Just some info for you and those watching the video on this ammo: The blue stripe on german 8mm ammo boxes denotes steel case ammunition. (non stripe denotes brass case) The S.M.K and red ring around the primer denotes armor piercing Tracer ammo is denoted by a black tipped bullet with " L spur " on the box. (most other countries this denotes armor piercing, not these though) A green primer ring denotes standard ball ammunition, which will be marked Patronen s.S. on the box. A WARNING for anyone with steel case german 8mm ammo. Do NOT shoot 1943,1944, or 1945 dated german steel case, until you have pulled a bullet from the lot (if you have multiple lots, pull multiple bullets) and verified the inside of the steel casing has not rusted out completely. Starting in 1943 germany stopped lacquering the insides of there steel cases. They tried to expedite the process of ammo manufacturing by giving up this step. They did not plan on people shooting it almost 80 years later. 1944 and 1945 dated ammo is especially bad about this. I have had numerous lots of this mid to late war ammo that looked incredibly good on the outside (as good as the ammo in this video), but was totally rusted on the inside. To the point that you can literally crush the shell casing in your hand. These rounds will explode when you try and fire them. Please take this warning seriously as I don't want anyone getting hurt, nor having there firearm potentially destroyed.
Great video! Glad to hear you were happy with it. It annoyed me greatly at the end where I got to the bottom of the pallet and it was mostly steel case! As for where it came from I can't say(swore to keep my mouth shut) but will say I highly highly suspect this ammo was DAK(German Afrika Korps) ammo that was left/surrendered in 1943. Sadly can't say why but that's my great suspicion. Because I can't guarantee that I never mentioned it when selling(we all grow tired of big stories to bump up sale prices). Thanks for the review! My wife packed the boxes so she was excited to get the praise on those efforts.
Back in 80s, all the German 8mm dried up. All 8mm dried up for years. In the mid 90s, Eastern European 8mm came in. A lot of Bulgarian 8mm. Ammo in these huge 600rd & 900rd tins. Dirt cheap too. Then came the Turkish ammo, which never seems to end.
I believe this came from the Springfield Sporter Stash. Already imported to the U.S decades ago but rediscovered when Springfield Sporters liquidated a few years ago and the people that bought their stuff are finally sorting through it all. It's like all of the 1919a4 kits on APEX in US configuration and VZ58s with original barrels came on the market last year. It's been impossible to import machine gun barrels in the U.S. since the mid 2000s, so the question is, where did they come from all at once? Springfield Sporters is the answer, and I believe it is the answer for the ammo as well. I don't think the state department would approve the importation of purpose-built AP ammo in this day in age. I may be wrong, but I haven't seen anything to fully disprove it. The recent .303 ammo and 30-06 ammo that came on the market recently was in fact imported recently by CAI. However, the 7.62x54r and 8mm mauser/9mm UZI ammo were part of what they bought through Springfield. Here is what Richard from APEX posted on a forum. "All the guns (over 20k), ammo and material/parts was shipped to their Vermont warehouse ...... Century Arms sold APEX Gun Parts the contents of the warehouse's that were Springfield Sporter's. Century Arms retained ALL the guns (lots of enfields plus the Roger's family personal firearms collection), ammo and everything that was in the mail order areas (product and back stock with SKU's that was listed on the S.S. web site) We/ APEX received about 690 pallets of assorted material/parts."
I’ve bought a bunch of ammo this time on mosin crate. I guess I was one of the last people to get an order in because my 300 mixed lot was all steel cases too. I also was the last person to get the 75 rounds of the tungsten smkh because on the phone he said he only had 45 rounds left, but he did throw in 30 rounds of the smk tropical, a box of Winchester 303, and more smk. I think I got 8 boxes extra of the smk in total. I left happy.
Also my I was surprised that my local gun store had the smk on the shelves at $14.99 a box. I bought another 300 rounds from them. They said that they got it from century arms and the employees knew nothing about it other then it was 8mm.
Glad you like them. Sadly I missed out on the MC deal. I seem to always catch his videos late. I ended up ordering a 300 rd sleeve for the smk this week from a store in FL. Would have preferred the variety MC was offering tho.
You can find parts at all the websites desert coyote mentioned and I just saw that liberty tree collectors has an Israeli k98 stock available on the front page
Awsome vid again. Here in the UK we cant have the live rounds but still collect the empty boxes so even the rough boxes are valuble. Keep up the good work.
The only ammo I collect is the ammo I don't shoot before I die. Somebody will get an assortment of old Millsurp 8 mm Mauser ammo because I usually leave a good box or two from each batch I buy. But I really enjoy shooting 70 year old ammo in my 85 year-old Mauser. There is something magical about opening up a 60-year-old spam can. I can't find any new old German ammo maybe I'm just not looking in the right place
