Igman problems anyone?

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goldidig

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I picked up a couple boxes of Igman 6.5 X 55 at the last gun show I attended, from a dealer to give me some new brass to reload. I always had used Privi Partisan and Norma but there was none to be found at the show, so I figured the Igman would be O.K. where it was modern ammo and boxer primed. I took it to the range to pop it off when I was sighting in 3 rifles last week and had 2 blasts of gas back through the breech and one split neck and consistent 12 to 14 inch groups at 100 yards. Absolutely horrid ammo! Worse than any old surplus ammo I have ever bought for any of my rifles. Needless to say, I gave up and stopped firing it. I was seriously wondering if something was wrong with my rifle, but checked it over and then fired four 5 round groups with my regular handloads and was back in the 1/2" to 1 " groups like I always shot with it. There is definitely NO problems with this rifle. It is a like new, matching numbers M38 sportered Swede. I have shot hundreds of rounds over the past 20 years with it and never had any problems. Has anyone else had problems with Igman ammo like this? To make matters worse, the flash hole in the cases is an odd size and I had to make a special decapping pin and then drill them out to the standard size afterwards. I'm wondering if the brass is even worth reloading?
Al
 
I have been feeding my .303 brit a steady diet of Igman 180gr SP..... my deer rifle LOVES it. I have found it to be superb ammo and it is the best grouping ammo in my pristine, shtle 3* deer killer. Also notice ZERO problems with the brass and will surely be reloading it.
I will buy Igman ..... for my .303 when ever i see it for sale, I'm very happy with it
 
Oh well, maybe I just had a bad batch of ammo. I never heard anyone else say anything bad about it locally either. Good to hear you guys haven't run into anything bad with it.
Al
 
I bought a box of Igman 6.5x55 for my Husky and it shot terrible 3-4" While the Selliers & Bellot shot easy into 2" and often better if I did my part.

I have not tried reloading this brass yet, so I will see if I encounter the same problems as you.
 
The only real problem I found with 6.5x55mm Igman ammo is that you have to ream the flash hole out so you can reload it. Minor issues are the brass is thicker and a little harder to resize, and the case volume is smaller than commercial brass. You have to keep the latter part in mind if you're reloading near the max limit.
Other than that, I found it to be a decent ammo for my Swedes and OK brass for reloading.

(E) :cool:
 
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reloading igman

I have shot .303, 6.5X55, & 8 X57 in Igman. all seemed OK to me. I have reloaded hundreds of rounds in 8X57, & just reloaded some .303 this afternoon - no problems.
6.5X55? I just about went mental. I bent/broke more decapping pins & rods, the flash hole is so small it could never hit it straight on. Finally bought a .22 cal manual decapping rod & banged out the primers that way. even then, it always got stuck in the flashhole, so I then had to hammer it out the other way. Very frustrating & slow. I was reloading (6.5) for a friend, but will probably drop it unless i find some better brass.
One note on the Igman ammo. I would think twice before using it in a semi-auto. The primers may be a little soft. In 200 rounds, I had about 5 slam fires, then an out of battery fire in a FN49 using Igman. Blew it up real good.
 
No slam fires in my Garand using the 150 gr Igman stuff, but the grouping isn't all that great and probably wouldn't be far off your 12" groups at 100 yards.
I hate reloading that brass as well because of the crimped primers, but have done it successfully after taking the lip off from around the primer pocket... PITA!
 
goldidig said:
Oh well, maybe I just had a bad batch of ammo. I never heard anyone else say anything bad about it locally either. Good to hear you guys haven't run into anything bad with it.
Al
Click to expand...

i have shot a couple boxes of the 6.5x55 SP out of my ag-42 and i have 5 boxes still ive never had a problem with it other than 1 split neck although it was very minor the only complaint i have is that the groups really arent very good i was grouping around 3 inches at 50 yards and like 8 inches at 100 yards although this was one of my first tries with the rifle.... i recently tried some seller and bellot FMJ and grouped under 2 inches at 50 so im sure under 1 at 50 will be easily possible with a bit more pratise.

the price is right however epps sells it for $11 a box.:)
 
(((Echo))) said:
The only real problem I found with 6.5x55mm Igman ammo is that you have to ream the flash hole out so you can reload it. Minor issues are the brass is thicker and a little harder to resize, and the case volume is smaller than commercial brass. You have to keep the latter part in mind if you're reloading near the max limit.
Other than that, I found it to be a decent ammo for my Swedes and OK brass for reloading.

(E) :cool:
Click to expand...

agreed. Case prep is a bit of a pain for the first reload. You can't decap it normally until the flash hole is enlarged somewhat.

The gas blow-back is something I also had, and I have a couple theories on it, one being that the charge is a little under-powered, and it doesn't seal the chamber properly. Perhaps the size of the flash hole has alot to do with this.

Second, it seems to be temperature sensitive. I shot several boxes in the heat of summer no problemo, only when winter comes does this blackened case issue reappear. Plus its a real pain to clean.

I found the brass to be really thick, for it to have proper neck tension I was forced to anneal it.

Bottom line is that is not the easiest to work with but if you are willing to prep the cases you can beat it into usefulness.:)
 
Now I don't feel like I am so alone! :) I guess annealing is in order for me as well. I also found the case brass to be very thick. Strange that any other Igman load seems to be no real issue, just the 6.5 X 55. I wonder if they are even aware of problems? I tried finding a website on Google to see if I could access a "contact us" link but all the links don't work and in fact Igman.com appears to be available to purchase as a web name. That seems strange. You don't suppose they have folded?
Al
 
Igman ammo....

Shot a box of the econo grey & red boxed Igman thru a US Model of 1917 Eddystone .30-06 sporter I recently had. Decent ammo for the price, I thought.
 
The only reason I bought it in the first place was as a source for some fresh brass. I'll use Privi partisan cases from now on as I always did. I recently brought fresh Privi brass in from the U.S. in a couple other calibres. Time for a new order for some Swede stuff! No more Igman for me. Seems like the 6.5 X 55 ammo is the only one with a regular stream of complaints though. That seems a bit odd.
 
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