Ammo question

[WWW]

The suspense was killing me. I opened up the unpainted tin, and the ammo is on strippers.

I will post pics with details later.

[Ironnewt]

Glad you did need being a victim of "Suspense"

[TopperT]

DAMN I WISH I HAD A COUPLE OF CANS OF STRIPPER CLIP AMMO........

[WeldonHunter]

The suspense was killing me. I opened up the unpainted tin, and the ammo is on strippers.

I will post pics with details later.

So that means there's 60 strippers in that one tin if it's a 300rd tin. They're probably Izhevsk clips if the ammo is Russian. They should be stamped. Some look like they aren't but they stamped a lot of them so lightly it's hard to see. These sell for $1 a piece minimum. Also save the cardboard boxes the ammo is in. I've seen them for sale either by themselves or combined with the strippers for 50 cents to as much as $1 a piece. The are vintage packaging after all.

[WWW]

Pics, as promised. There are only 250 rounds per tin, even in the unpainted one.







The rounds on this tin are stamped with a 50 below the primer and a star above the primer, a 16 to the right, and what looks to be an 3 to the left. Hope this pic is big enough to be able to see this...

If you get tired of being awash in stripper clips, I'd take a some off your hands. I'm thinking of buying some for display and historical valve. But online you run the risk of fakes and I'm not interested in the cheap knockoffs.

50 stripper clips per tin times 4 tins, I think I'll have some to spare.

[WWW]

I'm betting the rounds in the unpainted tin were loose in the tin because they aren't packaged as well as the ones in the green tins. The paper wrapping (and string) is falling apart from when it was being jostled in the tin. Perhaps the rounds in the green tins are in boxes, which takes up more room.

[WeldonHunter]

I'm not sure but I think that star is Bulgarian but I can't find a factory 16 for them. I'm still looking.

http://7.62x54r.net/MosinID/MosinAmmoIDII.htm#Russia

http://7.62x54r.net/MosinID/MosinAmmoID.htm

http://mosinnagant.net/b6lgaria.asp

http://mosinnagant.net/images/b6l5.jpg

[WeldonHunter]

Look real close at the headstamp again. I think what appears to be a 16 is actually 10 which is the Bulgarian arsenal mark. They started the Star at 12 o'clock, arsenal 10 at 3 o'clock and date at 6 o'clock in the early 1950s. The examples I see also have the 3 at the 9 o'clock position. I believe they're Bulgarian brass cased rounds from 1950 or maybe 1956.

[WWW]

Yes, you are right. I had to get out my magnifying glass under a bright light, and I can see it is a 10. Also definitely a 50. Some are stamped clearer than others.

[WeldonHunter]

Yes, you are right. I had to get out my magnifying glass under a bright light, and I can see it is a 10. Also definitely a 50. Some are stamped clearer than others.

Interesting. One mystery solved. Now we need some closeups of the strippers. Are they stamped? Oh and be real careful with them. If they're anything like the Izhevsk clips they rust real easy. I started to noticed mine tarnishing after we shot a bunch of mine. It was mainly from the salt my fingers. I only opened one crate and split it with Fred_G so I had one tin here that was open. I put all the full packs and the strippers from what was shot in an ammo can and it appears only the ones I touched started to rust. I wiped all the empty strippers with some CLP and put them in a ziplock in the ammo can and it seems to have taken care of that.

[WWW]

Good to know about the potential rust issue.

I can't find a mark anywhere on these clips. I haven't been through the whole tin but I looked at 4 or 5 of them, and nothing.

[WeldonHunter]

They might not be stamped. Look at them down the plain of the back side for small indentations. I didn't think mine had stamps when I first pulled them out of the tin but when someone else pointed out they were I looked at more of them and sure enough it just so happened I opened a box that all of the clips were so lightly stamped the area just looked like a very light dent.

I'm not real big about using them. I like the fact that they're old and something to enhance the collection. Mine work as good as a Mosin Nagant stripper can. I just shoot the ammo they came from and add them to the others. The good thing is you know these are real and from a tin you opened. By today's market you got at least $50 worth of strippers, maybe more. The one's I got I bought from Sam at SGAmmo but there was a bunch of places selling the tins/crates at the time. AIM actually listed them for sale as the strippers with free ammo, lol. http://www.aimsurplus.com/product.aspx?item=A76254SC

[bunkysdad]

Don't these strippers look to have a blueing on them? I have some original Bulgarian stripper clips that are blued, or a dark color and they have a 10 inside a circle mark on the flat part of the clip. They work better than most and look like yours.

[WWW]

They look like steel to me. Must be the lighting. Still don't see any stamps on them. I'll probably use them just once each. This will take quite a while.

Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny for a change. Maybe I'll drag out all my Mosin ammo for a group shot in the sun.

I'd love to open up one of the green tins, but then I'd need to put them in an ammo can, and I seem to be short an extra one at the moment. This needs to be rectified.

[WWW]

Finally, some sun instead of rain and clouds.

Group shot of most of my Mosin ammo...

[Peadog]

Nice shot.

[jones0430]

Congratulations. You now have the basic load for a WWII Soviet Rifle Company!