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Is there anyone who can help with identifying these bullets?
Thirty years ago a friend gave me two coffee cans full of these bullets, which he had gotten from his uncle (now deceased).
Current ammo supply issues have finally given me the incentive to figure out what they are and maybe get them reloaded for use in my Garand.
A Dremel was used to cut one of the bullets in half longways (the two halves of the jacket came off and left the core loose) and the photo is attached. You can see pull marks on the intact bullet on the left. There is no paint on any of the bullets. Most of them weigh about 163 grains but a few range from 160 to 165 grains. Can't tell what the jacket is made of (is not attracted to a magnet) but it was tough to cut through and gave off sparks from a high speed cutting wheel. The core is attracted by a magnet, looks like steel, and was also tough to cut.
Looking at ammo cross sections online I found some tungsten core 7.62 stuff that looks similar but I don't think these cores are tungsten because tungsten is not attracted by a magnet. Cross sections of M2 AP look very similar to what I have but they're nice, clean cuts that also go through the core so they appear different than having the core intact and separated from the jacket.
My best guess is M2 AP but I'd like to confirm that before deciding what to do with them.
Thanks for your help.
Thirty years ago a friend gave me two coffee cans full of these bullets, which he had gotten from his uncle (now deceased).
Current ammo supply issues have finally given me the incentive to figure out what they are and maybe get them reloaded for use in my Garand.
A Dremel was used to cut one of the bullets in half longways (the two halves of the jacket came off and left the core loose) and the photo is attached. You can see pull marks on the intact bullet on the left. There is no paint on any of the bullets. Most of them weigh about 163 grains but a few range from 160 to 165 grains. Can't tell what the jacket is made of (is not attracted to a magnet) but it was tough to cut through and gave off sparks from a high speed cutting wheel. The core is attracted by a magnet, looks like steel, and was also tough to cut.
Looking at ammo cross sections online I found some tungsten core 7.62 stuff that looks similar but I don't think these cores are tungsten because tungsten is not attracted by a magnet. Cross sections of M2 AP look very similar to what I have but they're nice, clean cuts that also go through the core so they appear different than having the core intact and separated from the jacket.
My best guess is M2 AP but I'd like to confirm that before deciding what to do with them.
Thanks for your help.
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