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Scored some Lake City 50 ammo today... & I have a question
3/5/2011 3:36:24 AM
I picked it up from a guy I met at a garage sale last summer. We were talking about gunz and he mentioned that he had a 50... he said it wasn't firing the ammo that he had... so he gave me 4 rounds of his ammo and asked me to shoot it through my rifle to see if it was the ammo that was bad. I never fired it, because upon further inspection of his "State Arms home built rifle"
and noticing the duct taped trigger extension 
that someone had "installed" I suggested that he was probably getting light primer strikes and needed a qualified gunsmith to look it over and left it at that!
Out of the blue last week I get an e-mail from him asking if I had ever fired that ammo he gave me... I said no, and he asked if I wanted to buy the ammo he had left over... (I hurried upstairs and looked at the headstamps and discovered that it was Lake City) so I said I would be interested at the right price. He said, "how about $2.50 each?" Since surplus is over $3.50 a shot here... I figured that was fare...
I asked how much he had and he said "170ish"
I said I would give him $380 for the lot of it
Hoping that he was open to haggling... 
He accepted my offer and I went and picked it all up today...
after I got it home I sorted it all out and counted it and discovered that there is some other military surplus stuff mixed in but 150 rounds of it is Lake City with most of it being from the late 90's...
Here's my question... why is this ammo colored the way it is? The brass and bullet are the exact same color as though it is coated in some sort of brass colored finish... kinda like the nickel coated stuff that they sell on Gunbroker.
The round on the right is a South African mil-surp round for comparison!
- Clint
and noticing the duct taped trigger extension that someone had "installed" I suggested that he was probably getting light primer strikes and needed a qualified gunsmith to look it over and left it at that!
Out of the blue last week I get an e-mail from him asking if I had ever fired that ammo he gave me... I said no, and he asked if I wanted to buy the ammo he had left over... (I hurried upstairs and looked at the headstamps and discovered that it was Lake City) so I said I would be interested at the right price. He said, "how about $2.50 each?" Since surplus is over $3.50 a shot here... I figured that was fare...
I asked how much he had and he said "170ish"
I said I would give him $380 for the lot of it
Hoping that he was open to haggling...
He accepted my offer and I went and picked it all up today...
after I got it home I sorted it all out and counted it and discovered that there is some other military surplus stuff mixed in but 150 rounds of it is Lake City with most of it being from the late 90's...
Here's my question... why is this ammo colored the way it is? The brass and bullet are the exact same color as though it is coated in some sort of brass colored finish... kinda like the nickel coated stuff that they sell on Gunbroker.
The round on the right is a South African mil-surp round for comparison!
- Clint
3/5/2011 6:19:39 AM
Is the red primer sealant intact? It looks like the ammo Thunderbird Cardridge use to turn out some years ago. If it is TCCI ammo , it is good ammo.
3/5/2011 11:07:44 AM
My guess is it's just tarnished a bit. I have an Amax that I've been handling a lot and the nice shiny copper color that it was has turned very dull, almost like a dull brass color.
3/5/2011 3:41:46 PM
If the brass and Projectile all look the same color it is possible he tumbled them in a media that gave them that color.
Ed
Ed
3/5/2011 3:46:16 PM
Originally Posted By competitor:
If the brass and Projectile all look the same color it is possible he tumbled them in a media that gave them that color.
Ed
If the brass and Projectile all look the same color it is possible he tumbled them in a media that gave them that color.
Ed
You know, I never thought of that! When I picked the ammo up, it was in 2 ammo cans. I brought it home and seperated it all and put them all in 2 smaller ammo cans. When I removed them from the original ammo cans I noticed a small amount of media in the bottom of each ammo can. I was wondering about why there was media in there.... so maybe that's why!
I don't think it's tarnish, because it's too uniform... and you can't tell from the pics but it's a deep color that almost looks like it's gold plated or something...
- Clint
3/5/2011 4:49:26 PM
Originally Posted By Alaskacajun:
I don't think it's tarnish, because it's too uniform... and you can't tell from the pics but it's a deep color that almost looks like it's gold plated or something...
- Clint
I don't think it's tarnish, because it's too uniform... and you can't tell from the pics but it's a deep color that almost looks like it's gold plated or something...
- Clint
probably just brass bullets
I have a few hundred I got in a "grab bag" that I recently loaded up
The ammo is probably thunderbird as stated and is good to go
3/5/2011 5:10:21 PM
The easy way to tell if it's old T-Bird ammo is to pull one of the bullets and weigh it, their ball ammo was solids if I remember correctly and weighed in at around 750 grs. That's if it was their bullets and not surplus, put a magnet to it, if it doesn't stick then it's more then likely their old 750 gr. solids that were made in the same profile as the M33 bullets.
3/5/2011 11:51:57 PM
Originally Posted By 50_Shooter:
The easy way to tell if it's old T-Bird ammo is to pull one of the bullets and weigh it, their ball ammo was solids if I remember correctly and weighed in at around 750 grs. That's if it was their bullets and not surplus, put a magnet to it, if it doesn't stick then it's more then likely their old 750 gr. solids that were made in the same profile as the M33 bullets.
The easy way to tell if it's old T-Bird ammo is to pull one of the bullets and weigh it, their ball ammo was solids if I remember correctly and weighed in at around 750 grs. That's if it was their bullets and not surplus, put a magnet to it, if it doesn't stick then it's more then likely their old 750 gr. solids that were made in the same profile as the M33 bullets.
BINGO... the magnet didn't stick, so no steel core!
Looks like it's Thunderbird Ammo....
Thanks for ya'lls help!
- Clint
3/6/2011 9:02:09 AM
If it has been tumbled beware. The tumbling breaks down the powder and increases the surface area causing it to burn hotter. Its its super hot that is probably why. Watch for excessive pressure.
3/6/2011 10:50:20 AM
Originally Posted By Mountain1:
If it has been tumbled beware. The tumbling breaks down the powder and increases the surface area causing it to burn hotter. Its its super hot that is probably why. Watch for excessive pressure.
If it has been tumbled beware. The tumbling breaks down the powder and increases the surface area causing it to burn hotter. Its its super hot that is probably why. Watch for excessive pressure.
No it doesnt, please stop spreading this rumor.
If it did, then commercial loaders would be producing junk becuase they all do it.
BTW I left a few cases in the cleaner foe a week to see if this was true, they all shot w/n the same SD as the same ammo not "cleaned"
3/6/2011 12:09:59 PM
I have to agree, tumbling live ammo is perfectly safe as I do it myself as do manufacturers and probably thousands of reloaders. This myth has been put to rest or at least I thought it had been for some time. Still, if you feel the need to not do it I respect your decision as it's better to feel safe about the ammo that you're shooting.
3/6/2011 12:30:19 PM
I have also tumbled ammo for hours with no ill affect at all.
Ed
Ed
3/6/2011 12:41:44 PM
Originally Posted By competitor:
I have also tumbled ammo for hours with no ill affect at all.
Ed
I have also tumbled ammo for hours with no ill affect at all.
Ed
+1
