is a grenade blank.
It is a plain report blank, the ones I had were loud.
The powder used will not tolerate any restriction more than the card wad.
Jim Watson is offline  
Old April 30, 2013, 10:27 PM   #8
BerdanSS
Senior Member
 
Join Date: April 3, 2011
Location: to close to other houses
Posts: 1,176
It has a red card in the end...wasn't thinking about it carefully, weren't most of the launcher rounds crimped anyway?
BerdanSS is offline  
Old April 30, 2013, 10:59 PM   #9
the rifleer
Senior Member
 
Join Date: March 5, 2008
Location: Sunny California
Posts: 1,281
You found a small fortune of .22 ammo given today's availability.
__________________
There is no such thing as a stupid question, only stupid people.
the rifleer is offline  
Old May 1, 2013, 09:07 AM   #10
Mike Irwin
Staff
 
Join Date: April 13, 2000
Location: Northern Virginia
Posts: 41,367
I think you may be reading the headstamp on the blank round incorrectly. Any chance of taking a picture using the macro feature on your camera? That will allow you to take close up photos clearly.

It APPEARS to be a .30-06. If it is, it's an M1909 blank (Jim is correct that it's a blank, and is not for grenade launching), but I can't tell who made it without being able to see the headstamp. The information you provided doesn't match up with anything with which I'm familiar.

Word of warning... NEVER EVER try to use the powder out of an old military blank for anything. Jim's also correct that it won't stand restriction.

The powder used was EC Blank Powder. It was an unbelievably fast nitro powder that was actually used as a filling for grenades during World War II.

EC, like many other flash powders, can be sensitive to shock. It's a lot more stable than some of the chlorate based flash powders, but you don't want to abuse it.


The clipped ammo is most likely 7x57 Spanish Mauser. The case dimensions are correct.
__________________
"The gift which I am sending you is called a dog, and is in fact the most precious and valuable possession of mankind" -Theodorus Gaza

Baby Jesus cries when the fat redneck doesn't have military-grade firepower.

Last edited by Mike Irwin; May 1, 2013 at 09:13 AM.
Mike Irwin is offline  
Old May 1, 2013, 09:54 AM   #11
AirCool65
Senior Member
 
Join Date: April 22, 2013
Location: Virginia
Posts: 110
Why is it that I never find anything like that?

The Rifleer is right... the .22 ammo alone is worth good money.
AirCool65 is offline  
Old May 1, 2013, 07:57 PM   #12
Bob Wright
Senior Member
 
Join Date: July 10, 2012
Location: Memphis, Tennessee
Posts: 2,985
As a matter of interest, all rifle grenade blank launching cartridges have the "rose petal" crimp, for identification.

I once broke down some M1909 blank rounds and the powder looked like orange Kool-Aid mix. It was definately not the expected gray color of most powders.

Bob Wright
Bob Wright is offline  
Old May 1, 2013, 08:15 PM   #13
James K
Member In Memoriam
 
Join Date: March 17, 1999
Posts: 24,383
Blank powder is made of open granules in order to ignite and burn faster, and is not treated with either retardant or graphite, the reason it does not have the gray color of most smokeless powder. It looks a bit like large grain soap powder.

Jim
James K is offline  
Old May 2, 2013, 07:05 AM   #14
Mike Irwin
Staff
 
Join Date: April 13, 2000
Location: Northern Virginia
Posts: 41,367
"I once broke down some M1909 blank rounds and the powder looked like orange Kool-Aid mix."

EC Blank Powder was made, I believe, by Hercules, and was orange to pink in color.


Modern 5.56 blanks apparently use IMR 700x.
__________________
"The gift which I am sending you is called a dog, and is in fact the most precious and valuable possession of mankind" -Theodorus Gaza

Baby Jesus cries when the fat redneck doesn't have military-grade firepower.
Mike Irwin is offline  
Old May 2, 2013, 02:20 PM   #15
Bob Wright
Senior Member
 
Join Date: July 10, 2012
Location: Memphis, Tennessee
Posts: 2,985
Mike Irwin:
Quote:
EC Blank Powder was made, I believe, by Hercules, and was orange to pink in color.
Yeah, as I said, looked like all you had to do was add water for a drink.

Come to think of it, I suspect some of the men in my outfit may have tried it!

Bob Wright
Bob Wright is offline  
Old May 2, 2013, 04:30 PM   #16
Brian Pfleuger
Moderator Emeritus
 
Join Date: June 25, 2008
Location: Austin, CO
Posts: 19,578
Since the identification is moving along nicely, I want to see the coffee can that held that much stuff!
__________________
Nobody plans to screw up their lives...
...they just don't plan not to.
-Andy Stanley
Brian Pfleuger is offline  
Old May 2, 2013, 04:47 PM   #17
davery25
Senior Member
 
Join Date: October 4, 2011
Location: Australia
Posts: 318
Quote:
Since the identification is moving along nicely, I want to see the coffee can that held that much stuff!
THAT'S what I want to see as well. Those old boxes on the 22 ammo look awesome
davery25 is offline  
Old May 3, 2013, 12:57 PM   #18
BerdanSS
Senior Member
 
Join Date: April 3, 2011
Location: to close to other houses
Posts: 1,176
Sorry guys, I pitched the coffee can. It was NASTY on the outside, couldn't even see what the brand was. I'll tell ya though, it was about a foot tall and 9 inches in diameter....biggest coffee can I've ever seen.
BerdanSS is offline  
Old May 3, 2013, 02:37 PM   #19
CowTowner
Senior Member
 
Join Date: October 17, 2007
Location: Cowtown of course!
Posts: 1,747
Sounds like the cans I used to see in the mess hall when on KP. Or close to them at least.
__________________
NRA Chief Range Safety Officer, Home Firearms Safety, Pistol and Rifle Instructor
“Today, we need a nation of Minutemen, citizens who are not only prepared to take arms, but citizens who regard the preservation of freedom as the basic purpose of their daily life......” President John F. Kennedy
CowTowner 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 11:12 PM.


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 0.08534 seconds with 10 queries