OT - Gevelot 7.62 Mod 49 "black ring" .30-06

[Ysabel Kid]

Over the Christmas holiday I decided to do something I had been wanting to do for several years - do a complete and thorough inventory of my ammunition. I knew approximately how much I had on hand, but also knew I had shot stuff and forgot to subtract it, and bought or reloaded stuff and forgot to add it to my inventory over the last several years. Being organizationally-complusive, this was driving me nuts!

Well, it took me a bit longer than I had anticipated, as I wrote down each item in as much detail as I could. 16 single lined pages full!

While counting, I discovered that some .30-06 Springfield ammunition, stored in the 8-round enbloc Garand clips and in a WWII-era canvas web ammon pouch belt, had corroded. I took the ammunition out of the clips, and then cleaned the clips with some steel wool and WD-40. I have been cleaning the ammunition in my vibratory tumbler yesterday and today. I will need to clean the belt as well.

The ammunition itself was a combination of stuff my Dad had put together. Three of the clips hold Lake City match-grade ammo from 1962. Two clips have tracer ammunition in them. Three of the clips are marked "Gevelot 7.62 Mod 49". Each round has a black ring where the bullet meets the case, the ring being on the bullet itself. I did a little looking and determined this is French-made (I guess it is used for orderly retreats), and probably has corrosive primers. But what does the black ring indicate?

[Hobie]

Armor Piercing?

[Ysabel Kid]

That's what I was thinking, as my Dad was fond of having some clips of these around. I guess in case he needed to ventilate a stray Buick or something!

[CEMENTHEAD]

I thought only the tips were black on AP.

Tom

[MrMurphy]

Maybe on US made ammo.

French, British, and many others use their own systems of marking, they're not all the same.

Black generally does=AP, but not necessarily.

[Tycer]

Does this help?

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewIt ... =210343644

[pwl44m]

was that buy it now price for a Pickup Load ? Collectable is one thing !!!!!

[Ysabel Kid]

Does this help?

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewIt ... =210343644

That's what the black ring looks like.

[Hobie]

was that buy it now price for a Pickup Load ? Collectable is one thing !!!!!

There has been a concerted effort to prevent the availability of the 5.7x28 armor piercing due to the sale of the FN pistols. One of the primary purposes of the round was to provide a light recoiling round in a compact firearm for rear echelon/support soldiers. Because so many now wear body armor, armor piercing ammo was a priority. In commercializing the product the armor piercing ammo becomes problematic due to various laws concerning the availability of armor piercing ammo for handguns.

[Ben_Rumson]

I have been cleaning the ammunition in my vibratory tumbler yesterday and today

That's sposed to be a No No.. Powder coating and grain size issues I've heard...

[Ysabel Kid]

Duh... I just put the ammo up to a magnet. Didn't stick.

[Ysabel Kid]

I have been cleaning the ammunition in my vibratory tumbler yesterday and today

That's sposed to be a No No.. Powder coating and grain size issues I've heard...

Powder coating?

I've heard that it is harmless as well as those not recommending it. I did this with about 250 rounds of .303 British with no ill effects. Guess I'm too lazy to clean them individually!

[Ben_Rumson]

I too have vibe cleaned loaded mil surp ammo and didn't notice anything out of the ordinary on that batch. However I have shied away from doing it because I have read advice not to do it. The advice said some powders have deterrent coatings to slow their burn rate . The coatings retard the initial ignition of the individual powder grains, vibe cleaning the ammo could affect the coating and therefore the burn rate...Also the coatings are supposed to decrease burn temperature to reduce throat erosion.
Vibe cleaning live rounds would sure make it easy to remove lube from cases that needed it..