In defense of Turk 8mm Ammo

[telewinz]

Having researched and fired Turk ammo (but shooting other surplus as well) I am amazed at the complaints made against it. About the only valid claim against it is the brittle brass and split necks caused by not annealing their brass until 1950. I was shooting my Hakim Saturday along with a friend who was shooting his Turk 1938 bolt action. Out of 50 rounds he had 5 misfires and blamed the ammo (1943). I explained that it was more likely the spring was weak in his rifle and to prove my point I took all 5 "defective" rounds and fired them in my Hakim with no problem. Another myth dis-spelled.

 

[Kevlarman]

I've also had a few misfires with my Turk ammo, but they always fired on their second try. In my experience, it's not bad! Cheap, powerful, and plentiful!

 

[GD]

I took my VZ-24 out yesterday and put 70 rounds of Turk through her. Actually only 69 rounds. One had a pretty severe crack. I fired one with a small crack with no problems. I had one non fire. I put it back in the chamber and it fired fine. Not bad for $4.00 worth of shooting! BTW, it was dated 1946 and I had tons of fun hitting clay pidgeons at 120 yards.

 

[Okiecruffler]

I've burned up that turk ammo by the case, and yeah, it has some problems. I've thrown alot out due to cracked necks, and I've had a few misfires (very few, not near the number some people are reporting), but the stuff is just almost rimfire cheap, accurate in most of my guns, and as powerful as most anything I'd care to handload. It is corrosive as all get out tho'. Forgot to clean my Turk mauser after her last trip out, realized a few days later and took care of all the little brown flowers that had sprouted up everywhere, but it sure meade me feel dumb. Hey, it had to happen sometime.

 

[Turkish]

Out of probably around 300 rounds of Turk surplus put through my Turk and my VZ.24, I've had one mis-fire and two rounds thrown out due to bad cases. All were from the first bando I ever bought, 1940 dated. Other years i remember are 45 and 46, and all of those rounds have been perfectly fine.

 

[roo_ster]

I've had no misfires or split necks.

It is plenty powerful, causing a sticky bolt in my M48.

It is also the most filthy ammo I've ever shot. I will go with Romanian from now on.

 

[Erich]

I've never had any misfires on the hundreds of rounds I've launched out of my M48. I'm glad I got lucky!

 

[Kalos]

Hmm. Very interesting. I might finally buy some just for the stripper clips.

 

[armoredman]

Quite franky, I'd like the Hakim.......

 

[No4Mk1*]

Don't buy it for the clips as they are very poor quality. Some years of Turkish ammo came on good clips, but I'm pretty sure the 1940's ammo is all on low quality clips. Rounds fall off the turk clips and the tabs that hold the ammo on are bent when used a few times. If you want clips buy Yugo 1940 ammo from JG Sales as it comes on excellent two piece stainless steel clips that are beautiful and very smooth in operation.

 

[Kalos]

Ahh, thanks for the headsup. I normally hesitate to mail order, as it's easy for me to run up to AIM surplus and pay sales tax, but at least no shipping. But the last couple gunshows I hit didn't seem to have any 8mm clips...

 

[BowStreetRunner]

the bandolier of turk i bought has misfired 2/5 rounds....but it is cheap
BSR

 

[Erich]

Man, he's right: do not buy it for the junky clips! I usually don't even try to load the ammo into my rifle from the Turk clips - I actually take it off and then load the rounds individually (I'm not going to waste time loading my good clips with cheap range ammo).

 

[telewinz]

I've had the same problem with their brass clips. Maybe one out of 5 will strip off the rounds, the rest I have to do by hand. I hate to throw them away but they do appear to be useless.

 

[NEtracker]

Haven't had any issues with Turk 1940's 8mm, and no clip issues either.
I have seen others at the range with Duds.

 

[rritter]

I went through two bandoliers (140 rounds) with no problems from the stripper clips, and only one case split. All 140 fired with no problem.