Found this in the berm yesterday. I consider myself fairly knowledgeable about projectiles, so this isn’t a random “is this a bullet?” Reddit question 😂 This one is throwing me for a loop and I want to know if it’s anything identifiably special. It’s .355” diameter, ~146 grains FMJ, and what’s throwing me off is the solid base, not exposed lead or otherwise. The scratch you see was me verifying it wasn’t soft metal at the base.
Saw an ad on my IG peddling WWII “relics” showing a bullet allegedly recovered from D-Day battlegrounds. That sure as hell looks like a 6.5mm Carcano round to me, particularly a pulled one and identical to the recovered ones I used for reloading. So, knowing Europe had a lot of small arms floating around WWII, especially as the Germans started using captured material, is there any evidence of 6.5mm Carcano being in action during the D-Day landings?
Took my Korean War era US CAL .30 Type 99 out for a stroll this weekend. If you’re unfamiliar with these, the US converted a bunch to .30-06 in Japan after the war to supply to Korea as emergency aid. They have been forged over the years, but the best way to tell a real one is the phosphate finish (greenish), half moon cutout on the receiver bridge for the longer .30-06, as well as a extended and spot welded mag well. Mine tumbles with regular .30-06 M2 (which didn’t matter back then), so I’ve resorted to loading 7.7-06 rounds using .312” projos and it works great. I also transloaded some 7.65x53mm Argentine which did fine, and was a little softer shooting (the FMJ rounds in the pics). These are a very cool part of world and Arisaka history.
Recently got ahold of a bunch of pulled 7.62x54R projos… and something about loading them into 7.7x58mm Jap simply looks “right”.
Some screenshots of local cops in Thailand using VEPR-12. I don’t recall seeing them used outside of Russia. In my opinion, the VEPR-12 is the cusp of shotgunnery.
On a whim, I just loaded up some .30-40 Krag (~32 grains H4895) using some German 147 grain bullets pulled from 7.62x51mm. It just looks good - very similar to old school German spitzer 7.62x54R. Figured I’d share, since I know if there’s anyone else like me, you’re probably here 🤣
Screenshots of local cops in Sundarban, India using SKS’s during a raid on poachers. Though I’m not surprised, I can’t say I’ve noticed many if any SKS’s being used in India.
Hello. Long shot, but this is one of several items dug up by relatives in expeditions in South America, in this case Venezuela in the 1960s. This example is the best condition of the bunch, dug up near the lake of Maracaibo basin. Local estimates at the time place it “around 2000 years old” though there is no supporting documentation that we’ve found. Wondering if this incredible group has any insight.
I’ve been reloading for a few years now, and always emphasized getting .310-312” projos for my type 99s until this week I decided to try some Hornady .308” 147 grain FMJs for funsies. Turns out, they did pretty well in my Izawa Jukyo, as well as in one of my Type 99 longs. Granted, it’s not guaranteed they’ll work, in some rifles they may even tumble, but it certainly wasn’t expecting them to do better than decent - today they flat out did well. For reference, the FMJ is a 7.65x53mm Argentine transload, the red bullet is 200 grain LCB gas checked, and the pic without a round is the .308 FMJs
I used White River LR primers for the first time this week and noticed, what appears to be, a tendency to flatten more than Remington or Tula primers. Here’s a pic - exact same powder load and same caliber. White River left, Remington right.
I’ve been using different brass donor calibers to roll 7.7x58mm - and got caught up in the irony of using 8mm Mauser brass made in 1942 for the Chinese to make 7.7 Japanese.