M2 Ball Dummy Practice Rounds - anyone know about them?

I picked up a couple of dummy practice rounds for the M1 Garand the other day. The shinier of the two has got a headstamp of FA 53 and the other is stamped FA 56.

There seems to be a solid plug at the base of the primer socket, and there's some sort of weight inside the cartridge. (one is loose and shakes a bit) Sorry the pics are so bad.

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2002-...ounds-side.JPG

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2002-...Rounds-end.JPG

I found a photo of some similar dummy rounds on Flickr, but they are silver in color and are drilled with holes in the sides of the cases...but if you look at the last en bloc photo, they seem to have primers (or fake primers) installed in them.

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2002-...lickr-side.jpg

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2002-...Flickr-end.jpg

I was just wondering if anyone here knew much about how they were made and how they were used. I'm curious to know the purpose of the dimpled cases- was that just a visual cue as to the fact these are dummy rounds?

Thanks in advance for any info.

The fluting was to distiguish the cartridge from ball in look and feel. There was no prim er installed for a reason and I've never seen them with. They made tinned(silver) and brass cases. I'm not aware of anything inside the case and extra weight wasn't required because all that was missing was powder and primer for weight and that wasn't much. Not enough to effect function. They were used to simulate firing drills and function of weapons and to test loading and handling. They were made in the same arms factories but on different lines than ball or tracer. This is for safety to keep them from being boxed up with live ammo. They used to be made from sub standard cases I have been told.

The "silver" and yellowish/gold colored cases on dummy rounds are made of steel. They were made of steel so they would hold up to abuse better (easy to verify with a magnet if you need to), and the plating was to reduce rust/corrosion. However, some were made of brass, but those are usually dented from use when you find them. Agree that there should NOT be anything inside.

Both cases are brass and are dented up a bit. The projectiles are magnetic, but nothing else is.

The bottom of the primer pocket is solid- but I promise you that there's something heavy and movable inside the cartridge, perhaps a dowel. I can feel it shake up and down inside both shells.

Definitely makes me curious.

The earliest fluted case that I have is a 1902 Krag - but there are earlier Krag dummy cartridges with 1890's headstampsAttachment 13842 cartridge on far right is tinned ball headstamped F 98. Anyone guess the other two Krag cartridges ?

They all look like Krag to me...

left to right: 1. 1907 case with Thomas pencil point bullet 172 grs, other weights used and also loaded by Remington, used in National Matches , also found in early 30-03 too.
2. Dummy 1902 cartridge
3. multi ball F A 10 03 two projectiles at 42 grs each
4. ball F 98 tinned

But... are they all Krag?

They are all 30-40 Krag cartridges, I just want to point out the fluted dummy case with the 1902 date and the photo included the other 30-40 Krag variations