Gents
I was sorting through the back room in the barn and found a few cans of ammo under the bench.
Please take a look:
I know the first one is German Hirtenbger, one of Chile and one is Venezuela -Cavim
The HP box I have no idea.
Looking if it's any good. I do remember the Cavim clogging the flutes of my HK91 with a black tar like substance.
Third box is Chile lots of reports of it blowing up weapons red label box is hirtenberger made by radway green. Austria was never in nato so they couldn’t put a nato head stamp on their ammo.
Cavim is good to go
First picture is older hirtenberger that’s also good to go
Speaking of spring cleaning, I too was cleaning out stuff the other day and found six unopened ammo cans of Radway Green I must have bought twenty years ago and apparently forgot about stashing. They were hidden behind a wall of the green 200 rd. battle packs. It is always exciting to find stuff you didn't know you had.
Shooter
Two questions:
On the older Hiterberger. By looking at the box labels, does the 59 mean the year?
Second: Do you think the Browning 1919 (FA) is strong enough to handle the iffy Chile ammo, or should I just break it down?
Thanks Moose
Shooter
Two questions:
On the older Hiterberger. By looking at the box labels, does the 59 mean the year?
Second: Do you think the Browning 1919 (FA) is strong enough to handle the iffy Chile ammo, or should I just break it down?
Thanks Moose
Yeah 59 is the year that was the early production notice the early style battle packs later was cheapen to green 200 round battle packs 79 and after was boxer primed.
No I don’t think a 1919 can use the Chile ammo. It’s over pressured ammunition plain and simple. In fact the reports I seen were it was blowing up weapon systems like the 1919s!
Shooter
The 1919 is a robust MG, but I wouldn't want to take the chance of blowing up a $20K weapon.
Huh, the Hirtenbeger is 59. I was two years old. Yes, I am an old beat up Jarhead.
I acquired a lot of the 308 from the Creek days. Hell, that is going back probably 25-30 years now.
The Chile 308 came from Paragon. Didn't know any better at the time, but learned fast.
The years that I have tested,
Chile, '73, [ F. ], Berdan, ring crimp with dark green primer sealant. NATO Letters
Chile, '74, [ F. ], Berdan, ring crimp with dark green primer sealant. NATO Letters
Chile, '76, [ F. ], Berdan, ring crimp with dark green primer sealant. NATO Letters
My best scoring with Chilean military surplus ammunition was from 1976, a score of 191-4X.
Speed chucker.
Just read an article about storing ammo and high temps. They stated if over 150 degrees, then the powder and priners will start to degrade. Guess I will have to test some in a old hunting rifle.
Also stated,, that people who keep their carry pistol in the car in the summer, the temps can get to 170 degrees, so change out your ammo often.
Thanks
Moose
I used to shoot a lot of Radway Green many moons ago through my HK91 and DSA fal I sold like an idiot. The ammo was ok but I recall having some light hammer stikes with it. The other brands I fired through those rifles were fine.
I found a box of Winchester 9mm with a price tag of $3.99 on it. I have no clue how old it is. The tag had Sports Authority on it. That closed here in the 1980's.
Throw away all the chile ammo. You will blow the top cover on your 1919. I did that about 12 years back. We had about a million rounds come in from one of the importers for de-mill. In my ammo hungry mined I decided to try it before teardown. The complaint was over pressure and week heads. I didn't make it through a full belt before the head seps started. By the time I got through that belt I had blow the top cover and split a barrel extension. Needless to say we torr down all of it and scraped nearly all the components. The powder was real deteriorated and bullets were deformed from over crimping. The brass went BY-BY. Not taking a chance on reselling any of it.
CBC imported a shipment from South America in the late 80s/ early 90s that was C4 in brass On its shipping package it says Reengastada
I personally watched it destroy an early M1a bush rifle ,
it was known to have destroyed Hk91 s , FN fals & M1a's
Springfield even included a warning about this ammo in the paperwork included of the mid 80s to early 90s .
Watching that Bush rifle come apart
Broke me of the habit of South American ammo
I' ll get back with the headstamp in a day or two
My partner still has 980 rds of it left
Diesel weasel
Thank for the info on the Chile ammo. Do not want to blow up my FA 1919.
Ray55
I had this idea that I would test it in an old bolt action or my beater CEMTE, but now with you and Diesel Weasel giving your knowledge along with Shooters, I think I will pass on that.
Glad I brought it up to the board. Damn shame I will take apart a thousand rounds, but better safe than sorry.
Thanks guys.
Moose
Guys
Back again; I found a few more crates of 308 and not sure if it is useable or tear down.
Not finding much on the net.
1) Argentina
2) Czech Head stamp 0 0. (I remember using this at the Creek- very corrosive)
3) Egyptian (a friend gave me a 30 can he has label this when I bought his M1A)
4) Nigerian OFN (same friend)
5) This one has LC and the NATO circle on the head stamp. Doubt it is U.S.
I've shot a few thousand rounds of CAVIM with no issues other that it was slightly dirtier than some other surplus. It's 'minute of man' ammo but functions flawlessly in my M14 clones.
The brass is excellent for reloading. Back in the 90's when people were trash talking it I bought about 5K of it and it worked well for me.
I think that I had a two H&K 91's back then but I don't think that I shot any through those. I dumped all my H&K stuff, 2 91's, a 93 and a 94 when the AWB went down in 1993. I kept all my USGI stuff. The H&K money became footings and such for the Lindal Cedar home I was building back then.
I think I still have a few K's tucked away somewhere................
Just so you Know. CAVIM Is corrosive. It is not so bad that you can hear the barrel rust before the bullet hits. Never the less in an area that has high humidity the barrel and gas system will rust.
Nothing beats a day of digging through the shop and finding ammo you forgot about.....unless its corrosive.
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
M14 Forum
2.5M posts
63.4K members
Since 2002
A forum community dedicated to M14 and M1A Rifle owners and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about optics, ammunition, gunsmithing, styles, reviews, accessories, Modern, Devine, SOCOM, EBR, classifieds, and more!