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Talk me out of buying surplus ammo


soofley

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ok someone is selling surplus ammo from OFN, ordnance factory nigeria. for 20c a pop.

I'm having second thoughts about shooting in through my mega build.

Someone tell me more about this surplus ammo.

Other than its from nigeria and it might contain aids and other harmful diseases, are they safe to fire?

i believe it was manufactured in the 70's

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Berdan or boxer primed?  Make sure it's not corrosive and you should be fine.  But, if that's a rifle you're going to compete with, meh... get a 'blasting rifle' to shoot the cheap stuff.  Since my HK, PTR and Cetme destroy the brass with the flutes and they're just fun industrial blasting rifles, I shoot the Paki stuff with no problems.  Confirmed non-corrosive.  And berdan primed.

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One of the fun things about old surplus ammo is how many are going to fire at all?  Surplus ammo is usually sold because there are problems.  New surplus ammo is not close enough to spec;  older ammo is corroded from poor storage;  ammo as old as this is both corroded and the primers and maybe powder won't work.  Not all of this at once except sometimes.  I would not touch ammo I did not have some reason to feel at least some confidence about.  My ammo,  surplus or otherwise,  comes from reputable suppliers who will have reason to check out whatever they sell.  What you said about your seller would make me run the other way.

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  • 4 months later...

I have some of that German cupro-nickel jacket 147gr FMJ right now.  It has all gone BANG every time...or maybe that's just my rifles.

It was inexpensive enough though it is Berdan primed.

The best...BEST surplus EVER was some mid-1990s Hirtenberger 147gr FMJBT.  Shot like match ammo.

Had some South African surplus that shot well enough and always went bang.

Avoid anything from Hindu or Muslim countries.

Jon

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Bought 2 battle packs of the German Berdan primed ,shot 1/2 of it no FTFs. Bought 3 battle packs of the South African ,had 3 FTF out of 280 rounds. Bought 1 battle pack from the Gulf War (US made) that was all good,would buy more of that if i could find it.

Heard good things about Privi. Told to stay away from anything made in Eygpt. Dont buy steel case ammo, try to get boxer primed cases if there is a choice. Thats my 2 cents.

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  • 1 month later...

I got some of the greek 30'06 from the CMP and a few rounds were tarnished bad enough that I didn't want to fire them.  I'll pull them down and toss the cases in the tumbler but at the very least I'll reload the projectiles.

If you get some like that and don't reload, ask your buddy that does, he may want them for components.

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