Military Surplus ammo isn't always a good deal....

[Hogwylde]

Sometimes the results would be enough to make you ship your pants!!

After the round at the bottom of the third photo (the one with the missing primer head) blew out the bottom of my magazine, I gathered up all my brass and proceeded to inspect it all when I got home from the range. I had NO idea that I was getting all these split/ruptured cases. The round in the top left corner is ruptured about in inch of the case length! I was beginning to wonder if there was a defect in my chamber, but the ruptures are in all different locations relative to the extractor. Funny though...........how most are in almost the same location generally on the rear portion of the case. The only conclusion I can make it that this is where the steel machine gun links made contact and somehow weakened the cases in the same spot.

How do I know this ammo used to be machine gun linked? I found a piece of a link still welded to one of the rounds that I discarded during the initial inspection and cleaning of this ammo. It was purchased from Sportsman's Guide back in 98. $89 for 500 rounds and my FIL had it in storage until his death last December. I'm sure he bought it for doomsday. Good thing he never had to rely on it to defend his life. 5% didn't pass visual inspection after cleaning, 10% failed to fire (duds), and it groups about 12" @ 200 yards. By the way, this is 308.

Needless to say, all this ammo is gone. What hadn't been fired is now all in the trash. (I'm not even going to try to sell the brass that looks ok. Just toss it.) A complete inspection of the rifle shows no etching of the chamber, bolt face or lugs. Guess I should count my lucky stars. This could have ended very badly....

 

[BogWalker]

I'd have at least pulled them down for the projectile.

Anyway, what nation are they frame? Country of origin, year of manufacture. Or if you don't know what do the headstamps read?

 

[Hogwylde]

Every headstamp of the cases pictured are TZ 80 except the one with the primer head separation. That one is IMI 308 with no year. The entire 500 round lot was TZ or IMI from the early 80's. I suspect it's all Israeli.

 

[17 squirrel]

What rifle was this fired in please ???

 

[red_zr24x4]

Read this- Tz - 80 - M14 Forum

From the m14 forum - M14 Forum - M14 Forum for M14 M1A Rifles

I got some of this ammo from my brother, I had a rupture in my M1A, blew the bottom of the mag out, no other damage to the rifle.

 

[Hogwylde]

What rifle was this fired in please ???

Factory assembled Armalite AR-10A of recent manufacture.

 

[Disposable Heart]

Cheap, good, fast, choose two. lol

The only "milsurp" stuff I will ever stock any amount of is M193 and I have very specific reasons for it (close range steel penetration, penetrates better than M855 close up). The rest, I don't care about.
1. We aren't bound by the Hague or other gibberish land warfare legalities. We can use expanding or fragmenting projectiles. Milsurp ammo has little to none of these properties. Sure, M193 CAN fragment, but not always, so what am I going to choose? A round that I can hand load or purchase with a known history of doing a good job, or a round that the military uses that has a questionable fragmentation percentage?

2. Waterproof, shelf stable ammo: Seal quality ammo neck and primers with dilluted fingernail polish and you have a waterproof ammo. Ammo, unless really cheapo stuff, can last generations if stored and sealed correctly. Look at the WW1 and WW2 stuff being shot today.

3. Accuracy: Okay, excluding Mk262 and other BTJHP military stuff, what do you get with "milsurp" ammo? MAYBE 2 MOA if you are lucky? Waste of time if my rifle is capable of 1 or less inches.

4. Possible rejects: While the X series from Lake City isn't necessarily "reject" ammo (reject components, one reason or another), why would one buy ammo that is surplussed by another country? We have remarkably loose requirements for ammo by the .gov (they loosened the accuracy requirement during the second incursion into Iraq due to demand), and people are going to trust banana republic ammo or ammo that is obviously defective. Sure, we get lucky: Guat .308 and 5.56, South African 5.56 and .308, Venezuelan .308, Yugoslavian 7.62x39, good ammo of one type or another. But why roll dice? Especially with folks buying cheap ammo to stock up on in case of emergency. Looters in the streets, one house down, knocking on your door next, and you are going to take time to sort through the cheapo blastomatic stuff that you got cheap from Shotgun News from Moldova? No thanks.

 

[AmmoManAaron]

Read this- Tz - 80 - M14 Forum

Yep, it's known to be dangerous ammo, the brass is unsafe, but the projos are fine for reloading. I've got several thousand rounds to pull down when I get the time.

 

[citizenkane]

Yep, that TZ80 ammo has been blowing stuff up for years. It keeps coming out of hiding and I see it at shows from time to time. The Chilean 7.62 from 75(I think that's the year) is just as bad or worse.

 

[BogWalker]

Don't forget the Indian that's bad. Can't remember what years.

What makes things worse is that 7.62x51 is primarily run through semi-autos and autos. In a bolt action if a case splits you will generally get gas vented in your face. If a case splits in an autoloader you can get a ruined receiver.

 

[red_zr24x4]

On the M14 forum they have a couple of sticky threads about all the junk ammo

 

[rmasters744]

I agree that you have to be very cautious of military surplus. Lots of unknowns with it.