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I saw on another section about a bolt head issue.
Some love it.
Some hate it.
What's your story?
Here's mine........
Brought it because it was reloadable but I was late to the party. Corroded case mouths to the point of being rotted out. Pulled a bunch and saved the projo and powder. Returned eroded empty unfired cases for refund. Tumbled projo's and will reload when I run out of 'good' originals. Seems to be a real mixture of dates amongst the repackaged ammo.
I bought 50 from GC in Hamilton. Cheekily I popped open the zip packs and selected the cleanest, with staff member observing. I’ve had x2 rounds not fire. Spent brass cleaned up well. I don’t use the calibre often, preferring 6.5x55, but my refurbed No4 Mk1 with a new 5 groove barrel sends it ok.
Overseas, the HXP ammo, in particular the 30-06 seems to get good reviews.
The current 303 stuff in NZ has possibly had several trips around the world with stop-offs and storage in very damp conditions.
The really dark tarnished stuff is bordering on unsafe. I've sorted through all of mine into go time ammo and stuff to shoot through my buggered SMLE. I may even tear it all down and scrap the crappy brass.
The stuff that isn't tarnished shoots superbly through my No.4 Mk2 and the P14 you sold me.
After cleaning up the brass with wire wool and the Lee brass cleaning drill attachment and then inspecting the brass for damage, I'll probably discard 10% of brass. I have had one crack open when I fired it, watch out for pink marks on brass.
So, so far no one else has had any catastrophic issues ( see post in for sale section by @Manchester) . Apart from fail to fires, thats good to know. I think I might save the deep brown stuff (looks like a steel case 7.62 x 39 round) and pull it down for components.
Although I did have a damaged bolt, I have had probably fired 200 rounds with around 2 rounds that didn't fire and the one damaging round.
No real complaints here... i knew the risks
Ive brought some from gun city wellington , but have not fired it yet. Will inform when I have fired it. I will use it before I use the brand new PPU stuff.
Apart from failure to fires I have seen one go off as a squib round and lodge a projectile half way down the bore. Luckily the guy concerned realised what had happened.Quote:
Originally Posted by johnd
Apart from the badly corroded stuff (about 10%) the rest is ok and Is good brass. The more recently available stuff is however getting worse and I suspect they are scraping the bottom of the barrel
I agree with Beca is in that some of the highly corroded stuff is probably dangerous. I suspect also that gun city wet tumbled it in a concrete mixer to clean it up and some of the neck and primer sealant has leaked.
You must shake each round to make sure the powder is good. I’ve pulled some that I couldn’t feel the powder in and it had been wet and was like tar.
I see that gun city are gradually putting the price up but even at $130 a round it’s still cheap.
I must try that at broncos and see if they notice��. You keen for a shoot mid week?Quote:
Originally Posted by Ingrid 51
Can’t see why not. PM me day before.Quote:
Originally Posted by omark
I buy the cases and projectiles separately and load my own. Previously to that I had no issues with the loaded rounds as long as I remembered to shake them to make sure the powder wasn't wet. If I had any doubts I didn't fire it.
.303 shooters must give off some sort of pheremone.
I was in Broncos a month or more back, just looking at what was in the reloading section. I hadnt even clocked it, when as I was about to go an assitant asked / told me I should get some "greek Projectiles" before they are all gone.
@johnd, the projectiles are fine. I buy the 174s (projectiles only) in bulk, and just clean them up in the wet tumbler. Couple of hours with a teaspoon of citric acid and dishwash soap, and they come out like new.
Reloaded into better cases, they are perfectly good enough for service rifle etc. Even managed a first-round hit on a 400yd gong with them a couple of weeks ago :thumbsup:
I find the bsa T shirt is a dead give away !!Quote:
Originally Posted by johnd
Quote:
Originally Posted by ebf
I’ve shot a bit of the 30-06 through my 03 Springfield and it grouped really well (only went back to 200)
it is bang on at 25m with my no4 and i have had some hang fires and some a bit more boomy than normal. I went through all of mine and did a shake test. Some have wet powder but not that many. Maybe 2 or 3 a bag. i've had 3 split cases though.
From what I have read the Yanks hoovered up all the good HXP 303 and we got the leftovers.
it is cheap surplus that was greek made and stored. Assume everything was made by some guy half asleep and doing his bit to help bankrupt the germans.
other than that i've never had anyone i know bust a bolt
Why the fuck are you guys using shit ammo ?
You dont live in the third world,don't do third world things like using unsafe ammo in old guns.
Cheap ammo has a habit of doing expensive damage.
I won't touch it. Too many split cases, too many hangfires and too many perforated primers. I'm not precious about the rifle, it just seems like I'm doing something that is trying hard to bite me.
I had 3 split right down the side, and had a couple blow the primers out. Thinking bad brass plus bad headspace. That's outve about 400 rounds I plunked away one day. About 10 15 odd fail to fires
With the lack of components, and frankly the lack of factory options, for many it is shoot this or shoot nothingQuote:
Originally Posted by norsk
I would rather have both eyes and all my fingers than go shooting.Quote:
Originally Posted by Beavis
Your playing with fire.And burning all that ammo is what should have been done to it. GC bought all the shit the yanks wouldnt touch by the sounds of it.
It’s not shit ammo. It’s surplus and it’s cheaper and more available than anything else. I’ve actually only biffed a couple of rounds out of many many boxes. If you shoot thousands of rounds a year that’s a lot of reloading and it’s not easy to buy projectiles here at the moment. However if you’ve got access to projectiles and good powder or factory MEN or roadway green .303 ball ammo then feel free to offer them to members!!Quote:
Originally Posted by norsk
Quote:
Originally Posted by omark
Honesty your version of good and bad differ's hugely from mine.Would you run salvaged petrol from the junkyard in a classic car?
Do you mean Radway Green? I think they stopped producing 303 in the 1970s.Feel free to keep telling yourself its good ammo,some of it I saw looked like it had been tumbled to clean the cases.That told me all I needed to know, both about the ammo and GCs scruples
by all means buy it...then pull projectiles,clean them up and reload them.... I was put of chinasport in 7.62x39mm after seeing a steel case with extra bit/tab on neck that had to be folded inside makeing that side of neck double thickness....the pressure generated when it was fired must have been up there....
havent used really cheap/milserp stuff since...strangely the yellow bow norinco stuff is way better.in .223 it is in league of its own.
Just so you know, heres whats going on inside the ones that dont rattle.
Attachment 189763
Attachment 189764
I think I can dry it out again, but the weight / grains might be wrong
Another thing to ponder, even if the case rattles some could be wet. Maybe the steam effect turns the rifle into a steam punk gun?
I am going to pull what I have and go from there.... looks like I still have a bit of home time with ACC.
Looking down into some "dry" cases showed internal wall corrosion, and they can be biffers as well.
Like I said I was late to the party getting this stuff, and my main aim ( see what I did there) was to have a supply of cases.
What you have at home in stock could be good to go.
