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Old ammo question.....

neacpaneacpa Member Posts: 2,702 ✭✭✭
in Ask the Experts

Okay, so I have a bag of loaded ammo that the casing seems to be the exact same dimensions as 30-06 cartridges I have. The head stamp has F N and a 59 and is red tipped. The overall length is a bit longer than the modern 30-06 cartridges I have. Was kinda thinking it might be tracer ammo. Without pics, can someone tell me if this is just some older 30-06 or what?

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    chmechme Member Posts: 1,466 ✭✭✭✭
    edited January 2021
    • 30-06 Tracer. FN or FNB, Fabrique Nationale d'Armes de Guerre (FN) - Bruges, Belgium. Should be non-corrosive (US military changed in 1952) Yours was loaded in 1959. Before the rainy season. On the sunny side of the factory. By a worker named Henri. For lunch that day he had a ham & cheese sandwich. With mustard.
    • Edit- OK Ricci- I made up the part about the mustard.
    • Anything else?
    • PS- while that is usable in a Garand, I have probably set as many military firing ranges alight with tracer ammo as any living human (used to run M60, 50 cal and 106 recoilless ranges) here are the differences between me and civilians- Our ranges had a 50 ft wide firebreak with no trees, and fresh dirt runover with a disc about every 90 days. Oh yeah- when we started a fire, we did not have to pay to put it out. You, on the other hand, will get mugged by Smokey D. Bear. If it hits the ground before 900 meters, it is still burning- tail of flame about 2-3 feet long.


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    Ricci.WrightRicci.Wright Member Posts: 5,129 ✭✭✭✭

    I think you made that up.

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    rufe-snowrufe-snow Member Posts: 18,650 ✭✭✭

    Need to get hold of a digital caliper. Harbor Freight, usually sells them for around 20 bucks. Hate to buy Chinese crap. But unfortunately, their the only game in town any more.

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    mac10mac10 Member Posts: 2,546 ✭✭✭✭

    i have boxes of that stuff

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    nononsensenononsense Member Posts: 10,928 ✭✭✭✭

    Here is an article with a good set of descriptions about the .30-06 ammunition:

    https://cartridgecollectors.org/?page=introduction-to-30-06-cartridges


    The differences in length are a result of the differences in the style of bullets. See the photographs in the article above. The different choices of bullets will still all chamber safely, the 'ogive' or shape of the bullets is sometimes sleeker as opposed to stubbier.

    We can't shoot tracers out here as the potential for huge forest fires is the result.

    Best.

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