Bart Noir
Member
I find I own a 50-round belt of machine gun ammo, this being the WW2 German style of belt. The headstamps have Arabic symbols and numerals.
At first I thought I had 7.5 MAS made in Syria, since I knew that 7.5 French was made in Syria and I knew that the French copied the machine gun feed design from the MG42. So I assumed that they also copied the belt links.
But when I measured I found I have 7.9x57 rounds, also known as 8mm Mauser.
This is not Turkish ammo since this is not the Turkish script on the headstamps and certainly not the Western numerology that Turkey adopted after WW1. The cartridges are not old enough to be pre-Attaturk. The numbers on them translate as 58 or 75, depending on which side is up (I can’t yet figure this out).
So what is the story behind 8mm being made in an Arab country?
Bart Noir
At first I thought I had 7.5 MAS made in Syria, since I knew that 7.5 French was made in Syria and I knew that the French copied the machine gun feed design from the MG42. So I assumed that they also copied the belt links.
But when I measured I found I have 7.9x57 rounds, also known as 8mm Mauser.
This is not Turkish ammo since this is not the Turkish script on the headstamps and certainly not the Western numerology that Turkey adopted after WW1. The cartridges are not old enough to be pre-Attaturk. The numbers on them translate as 58 or 75, depending on which side is up (I can’t yet figure this out).
So what is the story behind 8mm being made in an Arab country?
Bart Noir