Gunboards Forums banner

WW2 German 8mm ammo.

28K views 85 replies 27 participants last post by  Americankraut 
#1 · (Edited)
I dug out my crate today and took a bunch of photos of some of my ammo. I know there is an ammo section farther down the pile but wanted the German 8mm lovers to see it here. Most of it is Für MG but there is some pretty cool stuff in there like the B Patrone. Have lots more but only took photos of one batch. Have battle packs and other stuff. The crate is not in the best shape, solid and all there, but dry rotted to death. I got the crate from Austria years ago for $25 so it was a good grab. Still carries good and strong but areas are punky. Its for the MP44 ammo and I have a photo of that ammo in the second batch as well as an original pack of zdh primers. One stripper clip of standard ball s.S and one of s.m.K L-spur. Both show signs of corrosion. Stuff in the boxes is still nice and solid. Enjoy.

mow.
 
#2 ·
Second run of photos. In the ammo crate in the lower left side of the crate is some 39 dated ammo I do not recognize and forgot where I got is. Not the Steyr amm but the other 8mm. Anyone recognize it?

mow.
 
#6 ·
The 45 ammo is rare to find indeed. Check a few rounds out before you send them downrange if you are going to shoot it. Late war ammo has a very high percent of interior corrosion which at times from the outside isn't noticeable. If it is steel and you see pinholes anywhere it is looking at ammo, not shooting stuff. It will come apart, and you will get a partial stuck case in your chamber. Pain in the butt to get out! Been there, done that! If it is brass, usually no problem, but the steel stuff had issues unless stored really well.
 
#8 ·
No, third photo in the first batch shows the whole crate full. Lower left corner has some odd sized boxes, was just wondering if anyone knew what it was. Nice Bob. I have some battle packs as well but did not dig them out and photo them. I have tracer in orange, green/red, white and yellow. As well as the s.m.k without tracer, p.m.k and am working on getting some s.m.k-H as well but not holding my breath on that.
Louie, you must have one hell of a stash... I have seen you selling it for years.

mow.
 
#10 ·
The lower corner stuff in 20 round boxes is Polte German made sterile headstamp stuff sold to Romania. More than likely left over Spanish Civil War Contract. The odd sized boxes are the 8mm Mannlicher 8x56r made at Hirtenberger in Austria, P635 w/ Nazi eagle or Austrian if before anschluss. Can't see other odd shaped boxes, but it could be Czech pre war ammo since TennGuns brought in some of that w/ their German ammo in late nineties.
 
#14 ·
I remember when I believe Navy Arms had tons of this stuff in the crates, 1500 rds in 3 battlepacks as shown. There were all kinds of variants, tropical use, MG, strippers, air -sealed in tins, etc. It was cheap too, around $150 for a full crate. The belt fed MG shooters burned through gobs of it. I have a full case left in the leather hinged / tan canvas handled Mod.88 crates with all the labels. I kick myself for not buying more of it. It's in mint shape and looks stored properly, though one can never know what the inside of those steel cases looks like!
 
#15 ·
Nice crate..you never know till you open one. Some look great, others def. look like Titanic! Notice German label cases waxed, don't grease them..Every time I mention using a little paste wax on laquer Czech ammo everyones says I will blow up the rifle..Guess this is why Germans lost the war, they waxed their cases! Buddy in AZ turned me on to this and now no more sticky bolt Czech silver tip.
 
#16 ·
I got a lot of mine from J&G when it was $24? and change. Shipping was the costly part. I would like a complete case of L'spur myself if I could find it. Most of my "loose" boxes are laquered steel, my battle packs are brass. I opened one battlepack of steel and to my suprise it was all in fantastic condition (externally anyway). I have only shot my garden variety brass cased stuff and it is NICE to shoot..lol. Louie, dig up some photos man... don't hold back..lol. Did you get any of the S.m.K-H from J&G ? Or the P.m.k ?

mow.
 
#17 ·
Anybody know why the steel cased stuff rusts so badly, especially inside and not necessarily outside?

I'd suspect it has something to do with the powder, or the corrosive primer.

And, another question... With all the modern steel cased ammo, is this stuff going to rust internally too or have they figured something out to prevent that?
 
#18 ·
Miller. There are a combination of reasons. Externally from shipping, moving etc. The shells rub together removing the thin laquer finish and any moisture at all in the air or otherwise will begin the oxidation process. On the inside if they are stored in an area that goes from hot to cold in any kind of excess it will cause moisture inside the shells and when mixed with the salts in the powder it corrodes from the inside out and you will never notice until you see the hole or shoot it and it fouls up on you.

mow.
 
#19 ·
Here are a couple of my more interesting boxes. Among them are high velocity aircraft machine gun, incendiary, B'Patronen, tropical, aluminum core practice, some WW1, etc.









 
#20 ·
Pete. Great batch of ammo. Where did you manage to locate the s.m.K-H ? Every box I find is not for sale or just an empty box. The P.m.k is hard to find as well. And the 100/600 is not an easy find. Nice grouping of ammo.

mow.
 
#22 ·
J&G never got any of the exotic types. It was all s.S., 99% brass cased. There was a slight amount of steel cased s.S. in it. Now, Navy Arms another story. All kinds of cool stuff in that import from Turkey. Remember since 68 this type of ammo is not supposed to be imported for lowly civilians. Now does some get through, obviously. The last big one was all the B Patronen and Tracer mixed in w/ the s.S. 50s Yugo. There was ammo from 33 to 40 only in the J&G grouping. Many feel this ammo was Afrika Korps capture eventually given to Turkey, since it's a NATO member. These were bunker cases, not 88 cases, and many had stenciling on them in English. Some would say ammunition packed in chargers, which seems more English than U.S.
 
#24 · (Edited)
German 7.9

Great boxes Peter! Are you still collecting chargers as well? Here are a few full 1500 round case pictures to add to the pile. Pmk (notice all the reused sleeves) aux loading label but still using earlier "P" headstamp,Smk P315 1938 loading,and a full cases of Smk-H, first model GMCS bullet (all but one sleeve). This ammo was all sixties era imported. I refuse to breakup full matching cases of the rare or uncommon stuff for individual boxes so here they sit blocking the floor in the shop! JH
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top