Which milsurp ammo is most available and cheapest?

[Grouse Man]

It used to be .303 British, and 6.5 Swede, .308, etc. Now it seems to be .223 or 7.62x39.

What is the most commonly available surplus ammo that is cheap and plentiful? My thoughts are to find the ammo first, and then pick a rifle afterwards to burn it up in.

Grouse Man

 

[Stevo]

Cheapest right now would be Czech 7.62x39, $169/1120 per case shipped, + tax, from CanadaAmmo. Next most plentiful and cheapest would be 7.62x54R. Lots of inexpensive rifles available in either calibre.

 

[Archibald]

So who's selling 7.62x54R the cheapest?

 

[steve1973]

So who's selling 7.62x54R the cheapest?

I believe that would be Districorp, also a cheap place for 7.62x51.

 

[Claven2]

I think it would have to be Marstar and their 7.62x25TT ammo. Tokarev and CZ-52 pistols are super cheap too! Sound like a plan?

 

[SKScanuck]

Districorp http://www.districorp.ca/English/ammunition.htm or Marstar has 7.62x54r

Stock up because milsurp ammo won't be around forever.

 

[Hitzy]

Safest bet is something in 7.62x51NATO (.308).....will always be ammo around and the UMC/WhiteBox/AE isn't too badly priced if surplus dries up. Who knows what will be available even a year from now for the obscure surplus.

 

[steve1973]

We need to change some of the regs and get all that cheap American ammo up there. Boy, I could go for 900 rounds of 8mm for $90!!!! :twisted:

 

[woodchopper]

Safest bet is something in 7.62x51NATO (.308).....will always be ammo around and the UMC/WhiteBox/AE isn't too badly priced if surplus dries up. Who knows what will be available even a year from now for the obscure surplus.

that and .223 (5.56x45Nato) The 7.62x54R and 7.62x39 may not be available in a few years if the UN and the Liberals have their way. And whatever else is avaialble will not be cheap.

 

[f_soldaten04]

whats with there being no 8mm surplus? I mean, yugoslavia had a LOT of 8mm, they were used in some of their machine guns and rifles. cant marstar get some from there?

 

[Grouse Man]

Well I see that Districorp also has current prod'n 6.5 Swede @ 9.84/20. That's only a bit more expensive than the Portugese surplus 308 @ 6.40/20. So I'll probably just stick with the swede. The $150 or so I'd save by not buying another rifle can make up the ammo difference for a long time. THanks for the links and help, all.

Grouse Man

 

[muh-muh-muh-mauser]

whats with there being no 8mm surplus? I mean, yugoslavia had a LOT of 8mm, they were used in some of their machine guns and rifles. cant marstar get some from there?

Didnt it all go to the US? I dont know why there isn't more 8mm milsurp ammo here in Canada but if there was id buy as much as i could.

 

[steve1973]

Didnt it all go to the US? I dont know why there isn't more 8mm milsurp ammo here in Canada but if there was id buy as much as i could.

CGN user CanAm explained it in another post. Even though the 8mm surplus is widely available south of the border, most of it does not meet our safety guidelines for ammo. They have no such regulations (or if they do, a lot looser) south of the border so any ammo is fair game.

 

[mcbain]

corrosive primers, dirty powder ?

I emailed districorp about thier 7.62 x 39. They said it doesn't have corrosive primers but it does have "dirty powder" and should be cleaned after each session.

I know the difference between boxer and berden primers but what makes a primer corrosive? What makes powder "dirty" ?

 

[poweredbybeer]

I know the difference between boxer and berden primers but what makes a primer corrosive? What makes powder "dirty" ?

Most military primers that are corrosive use potassium chlorate as an oxidizer, which leaves behind potassium chloride when the primer is fired. Potassium chloride is essentially a salt, similar to table salt, which is then dispersed and deposited in the barrel and other internal parts. Any moisture from the surrounding air will be absorbed by the tiny potassium chloride salt crystals and essentially make a nice galvanic salt water bath for your bore surface, bolt face, and any other contaminated parts. It can be easily cleaned with hot water, since salt is water soluble. Ammonia, contrary to popular belief, does absolutely nothing to clean corrosive salts from your gun. When you use Windex, the water in the mix is what's dissolving and carrying away the salts, not the ammonia. Hot water is the correct tool for the job.

Dirty powder is just powder that doesn't burn completely. The degrees of dirtiness vary, from just dust in the bore to full grains of powder left behind, unburned, in the barrel and in the spent case. This can be caused by many variables, like grain size/shape, uniformity, sulphur content, etc. etc. blah blah blah. If you're shooting dirty rounds, you may foul the bore a little quicker, but that's all. Obviously, the rifle should be cleaned well, but it's no big deal. Nothing to worry about

 

[Calum]

I have read and seen that The Ammonia will work on the Copper, and it doesn't take more then a quick spray/pour down the barrel.

Use a tight fitting funnel and hot water...the first 2 pours of hot water net almost clear water out the end of the barrel, then I pour a bit of Windex down, and follow with more hot water, and this stuff then comes out black.

So it must be doing something.

Also I just picked up 23 boxes of Norinco 7.62x39 from a fellow GunNut and it says "Non corrosive Primer" on it. Is this the same stuff you are talking about from Districorp?

I must be a Gun Nut as I don't even have an SKS yet and I have over 400 rounds of ammo for it.

 

[John Sukey]

Are those Canadian armourer's funnels still floating around? The one I have works on any rifle you clean from the arse end.

 

[Calum]

I bought mine at Canadian tire for $1...it was siting next to the check-out stand. So far the Heavy plastic is OK with the Hot water, and it fits nice and snug in the chamber of my P-14.

 

[Unregistered]

Districorp has been out of 6.5X55 Swede for a while

 

[Proutfoo]

Districorp has been out of 6.5X55 Swede for a while

The Igman 6.5x55 I got from Districorp was so-so. I bought 500 rounds of it, and have been using it up quite slowly since it has some problems. I still have about 100 left.

The flash hole in the brass is very small, making the powder ignition quite poor. It is worse in cold conditions, so if it is less than 10C I do not even take it out.

What happens is that the charge seems under-loaded, likely due to the minuscule flash hole, and the resulting ignition does not seal the chamber properly. There are powder marks and residue all the way back to the case head, even inside the rim. And the bolt face gets smeared in crap.

As well, the powder is very sooty, not so much a problem until one of the above scenarios happens, then you are cleaning the bolt for a long while afterwards.

As for reloading this brass, my mileage also has not been so great. You have to drill out the flash hole to make it standard size, de-crimp the primer pockets, and anneal it like crazy almost to the point of cooking the brass because it is so hard it has a "springback" memory condition that I find causes the bullets to be too loose without intensive annealing.

I find it is as cheap to reload as it is to get the Igman. And my reloads are superior.

Maybe I hit a bad lot, but the above I describe was seen by others on a US forum, and the small flash hole is widely known in 6.5x55 and other calibers too.