Author Topic: iranian 8mm surplus ammo (Read 12086 times)

Brandon · « **on:** September 23, 2013, 07:24:48 pm »

I have a about 600-700 rounds of Iranian surplus 8mm mauser and I am having about at least 50% of the rounds I fire have at least a 3-4 second delay. I bought the Hornady cam lock bullet puller to pull the bullets off my reaming unfired rounds. Could I save the power in the surplus rounds and use it for reloading my reloadable brass?

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cpaspr · « **Reply #1 on:** September 23, 2013, 08:18:31 pm »

You could try, but do you know if you have dud primers or dud powder? It seems you're assuming you have dud primers. It could be bad powder that got wet and stayed that way.

Brandon · « **Reply #2 on:** September 23, 2013, 10:41:54 pm »

I am fairly certain that it is bad primers because the one round that I pulled the bullet off of the power looked to be good and it burned completed when I lit it on fire.

cpaspr · « **Reply #3 on:** September 24, 2013, 03:16:32 pm »

Was that one that had already failed to fire? If not, it proves nothing, as it probably would have been one of the 50% good ones. However, if it was one of the ones that had failed, then yes, it probably had a dud primer.

Still, 3-4 second hang times? Dang. That's scary.

Mississippi556 · « **Reply #4 on:** September 24, 2013, 05:00:32 pm »

Quote from: Brandon on September 23, 2013, 07:24:48 pm

I have a about 600-700 rounds of Iranian surplus 8mm mauser and I am having about at least 50% of the rounds I fire have at least a 3-4 second delay. I bought the Hornady cam lock bullet puller to pull the bullets off my reaming unfired rounds. Could I save the power in the surplus rounds and use it for reloading my reloadable brass?

I wouldn't risk it. You simply do not know what conditions the ammo was stored in. Powder stored improperly can change its burn rate, even if it is dry and the cases properly sealed. I'd just salvage the bullets and cases, reprime them and load with new, fresh powder appropriate for 8x57 and the bullet weight.

Hang fires are dangerous. Not worth taking the chance, but that's just me.

Coronach · « **Reply #5 on:** September 24, 2013, 05:32:26 pm »

Concur. As the ammo is known to hangfire, every time you get a dud you have no idea whether you're sitting there wasting time with a dead round or if you have a bomb sitting there waiting for you to unlock the action.

Screw that.

Mike

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Brandon · « **Reply #6 on:** September 25, 2013, 04:27:38 am »

Thank for the advice. The cases are berdan primed so it looks like all I will be able to save are the bullets I will pull some of the duds and take a look at the powder. I will report the results after I take a look at some of the duds. The one that I pulled was a unfired round because the case had a big dent in it and would not go into the chamber of my gun.

Brandon · « **Reply #7 on:** September 25, 2013, 06:29:23 pm »

I just pulled the bullets off 10 more rounds all had failed to fire. The power had no clumps and poured out of the cases. After that I put the power into an old insistent coffee tin and lit the power with my torch. The power that was hit by the flame lit and burned slowly for about one second as it spread to all the power on the top then it took off and producing about a 2 ½ foot flame for about 2-3 seconds. I am thinking that the power is bad because it took some time to spread to the rest of the power from the point of ignition.

ksuguy · « **Reply #8 on:** September 25, 2013, 07:09:29 pm »

Probably both the primer and powder is bad. I would just dump it and save the bullets.

Brandon · « **Reply #9 on:** September 25, 2013, 08:50:14 pm »

I am coming to the same conclusion as well, at least I can have some fun lighting all the bad power. I wonder how big a flame I can get from an instant coffee can half full of power?

JesseL · « **Reply #10 on:** September 25, 2013, 10:30:47 pm »

About 8 feet I'd say. Careful not to lose your eye brows.

Brandon · « **Reply #11 on:** September 26, 2013, 04:11:30 am »

Thanks I will try not to do an Adam Savage from MythBusters. For any one does not know what I am talking about here is a link to the video.

Coronach · « **Reply #12 on:** September 26, 2013, 08:19:31 am »

You may as well try the primed cases with fresh powder. If the hangfires continue, save the bullets and toss the rest.

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Brandon · « **Reply #13 on:** September 26, 2013, 11:47:38 pm »

I would consider doing that if the primers were not corrosive

Brandon · « **Reply #14 on:** November 26, 2013, 03:38:18 pm »

I went and fired 5 of the primers from my surplus rounds that I had pulled the bullets off 2 fizzled I think that I got maybe 2 decent pops and one popped but it was not as load. I am thinking maybe I will try the old power I a small test batch and report back.

P.S.

I have a wet rotary tumbler with stainless steel pins and I was wondering if there would be any adverse effects on the bullets if I ran them through my tumbler to clean them up. The bullets do not react to a very strong magnet that I have so I am assuming that they do not have any exposed iron that would rust on me.

Brandon · « **Reply #15 on:** November 26, 2013, 04:57:21 pm »

I jest fired off the rest of the primed cases that I had pulled the bullets of off and there were the results
Quiet pop with fizzled 7
Load pop 8 in side of cases had yellow residue in side if case
Did not hear any sound over the hammer falling or dud 3
Fizzled with no pop 28
I am defiantly thinking that the primers are bad and I am going to load up some rounds with the old power an see how they fire.

huey148 · « **Reply #16 on:** November 26, 2013, 06:53:06 pm »

Got some of that crap last gun show.... total crap

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Brandon · « **Reply #17 on:** November 26, 2013, 07:16:11 pm »

How much did you pay per round? When I bought mine I think I paid about $.33 per round and I got 2 50Cal ammo cans with it. The rounds that have boattail bullets so in my option the price I paid for mine is still worth it for the bullets.

Brandon · « **Reply #18 on:** January 12, 2014, 05:13:08 pm »

I recently want to the range and fired off my test batch of reloads using the power and bullets from my surplus ammo and every round went off. I check every spent case and everything looked good.

Also if any one reading this lives in Washington State the Issaquah sportsmen's club has an M1919 and RPD for rent I do not know if they are full auto.