Availability of mil-surp ammo? (esp. 6.5x55)

[stevekl]

Hey guys, I was wondering if someone could put this in perspective for me. We all know about calibers such as .303, 8mm mauser, etc.

I'm trying to decide on a battle rifle to purchase for myself for Christmas. Part of this would depend on the availability of the ammo. I am considering several rifles, such as a Swedish Mauser, Czech Mause or Enfield. However, i'm posting this thread not for recomendations (that's for another thread) but just to see which ammo is more available than others.

I own and shoot a Swiss K31, and i'm well aware of the difficulty in finding 7.5x55, so i'm not a novice when it comes to obscure or semi-obscure ammo.

So, taking the following list of ammo, can someone rank them from easiest to least easiest to find/purchase?

8mm Mauser (I'm guessing this is the easiest?)
.303 British
7.5x55 Swiss (Probably the hardest to get)
6.5x55 Swedish

Please, throw in others in the list if you can!

I'm particularly interested in the availability of the Swedish 6.5x55, if it's easier or harder to find than 7.5x55 Swiss.

I hope that's not too much to ask, heh. Thanks and happy holidays to you guys!

 

[ftierson]

Cole's has been advertising new FNM 6.5x55mm in 20rd boxes, brass cased, boxer-primed and non-corrosive, for $5.95/box, with additional price breaks at 200, 500 and 1000 rounds. You can't get much cheaper than that.

AIM just had a sale on the Igman 6.5x55mm (boxer, non-corrosive, 139gr SP or FMJ) for $5.95/box. I know because I bought 10 boxes...

The point is that cheap, reloadable, new production 6.5x55mm is available. Cheap, surplus 6.5x55mm is not available...

8mm Mauser surplus is everywhere, and dirt cheap. I'd first pick the Romanian. But, I have also fired a lot of the Turkish stuff in bolt action rifles. It is extremely cheap, and works well in bolt guns.

Cheap .303 Brit. is hard to find right now. Most that you see is Pakistani, and is loaded with erosive cordite powder. It shoots better than many claim, however.

Surplus 7.5x55mm is high quality, but pricey. FNM had a production run of this ammo in boxer primed cases with non-corrosive primers (170gr FMJ bullet) a couple of years ago, with the price as low as $7.95/box. This supply has dried up. I just managed to pick up 10 boxes at a local gun show for $11/box, which I thought was a good deal. I'm sure that more of the FNM stuff is floating around and can probably be had for less than the $11/box that I just paid. If you find some for less than that, I recommend that you grab it...

 

[captain obvious]

I've noticed that a lot of the surplus .303 ammo lately has had issues with metal around the bullet (another piece of metal is sitting atop the case head, and needs to be pulled off), and with cracking (probably 40 of the last 50 .303 rounds i've fired, the spent shells have visable cracks in them, not that this matters as much, with the Enfield action as strong as it is). .303 surplus quality seems to have taken a downturn as of late.

Also, another plentiful milsurp caliber is 7.62x54. Wolf makes new production ammo - it's cheap - and the silvertip stuff is cheap as well. Not as inexpensive as mauser ammo, but much better than .303.

 

[goon]

All of the rounds you mentioned except the 7.5 (not sure about this one) can be bought as sporting ammunition.

The 8mm is probably the most logical of the group if cheap blasting ammo is your concern. The 7.62x54R is also great in that respect.
The .303 and 6.5x55 are available as current production hunting ammo. Reloading will get you farther with these.

As a sidenote, I actually find playing with different loads in my SMLE to be fun. And the way that the stripper clips work in it fascinates me.

 

[jefnvk]

Last gunshow had 1400rd cases of Turk 8mm for $80. If you don't consider that cheap, keep on shooting .22

7.62x54 is another good choice, as is .308. And of course, if you haven't considered it, there is a lot of 7.62x39, new production for surplus pricing.

The list you gave is probably already in order, from my experience with surplus. Of course, if you add in new produciton, 6.5 and 7.5 probably swap places. I plan on some of that FNM 6.5 one of these days, I hear its pretty good, quite near mil-spec.

 

[Zeke Menuar]

http://www.samcoglobal.com/ammo.html

ZM

 

[c_yeager]

Out of what you listed the only thing i can find with consistency is 8mm which seems to litter the entire world.

For the sake of cheap ammo i think that 7.62x54R is the way to go. There are tons of it floating around PLUS it is still available NEW from a number of Russian manufacturers not to mention hunting ammunition is available from domestic producers. The added plus is that it is a cartridge that is still in the inventories of a couple of militaries, so the surplus market is mantaining itself. (eventually we are gonna run out of even cheap 8mm).

 

[swingset]

Something to consider about milurp guns.

What is available today, ammo and rifle wise, may be gone forever tomorrow.

I remember buying a K98 in the mid to late 80's, and there being no 8mm around for it, at least none that was cheap. Then, a few years later, it's the most common, cheap surplus out there till the Russian stuff hit big.

Same with .303. 10 years ago, it was everywhere. HXP, South African, awesome ammo and cheap. Nowadays it's uncommon.

Lesson to all milsurpers - buy the gun, learn to make the ammo. Buy what you can when its available and enjoy your rifles forever this way. You never know what tomorrow will bring. Trust me.

 

[Onmilo]

Samco out of Florida still has stocks of Military surplus ammunition in the calibers you listed.
They still had Match grade 6.5X55 Swede ammunition not too long back and should still have it.
Beware though, their shipping charges are higher than they need to be.

 

[ftierson]

By the way, I agree with swingset (and would have quoted him directly here with the right key).

Buy the gun when available, and buy cheap surplus ammo when available.

The future is not ours to see...