# who is our resident 30-06 ammo expert?



## 30-06-hunter (Sep 22, 2013)

I have about 200-250 rounds of various 30-06 ammo that I need help going through, bought it last fall from a guy who had it all loose in a box but the price was good enough. I can tell that some of it is older but some is newer stuff as well, even seem to be a few tracer and incendiary rounds, so I really need some help here getting it all organized. I can bring it all to your place or you can come up here if you don't mind getting licked by one of our dogs. I need someone who knows bullets and not just guessing, could even give you some for helping me out.


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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

You are not going to be able to tell much by just looking at the bullets. A lot of different bullets look the same until you cut into them to see just how they are made. Even weighing each round won't be too much help either since you will have different cases that weigh different that other brands. To tell much about each one you are going to have to sort them by the head stamps and possibly their overall length. Then pull a few of the bullets from each sorted pile to check their weight. Then you might know more about them. 

The best thing to do is to just use them for practice or rabbit hunting and purchase some known rounds for your hunting seasons.


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## 30-06-hunter (Sep 22, 2013)

Critter said:


> You are not going to be able to tell much by just looking at the bullets. A lot of different bullets look the same until you cut into them to see just how they are made. Even weighing each round won't be too much help either since you will have different cases that weigh different that other brands. To tell much about each one you are going to have to sort them by the head stamps and possibly their overall length. Then pull a few of the bullets from each sorted pile to check their weight. Then you might know more about them.
> 
> The best thing to do is to just use them for practice or rabbit hunting and purchase some known rounds for your hunting seasons.


Yeah, that's what I'm afraid of, but really hoping to ID some to use.


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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

You can start by sorting the rounds by the head stamps. Winchester, Remington, FCC for federal and so forth. Then if you have a way to measure the over all length do that for each round. Then if you have a scale you can pull a bullet with a pair of pliers and weigh it to see what it is. The heaver bullet weights should be a little longer than the lighter ones.

I would NOT try and pull the ones that appear to be tracers

This should get you started if you don't find a taken on helping you.


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## Bax* (Dec 14, 2008)

Agreed. Sorting headstamps would be a good step.

Obviously sorting tracers should be pretty easy so I'd pull those out immediately.

Sounds to me like it is military surplus that is likely pretty old. 

Did the guy you bought them from say where they came from?


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## 30-06-hunter (Sep 22, 2013)

Critter said:


> You can start by sorting the rounds by the head stamps. Winchester, Remington, FCC for federal and so forth. Then if you have a way to measure the over all length do that for each round. Then if you have a scale you can pull a bullet with a pair of pliers and weigh it to see what it is. The heaver bullet weights should be a little longer than the lighter ones.
> 
> I would NOT try and pull the ones that appear to be tracers
> 
> This should get you started if you don't find a taken on helping you.


I started sorting the brands/mfrs I could mostly identify, some of the older stuff dates back to the 1940's based on the stamping on the base. And no worries about trying to take apart the specialty rounds, don't ever intend to shoot those anyway. The frustrating part is that there will be several identical stamped casings with different tips, I'll see if the mfr website or google images tell me much more.


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## 30-06-hunter (Sep 22, 2013)

Bax* said:


> Agreed. Sorting headstamps would be a good step.
> 
> Obviously sorting tracers should be pretty easy so I'd pull those out immediately.
> 
> ...


He said they had belonged to his dad before he passed away. Some of the stuff are still current production bullets like the Super X and Super Speed, there was a box of Accelerators as well. This is why it's so frustrating because there is old and current mixed together.


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## NHS (Sep 7, 2007)

Are they factory or reloads? If the guy reloaded, then it will be near impossible. Sorting head stamps will not do you any good if he reloaded them.


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## 30-06-hunter (Sep 22, 2013)

NHS said:


> Are they factory or reloads? If the guy reloaded, then it will be near impossible. Sorting head stamps will not do you any good if he reloaded them.


All factory loads, I'm trying to go through more today but it's tedious to say the least.


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## reb8600 (Sep 8, 2007)

First I would not have bought any ammo without knowing what it was even it if was factory. Especially not reloads. I dont shoot other peoples reloads.


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## BPturkeys (Sep 13, 2007)

The good news is that "most" military 30-06 ammo was loaded for the M1 Garand rifle with FMJ bullets and loaded to a fairly standard velocity. It is called "ball" ammo and is really only suitable for practice. If the stuff still looks clean it will probably be safe to shoot regardless of its age.(I am assuming you have a good strong modern rifle of course) Here is a great source for 30-06 info: http://cartridgecollectors.org/?page=introduction-to-30-06-cartridges

As to the "hunting" ammo... most will be 150gr stuff or 180 gr. Regardless of how it looks, if the primer is "silvery" and not brass or yellow color, it might be reloads! Throw it away. Yellow(brass colored) primers are not reloads and are probably safe to shoot.

My advise, consider it all "practice ammo" unless it is in a factory box and you are positive it is original to that box.


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

BPturkeys said:


> Regardless of how it looks, if the primer is "silvery" and not brass or yellow color, it might be reloads! Throw it away. Yellow(brass colored) primers are not reloads and are probably safe to shoot.


No.no.no... some reloading primers are "yellow", I have 1k of CCI 450's and they are all brass colored. I can only tell my reloads from factory rounds via the crimp, chamfering and headstamp marks from prior firing.

-DallanC


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## reb8600 (Sep 8, 2007)

Remington brand primers are brass colored so you cant go by the color.


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## Cooky (Apr 25, 2011)

More than you ever wanted to know:

http://cartridgecollectors.org/?page=introduction-to-30-06-cartridges
http://cartridgecollectors.org/?page=headstampcodes

A lot of military 30-06 was corrosive until around 1952.


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## 30-06-hunter (Sep 22, 2013)

Cooky said:


> More than you ever wanted to know:
> 
> http://cartridgecollectors.org/?page=introduction-to-30-06-cartridges
> http://cartridgecollectors.org/?page=headstampcodes
> ...


I actually read all of that last year when I picked up the ammo, I have separated all of the ammo I could ID as military per the headstamp codes and am not firing it.


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## hunter66 (Apr 23, 2008)

Be careful on some of the older ammo as it can be corrosive. Plan on cleaning the shooter with care after feeding it that stuff. No different than a lot of the ammo for the Mosin Nagants that is on the market now. Corrosive meaning that the primers deposit salt and other nasty stuff as the bullet flies through the barrel. I use windex or another ammonia based product to clean out the salts etc before cleaning the barrel. Best of luck sorting it all out.


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