Turkish 8mm 47' ammo in Astan

[Combat Diver]

Was just presented some new looking made ammo. Received 54 rds on 5 rd Mauser 98 stripper clips. Here is a picture of what I just received.


For 1947 ammo looks really new even if just out of spam cans (unknown).
7.9 x 57mm cartridge cases are from Turkey as signified by the star & crescent in the headstamp surrounded by the letters " T C " which stand for “Turkiye Cumhuriyeti” or the Republic of Turkey.
The letters " FS " stand for the ammunition production facility in Turkey, the exact meaning remains uncertain but suggestions are Fisek Sirket or Fisek Sube i.e. Ammunition Company or Branch. And as expected the “1947” in the headstamps tell the year of manufacture.

Picture of headstamp off the web for comparison.



Did just notice that some of the case necks are cracked. Just need to find another Gewehr 98 like I had shortly last fall here. Bazar did have some WWI German 1918 helmets yesterday.


CD

[frkelly74]

This ammo was everywhere 2002 to 2006, and pretty cheap. It had a rep for being hot ammo and did exhibit some age split necks. It has cupro-nickle jacketed bullets and it is corrosive as you might guess. People were pulling the bullets and saving the powder to load at a 10% reduction in charge with the same bullet but commercial brass. I still have some bandoliers someplace. Trusting my memory on this.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

My post would be almost identical to Mr. frkelly74's. I had several cases. Pulled bullets for re-use, salvaged powder, still have a case + of the stuff. Bought 200 new Remington cases to use salvaged bullets and powder, it made some very accurate ammo.

[TNsailorman]

I bought some 300 rounds of 55 Turk 8mm ammo several years ago. It had corrosive priming and was berdan to boot. Brass was almost new looking. I pulled the bullets(inertia puller) and weighed the powder in each cartridge and then averaged the weight by the number of rounds. I had a bunch of older commercial cases (mostly R-P and Winchester). I primed the brass with Federal large rifle primers and loaded them with the Turk powder and bullets. Turned out to be some of the most accurate 8mm I ever loaded. I went back to the sport shop where I bought it to get more but they had sold out to someone who bought every bit of the ammo they had left. He seemed to know a good thing when he saw it. I later sold the brass to someone in NY who was looking for 8mm brass that took a berdan primer. my experience with Turk ammo, james

[Geezer in NH]

I had 2 pallets of it at $.03 a round delivered from CAI. The cracked necks I have shot up ina 98 Mauser. Most of the rest went into my 1919A4. It is hot ammo for sure for the Mauser the bullet was pulled and 5 grains removed and it was much nicer to shoot.

Blew up a couple of covers with the 1919 using it but pounded them flat and kept shooting it was cheap blasting ammo. It is also very corrosive and the jacket material will build stalactites and stalagmites in the bores. All my stuff went from 1936 to 1944 dates.

I still have 2 50 cal cans full of the cracked necks to go the rest I sold off when I sold the 1919 for the DW's new knee.

[Combat Diver]

Thanks for the info.

CD

[Larry Gibson]

I've pressure tested numerous different lots of the Turk 8x57 that came in country in the early 2000s. They ranged from years from '42 through '51. While they may be considered "hot" by SAAMI standards by CIP and original German specs they are not "hot".....just loaded to spec. The sticky case extraction and split necks was a function not annealing the brass correctly. BTW; the psi ran from 54 to 60,000 with velocities as per German spec. With the 1943 lot (in steel stripper clips) giving 60,000 psi giving numerous split necks and sticky extraction (hard bolt lift) I pulled the bullet/powder and loaded it into Winchester cases. The pressure remained the same but extraction and bolt lift were normal. I've still several hundred rounds of the '40s Turk and a full wooden crate of the '51 Turk. I've pulled a bunch and reduced the load 5% loading it back into the same Turk cases that the neck did not split when pulling the bullet, sizing the neck or seating the bullet. That load is running 2800 fps out of my VZ 24/47 and M48 with good accuracy and easy extraction.

[TNsailorman]

Larry, the 55 Turk ammo that I mentioned had a different powder than I had seen before and I just wondered if it was some form of Cordite. Do you have any information about what might have been loaded in that brass? If I remember right, it was a fairly large flake powder. james

[Larry Gibson]

The large square type flake powder is of the typical "Nobel" type much of the Mauser cartridges were loaded with. It's burning rate, depending on lot and cartridge is between 3031 and 4064 with most I've found to be similar to 4895 in burning rate.

[TNsailorman]

Larry, That makes sense as I found the note I had written on a target. It was 48.1 grains of the Turk powder(which I had average from the pulled down rounds). That is right in the range of one of my 8mm loads using IMR 4895 for 150 grain JSP Hornady bullet. Thanks for the info, my knowledge of foreign ammo and powders is very limited. Take, care,james