Hazards of using bad surplus ammo...

[Slater]

http://www.cetmerifles.com/forum/vb/showthread.php?t=11183

The above is a thread on another board and illustrates several weapons damaged from firing Indian surplus ammo (7.62X51).

Now I know why I've heard people recommending against using this stuff.

 

[FieroCDSP]

Some of those rifle casings look like un-crimped reloaded blank or rpg casings. I don't have an M60 or SAW, or Browning .50, but I prefer to know what's going in my chambers. A cursory glance at any of those rounds tells you they are almost lethaly flawed and thus the rest should be suspect. I don't have experience with belt or chain fed ammo but I would think the time it takes to look over a belt of ammo is worth it to save the gun. I noticed a lot of M-16/ CAR 15 style arm magazine blow-outs. Bullets don't load themselves into those mags. Someone should have noticed a case with a serious flaw like those. Sounds like someone should feel dumb and/or file a lawsuit.

 

[Fu-man Shoe]

That's a pretty sad picture of what used to be a nice M1A.

Oh well though...better the gun than your face!

 

[Hoppy590]

thats the indian ammo. part of the reason some people were concerned about the pakistani ammo that recently started to come in the US, though its said the Paki ammo is up to par.

 

[panzermk2]

looks like scavenged brass that had been re-loaded BY HAND, not handloading on a press BUT by hand with a small hammer and some channel locks

 

[Slimjim]

The 1919 isnt really damaged, The top cover can be hammered back flat, or replaced, and your good to go.

 

[Mannlicher]

Even with new factory ammo, I always check each cartridge before using. When shooting MilSurp ammo, of uncertain history, the person that does NOT check the ammo pretty much leaves himself, and his firearm, wide open for abuse.

 

[Firehand]

The Indian .308 seems to be flat crap. I wound up with a hundred rounds of it a while back- before I'd heard the warnings about it- and firing a few rounds produced horrible accuracy. So I started pulling bullets and weighing charges.

Out of 20 rounds, all from the same can, powder charges varied from low to high by more than two grains.

All that ammo was dismantled and the bullets saved for reloading.

 

[cracked butt]

Penny smart, pound foolish.

I never understood why people spend thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars on firearms, then have a strong urge to run the cheapest, dirtiest, most poorly made, and most quetionable ammunition through them

 

[mrrick]

I lived in India and Pakistan for sevral years and I can guarentee that just about everything manufactured there is crap. There is so much corruption that they cheat on everything, using substandard components and pocketing the excess money. They even supply their army with this crap, and those poor buggers get blown up amd mained all the time. But they figure with a population of 1 billion, who cares, some new suckers will always be there to take their place.

As said before, you pay good momey for your guns, use good reliable ammo.

 

[CU74]

Not all mil-surp ammo is bad. Most from the old Soviet Bloc countries is decent. That said, I make it a rule to hand-load my magazines and/or stripper clips. That way I have inspected every round by sight and feel. 100% foolproof? No, but it sure moves the chances of something bad happening in the right direction.