M118 174gr 308 bullets

[pull the trigger]

I have a box of pulled bullets that are labeled "sniper M118" and weigh 174gr. Are they valuable or should I just load them up for plinkers? There are a little over 200 in it. Thanks

[Larry Gibson]

Depending on the rifle and the lot of bullets they can be quite accurate. I have about 2K right now and they shoot 1 - 1/4 moa (20 shots at 200 yards) out of my suppressed M70 .308W and M1903A1 NM Type II 30-06. I mostly load them over 42 gr milsurp IMR 4895 in LC M118 Match cases for the M70. I regularly shoot a 15x24" steel plate with them at 1000 yards. Guess maybe that's what I call "plinking".........

Larry Gibson

Attachment 189121

[Outpost75]

If the bullets are real LC M118 production, they should have a lot LC number on the box with the normal convention being similar to LC84BXXX-X In which the 84 is the year, followed by a letter code indicating the month, A for January, B for February, etc., then a 3-digit code indicating the Julian date, and a letter suffix indicating the shift.

Be aware that lots of low-quality, counterfeit M118 bullets imported from Yugoslavia have been sold, and the very fact that yours say "Sniper" on the box screams counterfeit, Ninja wannabe plinker-quality bullets. There is a WORLD of difference between REAL M118 bullets and the foreign knock-offs, as these 200-yard test targets show. The Serb-Yugo-PPU "M118" bullets did not group even as well as ordinary UK-RG or German DAG NATO Ball, let alone good lots of real LC M118 Match.

Attachment 189122 Attachment 189123Attachment 189124Attachment 189125Attachment 189126Attachment 189127Attachment 189128Attachment 189130

[pull the trigger]

It is hand written by the old guy I got them from in a spare box. I guess I'll just shoot em. Thanks!!!

[pull the trigger]

The box lid said sniper/match

[Outpost75]

The box lid said sniper/match

Base closure looks correct for US production, probably pulls.

[Char-Gar]

Toward the end of production the dies were pretty well worn and the bullets were of lesser quality. I have several thousand that were pulled from USGI ammo. Best they will do is about 2 MOA is a good rifle. That is plenty good for many uses. They certainly won't win any matches.

[Kraschenbirn]

A few years ago, I came into a few hundred M118 pull-downs. Excellent in my Garand but not so good as 168 gr. SMKs in my M700 (1-10 McGowan barrel). Still have some on the shelf 'cause I haven't loaded any jacketed for the Garand since I no longer shoot competition and have a CB load that beats M2 Ball by a substantial margin.

Bill

[DCM]

Load with 42.6g W748 in LC 7.62 case with a CCI BR or WLR primer and enjoy!
Other primers are "OK" but do not get as good of accuracy, Fed primers are just too durn soft.

[Scharfschuetze]

Use 'em and enjoy them. As Larry and OP point out, good lots will shoot very well. I believe that they are a reencarnation of the M1 Ball bullet from between the two World Wars. They emerged in the M72 match load for the M1 Garand and then transitioned to the M118 White Box match and sniper load for the M14 NM and M21 sniper rifles and the later M24 SWC. The bullet was replaced by the 168 grain Sierra MK in the very late 80s, which was replaced by the current 175gr SMK in the M118LR load now in use.

The M118 bullet was prefered by many military shooters back in the day for 1000 yard shooting over the lighter 168gr SMK as it would stay super sonic at at that range.

At one time you could buy just the bullets in bulk from the DCM (now the CMP).

[308Jeff]

Attachment 189123

I'm sure you would have called it a flyer as you were letting it fly, but that low one is pretty far outside of the group?

[Outpost75]

I'm sure you would have called it a flyer as you were letting it fly, but that low one is pretty far outside of the group?

No, that shot is part of the sample. NO FLIER. The Winchester Model 70 target rifle with 10X Unertl scope was being fired from a Hart pedestal off a bench and the velocity was normal.

[308Jeff]

No, that shot is part of the sample. NO FLIER. The Winchester Model 70 target rifle with 10X Unertl scope was being fired from a Hart pedestal off a bench and the velocity was normal.

Roger that!

[phonejack]

With the lot numbers (dates) that occurred after the tooling wore out weight could vary from 172 to 175. I know, I weighed about a thousand of them and segregated the bunch. We called the M118 "crackerjack" ammo because there was a surprise in every box. (Verticle dispersion at longer range). However they would stay supersonic out to a thousand yards whereas M852 would not. God bless Sierra when then came out with the 175 mks.

[Larry Gibson]

I have a can of LC88 M118 Special Ball I use as "Reference" ammunition when setting up my Oehler M43. Here is a typical 10 shot group shot at 100 yards from my M70 Target rifle. As stated earlier the M118 bullets can be quite accurate. No not as accurate as match grade 168 or 175s but not too shabby all in all.

Larry Gibson

Attachment 189244

[Larry Gibson]

The above M70 has a 12" twist barrel 26" long. It shoots the M118 bullets a bit more accurately than the 10" twist in the afore pictured M70 Suppressed. This is the same lot of M118 SB with 10 shots at 100 yards out of my 14" twist Palma rifle with 27.6" barrel.

Attachment 189245


The twist does make a difference in taming the bullet imbalances. Here is 10 shots at 100 yards from the 14" twist Palma rifle of delinked LC 90 M80 ball from machine gun belts. It shoots 3 - 3.5 moa out of the 10" twist and 2.5 - 3" out of the 12" twist. However, the 14" twist tames it right down. It's why the Palma shooters went with 14" twists when issue M80 was the ammunition for the Palma matches.

Attachment 189246

Larry Gibson

[Ken in Iowa]

Pulled M118 bullets became a favorite of mine for 30/40 Krags.

[Shiloh]

They were originally for .30-06. Bartlett years ago had them all the time. Ah for the good old days of surplus powders and components.

Shilogh