Old ammo

[XD357grandpa]

Many many years ago, I bought some handfuls of excess 7.62 x 51 military ammo. With the state of current affairs, I thought I had better try some and see if it was still any good. I grabbed a handful and headed out to the north 80 where a good clay bank makes a good backdrop. All rounds performed as expected. My old retired Remington 742 had its scope removed years ago. With Iron sight at 150 yards all bullets hit a gallon milk jug except for one flinch, offhand. I always thought the headstamp reflected the Armory where the round was loaded and the year of manufacture. Well, one headstamp was FA 51, How could this be when the.308 was not developed until 1952?

What does that headstamp indicate and how long can ammunition be stored. Most of these are stamped from 57 to 64.

 

[S&W645]

FA 51 headstamp should have been on a 7.62X63. Otherwise known as .30-06. FA is Frankford Arsenal. Frankford may have made some pre-production .308 ammo in 1951 leading up to the production for the M-14. Experiments were going on at that time for improvements to the US Rifle Cal .30 M1.

 

[XD357grandpa]

This is definitely .308. I came back in and discovered I had a few more 51"s as well. Thanks for the information. I thought Winchester developed this cartridge and didn't present it to the military until '52. Guess they had the military start loading earlier.

 

[MDT]

Ammo, when stored out of high heat and moist conditions, can last a very long time. I know people who have shot some pre-1930 ammo with little issue.

Sent from my SPH-L720 using USA Carry mobile app

 

[Waffles]

Back in may I shot up an old batch of .38 cal made by PETERS. Some corrosion around the lead projectiles but every thing went bang as it was supposed to. When was the last time you saw any ammo inn PETERS boxes?

 

[wood butcher]

I've got some 8mm for the Austrian M-95 dated 1937, still works fine