new to surp powders, with a question

[OeldeWolf]

I have never used surplus powders. Shot a lot of military stuff, but never disassembled any.

I have a K-31, and i know that the .308 ball ammo has a jword the correct diameter. I was wondering whaty powder they used, at what charge weight/vel/pressure, and how that would compare to the charge for the 7.5 Swiss?

[Ricochet]

If you look at loading manual data for the .308 and 7.5x55 with the same bullets and powders, you'll note that the loads for the Swiss are generally somewhat lower. The case capacity of the 7.5 is larger than the .308, but the maximum working pressure is quite a bit lower.

[Ken O]

I don't know what they used originaly for the GP11, but I bought the surplus (actually new Russian) 4895 from Jeff Bartlett a couple years ago and it works great. I shoot the Rem 165 bulk CL bullets in my K31s.

[OeldeWolf]

The problem is, I can find commercial data on the two loads, but the specs on the military ball .308 is eluding me. The two references I have in my books say "Military load, xxxxx pressure, xxxxx vel, xxxxx bullet weight"

What I saw showed the same pressure as was listed for the GP11, and similar velocities. But I wanted to actually have powder data, not just trust press/vel data for this.

As far as I can tell, the military laods are rarely similar to the max loads the commercial people use.

That they use a 4895 powder is good info, though this forum has led me to believe they adjust the charge for different lots of powder, to achieve correct final ballistics.

Any idea about how much (+/- their adjustng) of the 4895 they use?

Richard OeldeWolf

[dsmjon]

How does one go about determining what kind of powder is in milsurp ammo? Dad bought a case of 30-06 from CMP and gave me a bandoleer full. If it's decent powder, I'd prefer to pull it down and reload for greater accuracy. I presume I'd need the headstamp info (just a walk downstairs), but how/where would one go about determining the powder used?

[Ricochet]

There's an old military manual on nominal loads that's reproduced in the back of recent editions of Cartridges of the World. Cal. .30 Ball M2 was loaded with IMR 4895, WC852, or CMR-100. The first two were nominally loaded with 50 grains, the CMR-100 at 45 grains.

[waksupi]

How does one go about determining what kind of powder is in milsurp ammo? Dad bought a case of 30-06 from CMP and gave me a bandoleer full. If it's decent powder, I'd prefer to pull it down and reload for greater accuracy. I presume I'd need the headstamp info (just a walk downstairs), but how/where would one go about determining the powder used?


If you have a rifle to shoot some in, and a chrony, you can get a real good idea. Chrony a few loads, then pull down a couple cartridges, to weigh the powder charge. Figure how many feet per second you are getting per grain. Then look at loading manuals, and match the burn rate. May not be exactly the same powder, but you will know the burn rate to load with.