Steel cored bullet??? big pics

[sapsk]

I dug this bullet out of a backstop yesterday and hope someone can explain it. I was shooting at a private location and have not shot into this spot in the past so I believe it is one of two rounds I was sending into the hill. I shot 1954 dated 303 and unknown origin 7.62 x 54R, FMJ with a faint yellow tip. I have no more of the 303 left and even the brass is gone so I can't show head stamp, I included pictues of the 7.62 headstamp and two more "cores" that I found among bits of lead and jacket. Is this a steel penetrator? (its megnetic and very hard)

 

[zZ_denis]

Looks like a typical M43 ball, mild steel core. Nearly all of surplus 7.62x39 on the our market is loaded with bullets like that...
Steel core is a cost saving measure (steel is cheaper than lead) and offers no significant advantage in penetration. Cores of AP bullets almost always have a sharp point. Also, had it been an AP bullet, the penetrator would never get stuck in the jacket like that, it would go into/through whatever it hit, leaving the jacket behind.

 

[M77]

I agree 100% with Denis. Two types of 7.62x39 that I have (Russian and Czechoslovakian) both have steel cores. Most indoor ranges don't even allow it in their building's and will frequently do a metal check with a magnet for the steel core. If you cut open a bullet jacket with a dremmel type tool lengthwise and open it up you will find the steel core surrounded by a very thin layer of lead.

 

[stinkycod]

Try this web site it will tell you everything you need to know.
www.7.62x54r.net
Yellow tip is type D lead core 182gr

I can not read your head stamp, as an example if it had 22 on the top and 80 on the bottom it would mean it was produced in factory 22 in 1980.

 

[tiriaq]

Certainly aren't M43 bullets. Think 7.62x54R.

 

[BattleRife]

I dug this bullet out of a backstop yesterday and hope someone can explain it.

As others have said, mild steel core, done for the sake of economy. Technology was developed by the Germans and widely used by them in WWII, then adopted by the Russians. Pretty common in all post-war eastern european and soviet bloc ammo.