8mm lebel headstamp?

[TheIndifferent1]

I just acquired 49 rounds of what I believe is 8mm Lebel. They appear so far to all have the same headstamp:

39 R 2 TH

Can anyone provide any info? Also, about 30% of the rounds have corrosion on the cases. Is there anything I can do to clean this up so they can be fired? Is this ok for my 1907/15 Mannlicher Berthier to fire? This stuff is hard to find.

Thanks

 

[green]

Made 2nd quarter of 1939 by Cartoucherie Seine(TH), brass supplied by Rugles Usine des Trefileries (R).

 

[tiriaq]

Personally, I would not shoot ammunition with that much corrosion. It looks as if it has eaten into the brass.
The best way to get fresh, shooting ammunition for a Lebel is to resize and load .348 Winchester brass. Not what you wanted to hear.....

 

[TheIndifferent1]

Personally, I would not shoot ammunition with that much corrosion. It looks as if it has eaten into the brass.
The best way to get fresh, shooting ammunition for a Lebel is to resize and load .348 Winchester brass. Not what you wanted to hear.....

That's what I was afraid of. The two rounds on the ends are the worst of the bunch, most are clean or only have a speck or two of corrosion on them.

What will eat this blue corrosion? Vinegar? I might shoot some of the clean stuff, preserve the rest, and turn the badly corroded ones into dummy rounds at some point. I'm assuming these are berdan primed casings - is that likely?

 

[green]

In my experience French ammo of that vintage, 8mm,7.5, 7.65L, is very unreliable and will probably hangfire or misfire.