I obtained an unmarked 20 round box of 8MM. There is no headstamp and the primer looks to be ceramic or clay. I pulled the projectile which was 198 grains and Berdan primed with a single flash hole. Was this used for covert operations?
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I obtained an unmarked 20 round box of 8MM. There is no headstamp and the primer looks to be ceramic or clay. I pulled the projectile which was 198 grains and Berdan primed with a single flash hole. Was this used for covert operations?
I think you will find the primer is steel not clay. I think the cases are brass washed steel. As for priming they are either Berdan primed(two holes) or they have a single flash hole(boxer). I would think this is ammo made in the Baltic during their last period of combat for immediate local use. Where did you find it?
Case is brass and the projectile attracts a magnet. The primer is Berdan with a single flash hole. The ammo was given to me at the range by a causual shooter.
Magnetic... than it is the cheap baltic sort of ammo. I don´t like them.
I don't understand Skip, single flash hole? How have you seen this? From the case mouth? I've never heard and no search reveals single flash hole Berdan cases. Is the anvil built in? If you fired any of these you could cut the bottom off and do an autopsy with pics. I doubt it's boxer primed but the rest I need to see.
Single flash hole Berdan? Anybody?
I've got a bunch of this stuff and I've had it for years. I don't believe it's recent manufacture at all. By "Baltic" do you mean Balkans?Quote:
Originally Posted by browningautorifle
I was told in the past that it's post-war Czech ammo.
I used a flashlight or torch to look down the case mouth.Quote:
Originally Posted by browningautorifle
Yes Stevo I meant Balkans, I believe Czech. Skip, I would still love to do an autopsy on a live round to find out all the poop on this stuff. Bullet weight, composition, components and so forth...
I've seen quite a bit of single flash hole Berdan cases. Almost all that I can remember are 7.92x57, but maybe some .303SAA (not British mfg. that I recall), 7.62x39, 7.62x51 and 9x19. The hole is still offset, not centered. Possibly a bit bigger dia., but never bothered to measure.
The "ceramic" primers may just have a grey coloring or plating, that's been noted on some 7.92x57 at home as well, WWII German mfg., steel cased, blue annulus, I think.
The bullet is 180 grains and not the 198 that I estimated. The stick powder is 44 grains. Brass case, single flash hole and the bullet will attract a magnet.
The open base of the bullet has a P or L or possibly a foreign symbol. Once on the thumb nail you can zoom in for a better look.
I picked up some, I believe, Yugo stuff that is single flash hole berdan primed.
Just for a ha-ha here, I picked up some 9mmP brass at the range, this from a batch of olde S&B (Czech) ammo that our local shop was getting rid of. Same box of 25 shells, 1, 2, 3 AND 4 flash-holes! No wonder the stuff was cheap! Shot like it, too.
As to single-flash-hole Berdan brass in 7.92x57, there was a lot of it manufactured in Yugoslavia in the early 1950s. Generally, it is base-stamped with a little star. As to German ammo, they reserved brass cases for the Luftwaffe, as they had less jams and hangups with the brass cases. Pretty hard to clear a jam in a cowl gun or a wing gun if you are strapped into the cockpit of your 109 and have a Mustang on your butt.
This is the first unmarked stuff I have come across. Man above is right; a careful autopsy on single round is definitely in order. Slug sounds like SmE spec: 178 grains, soft-steel core, lead envelope, steel jacket.
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