30-06 surplus from Wideners

[BruinGuy]

I ordered a can of 30-06 Korean surplus from Wideners. Their description reads:

"The ammunition is boxer primed with military crimp, brass case, and it may be corrosive, so treat it as corrosive primed. It has a 150gr FMJ flat base M2 bullet that is copper jacket (gliding metal) and lead core. We found one or two in a can that had a steel jacket, but most of copper jacket. It appears that most of the ammo 90-95% is headstamped KA71 or KA72 with other various kinds like LC69, KA60."

I counted by head stamp and what I got was:
KA - 163
PS -49
TW - 60
While it is cool to end up with a couple extra rounds, and I am pleased with the PS rounds I got, I am really bummed about the large number of TW head stamps because they are magnetic.

In any case I thought this info might be helpful to some others thinking of buying this for their Garands and to ask for recommendations on cleaning the rather grimy rounds, since I have read that tumbling these is not recommended.

[pro-nra]

What year is the TW? They are USGI and are good shooting if post corrosive years. Be careful with that Korean ammo as some had blown rifles in the past.

I still don't get why people buy the Korean ammo where you can get the HXP which is a better ammo and cheaper too from CMP.

[Capybara]

HXP = better + non corrosive. I agree with pro-nra, why bother as long as the CMP has HXP available?

[BruinGuy]

Sadly the Greek HXP has a magnetic bullet and there is just about nowhere other than a 2.5 hour drive out to the desert where I can shoot it.

The new production Garand safe ammo is very pricey right now if it can be found...

All of the TW had a 5 on it, but no other letters or numbers.

[omnitravis]

Sadly the Greek HXP has a magnetic bullet and there is just about nowhere other than a 2.5 hour drive out to the desert where I can shoot it.

The new production Garand safe ammo is very pricey right now if it can be found...

All of the TW had a 5 on it, but no other letters or numbers.

Then there are those of us who arent members.

The question then, why arent we members?
I need to sign up for the CMP.

[6mmintl]

TW54 is some of the most accurate M2 ball our club as ever shot out of DCM garands

[TRAP55]

The KA is some of the most corrosive ammo I've ever shot. Shoots good, but don't wait to clean your rifle afterwards.

[pro-nra]

I would not shoot corrosive ammo especially in gas operated Garand. You might be able to get away shooing out of bolt guns but Gas operated rifles you are asking for trouble.

[Mssr. Eleganté]

TW 5 is from 1955 and non-corrosive.

[eckerph]

my brother is selling some New man PRVI M1 ammo for me, look at the link in my sig.

[sickboybrad]

I don't care about corrosive ammo anymore.
I have missed out on so many good deal because I would listen to others on the web.
Sure you have to clean it faster if shooting corrosive. But I have gotten away at least 24 hours with out one rust problem. Not sure how long you can really get away with.
Also most of the parts are chrome lined, or stainless steel.

I got 4 cans the other day also. One can had 200 rounds of ka72 steel. About 70 copper.
All others had about 20 rounds steel, the rest copper.
Some of the ka72 is copper, some is steel
Before I get its cheaper to buy hxp, its better to shoot anything, than have can after can of steel.
B

[rp55]

I ordered my 10 cases of HXP from the CMP on March 30 and it showed up today. Headstamps I saw were 1976 - 1978. This is the good stuff.

[SMarquez]

I don't care about corrosive ammo anymore.
I have missed out on so many good deal because I would listen to others on the web.
Sure you have to clean it faster if shooting corrosive. But I have gotten away at least 24 hours with out one rust problem. Not sure how long you can really get away with.
Also most of the parts are chrome lined, or stainless steel.

I got 4 cans the other day also. One can had 200 rounds of ka72 steel. About 70 copper.
All others had about 20 rounds steel, the rest copper.
Some of the ka72 is copper, some is steel
Before I get its cheaper to buy hxp, its better to shoot anything, than have can after can of steel.
B

Interesting, my Korean steel/copper ratio was nearly identical the other way around. I had 72 steel. So how did the greeks get by for so long on corrosive ammo. Didn't they carry on fighting after WWII on their border with Albania?
I've shot the Korean stuff, no FTF or FTE. I took a couple days to clean it. No problems. I don't think you should shoot hundreds of without ever cleaning it but if you get to it in a few days you should be fine. It doesn't start corroding as soon as you fire it. As for HPX, shipping costs make it a little too high for me and I reload for '06 anyway.

[pro-nra]

I ordered my 10 cases of HXP from the CMP on March 30 and it showed up today. Headstamps I saw were 1976 - 1978. This is the good stuff.

Looks great! Have you actually gone through each ammo and sorted by headstamp? You might have some USGI in the mix. I sort mine according to headstamp and keep only the brass from 1973 and earlier due to case head design change.

[mycrstuff]

You might check the KA with a magnet. All of the KA I have run into is magnetic. The PS is non-magnetic and non corrosive but has the case split issues. The KA is corrosive and the cases are good.