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.223 Surplus Ammo Color Codes

chemengchemeng Member Posts: 85 ✭✭
edited March 2002 in Ask the Experts
My brother just acquired some yellow tip .223. What is the significance of the yellow tip? I have seen green, red, and now yellow and don't know what they mean.Thanks in advance.
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Comments

  • IconoclastIconoclast Member Posts: 10,515 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    PLEASE DO NOT SHOOT IT OFF JUST YET!Please advise h/s and, if possible, send me a scan / photo. tcg25@hotmail.comThere are a variety of tip colors out there which have been applied by non-contract vendors to signify tracer, AP, heavy ball, etc. And different countries use different colors to signify the various loadings. That said, this *might* be something of collectible interest and if so, I would like to buy it. Your brother would be doing a lot more shooting for the same original investment.
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  • cpermdcpermd Member Posts: 5,273 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Probably incendiary but have to know the headstamp to say.cpermd
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  • chemengchemeng Member Posts: 85 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Thanks guys. My brother is working today, when he gets in I will post the headstamp info. He doesn't have a digital camera so no pics available.
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  • IconoclastIconoclast Member Posts: 10,515 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    chemeng, a quick run on a flat bed works fine for ammo - better, in fact, than a camera.
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  • chemengchemeng Member Posts: 85 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Here is the H/S info, he has 6 boxes (plain cardboard) with 20 rounds in each box. They are on 10 round stripper clips. They have the yellow tips and each H/S is different, they are as follows:1) 5.56 8-81 MAl2) M7T33) M84CC4) 5.56 M193Sorry, no scanned or digital pics, I just got him on the internet 3 months ago (he lives in another state). One of the boxes has some corrosion on the H/S.Thanks for all the info. Mike
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  • IconoclastIconoclast Member Posts: 10,515 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Mike, not what I was hoping to hear, but such is life. These are foreign loadings. I've seen some around, but not sure what they are myself. I'd hoped they were US 1988 loads. The mixture of headstamps suggests to me that they possibly something put out by the commercial reprocessing types who produce the odd tip colors seen fairly regularly. I'll see what I can dig up, but most of my references deal strictly w/ US stuff.===================A little later . . . . Went through my meagre references . . . . 1) 5.56 8-81 MAl - Virtually certain this is out of Malaysia (or at least the case originally was made there); no yellow tip loading reported.2) M7T3 - cannot find an arsenal of "MT" or "TM" nor an M7T3 load designation.3) M84CC - ditto on "MCC" or "CC" arsenal & "M84" load.4) 5.56 M193 - South Africa used "5.56" as a headstamp and did load proofs in the early 1980s w/ a yellow tip. According to my source, the base should also show yellow paint.I'll be seeing some real experts on this material in two weeks, and will check w/ them, but I still suspect some reprocessing. There have been several pseudo-military rounds made up by various sources.[This message has been edited by Iconoclast (edited 03-17-2002).]
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