Old ammunition - shoot or collect? Advice please.

Capt.Canuck

Capt.Canuck

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I picked up this box locally to put a few rounds through my 98K.

Can anyone tell me about this ammunition? Age, commercial or military, etc...

Is it something that is collectible (i.e. a value in excess of a box of modern Winchester 8mm Mauser) or should I fire away?

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Seems like older FMJ 8mm Mauser made by Winchester, my guess would be sometime between the '50s and end of the '70s for age, probably civilian target ammo.

Mind you I have nothing to base age/type on, other than the case saying "Full Metal Case," it just looks older than from the '80s and newer than war/pre-war stock, not to mention the allies "didn't really" use 8mm Mauser. I find it odd, though, they labelled it 7.92mm Mauser, though that is the more precise measurement, I've mostly seen it generalized as 8mm, not to mention its "official" name is 8x57mm according to SAAMI.

Personally, I've never seen much of a point for ammo collecting, so I'd say just shoot it, but that's just me.
 
F-Tang said:
... not to mention the allies "didn't really" use 8mm Mauser. I find it odd, though, they labelled it 7.92mm Mauser, though that is the more precise measurement...
Click to expand...

Not only did we use it, the Americans cranked out a huge pile of the stuff for countries like China that already had Mausers from before the war.

Nothing odd about labeling it as 7.92, that's what it is. The American civilian market calls it 8mm Mauser, the military still calls it 7.92.
 
1. It was not made for US military use. Ammo made on US military contracts will have the appropriate military specification sheet number and contract number on the box somewhere, generally the front.

2. It is definitely military stuff: civvy rounds never have the primer-pockets swaged in a ring crimp with sealing lacquer. Sealing lacquer in this case seems purple, which was the British military code for Ball ammo. So: possibly made for British or other Commonwealth use, likely in BESA MGs in Tanks.

3. the loading is interesting, being a copy of the WW-1 loading used by the Germans. The JsS loading, which everyone now insists is "proper" for the 98 rifle, originated during the First World War as a super-heavy machine-gun loading specifically for use against Tanks. The SmE and SmK loads are an effort to make something like the JsS load, but in an atmosphere of lead shortage. The SmK was an AP but it was no great trouble to make up ammo with mild-steel cores, thus saving a quantity of lead with each round, hence the 178-grain SmE with a soft steel core.

Oh, it's fun!

Nice to see it's going to a good home.
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The British 7.92 Ball MkIZ and IIZ used a 198 gr bt BT bullet similar to the German sS.
China retained the original German 154 gr "S" bt as standard.
 
i say collect. The brass is not useable and I think its awesome to have some old milsurp ammunition. Make a cool display in the den or something.
 
hey, i had some of these stuff, their boxer primed cases. i shoot them and they worked great but the cases split after 2nd reload. they were non-corrosive.i still have 5 rounds left as my collection. your boxes are cleaner than mine so i say collect them.
 
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