Interesting Find

[Whidbey Mike]

From back in the day.

Was going through my ammo cans and came across some 9mm my dad had. Brass case, steel jacketed.

Apparently there was a surplus of this stuff and sometime in the early 60's, (?), they swapped out primers and sold it on the civilian market. Can still see some of the original green sealer.

 

[hso]

This may or may not be true, but my understanding is that the Finnish 9mm may be higher pressure/velocity because they used it in submachine guns. The same was said for Israeli surplus.

 

[Whidbey Mike]

This may or may not be true, but my understanding is that the Finnish 9mm may be higher pressure/velocity because they used it in submachine guns. The same was said for Israeli surplus.

I believe you are correct. I think my dad shot this out of his Luger.

 

[H&R Glock]

Interesting head stamp. All I can find with an "SO" in Janes Ammunition is Sako-Finland. .................. but the lapuan patruunatehdas means Lapua cartridge factory. Are the two the same company? Is the date code 43 or 44 or 49? Are they are berdan primed?

 

[Whidbey Mike]

Not sure about the primers. Info I got was off a Google search.

 

[Whidbey Mike]

This is what I found.

https://forum.cartridgecollectors.org/t/9x19-headstamp-so44-9-who-made-it/3967

 

[NIGHTLORD40K]

I think we made an interesting find in you, sir, welcome to the forum!

 

[Whidbey Mike]

I think we made an interesting find in you, sir, welcome to the forum!

Thank-you!

 

[Jim Watson]

Mixed headstamps. Same color sealant on primer as bullet, why do you think the primer was changed?

 

[Whidbey Mike]

Mixed headstamps. Same color sealant on primer as bullet, why do you think the primer was changed?

Changed to non corrosive primers. In the one pic you can see the original green sealant. Also follow link below for more info.

https://forum.cartridgecollectors.org/t/9x19-headstamp-so44-9-who-made-it/3967

 

[stillquietvoice]

@Whidbey Mike welcome to the forum. That certainly is an interesting find.

 

[WestKentucky]

Hmmm. I have 1 round of that very ammo that has sat on my reloading bench for a few years. I picked it up off the floor of the range and put it in my tear down pile but it’s still the only 9mm in the pile so I haven’t fooled with it. My reloading stuff is packed away and that round with it. We move in 3 days and that suits everybody just fine.

 

[jonnyc]

Originally non-corrosive, with its original primers. Finnish surplus imported by Interarms, sometimes repackaged.

 

[Whidbey Mike]

Originally non-corrosive, with its original primers. Finnish surplus imported by Interarms, sometimes repackaged.

According to CartridgeCollectors they were corrosive. The original rounds had green sealant which traces of can be seen in the one photo. When they changed to non corrosive primers they used red sealant.

 

[Jim Watson]

How strange. They had to have gotten it for a few penni on the markka to make that worthwhile.

 

[Whidbey Mike]

From CartridgeCollectors,

"The 9mm Para with “SO44” headstamp was made by Sako AB, of Riihimaki, Finland. The headstamp is also encountered with “43” dates.

The green primer seal is the original loading. It has a corrosive primer. Millions of rounds of this ammunition, along with “VPT” (Valtion Patruunatehdas, Lapua) headstamped rounds were converted in Finalnd to non-corrosive rounds, at the request of Interarms, of Alexandria, Virginia and other offices in London, etc., some years ago, and sold as surplus in the United States at then-attractive prices. Amazining they could convert it, package it, ship it and still sell it cheap with everyone in the sales chain making a fair profit, but they did. Don’t ask me how. The converted ammunition is identified by having red seals. Sometimes a hint of the original green seals can be seen underlapping the red ones.

It is still, today, a very commonly encountered cartridge with the red, but not so often seen anymore, although certainly not rare, with the original green seals."

 

[jonnyc]

Not sure on the corrosive...I'm thinking that the Finns used almost exclusively non-corrosive primers. I'll have to check on that.

 

[jonnyc]

OK, I was wrong...the green seals were/are corrosive. I just spoke with a friend who bought and sold about 400,000 of the rounds and he confirmed the info above.

 

[Whidbey Mike]

Thanks for confirming that.

 

[NIGHTLORD40K]

Hmmm, wondering if they used some sort of suction cup to remove the old primer- it does seem like a ridiculous amount of work to fully tear down the cartridge just to knock it out and swap it.