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Thread: pulled .308's

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    Reloading King jlb300's Avatar
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    Default pulled .308's

    Gentelmen, I have a question. Have any of you ever discovered a bullet that is magnetic? I have a friend that bought some .308 military issue ,it is winchester, he really was hoping on breaking in a barrel and than he would have good winchester brass for his new r-25 remington. anyhow he pulled a bunch of the stuff and found them to stick on a magnet. I thought this peculier(sp) and I have no idea why. I tore one apart and I see it isnot lased with a rod type of insert or anything and I cant find anything other than the copper jacket . Any ideas?
    It aint a sin to be stupid ,,,,but its awful unhandy

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    Super Moderator versifier's Avatar
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    Default

    Most AP ammo has steel cores, but you would have found it. It may be that the core material of the bullets in question are not a lead alloy wire as is usual, but a sintered mixture of whatever was on hand for some unknown reason. I have never heard of anything like it. No reason not to shoot them that I can think of.
    If I can see it, I can hit it. Now, where did I put my glasses?

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    Reloading King jlb300's Avatar
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    Default

    Naturally they do not shoot as good as what he or I might load, hence the reason in pulling some. we also discovered that the powder weight was in variant of more than 3 grns in those that were pulled. I understand that in mass production how that is, but I also thought they would be closer in weight than they were. Anyhow 500 rounds of W W brass fireformed and reloaded are now ready for some good long range varmint fun this summer.
    Another side note these cartridges were also loaded with benchrest primers. another peculularity to me.
    It aint a sin to be stupid ,,,,but its awful unhandy

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    Reloading King jlb300's Avatar
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    Default steel?

    Just an updae. I read somewhere that a manifacturer was selling copper plated steel jacketed bullets . I am looking to see if this may be the reason these are magnetic. If you are interested I will be placing the results here later
    It aint a sin to be stupid ,,,,but its awful unhandy

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    Default Steel Core Bullets

    I have seen both lead and soft steel core bullets loaded in 7.62 NATO rounds. I can't remember if both were listed as M80 or not, but when I was in the Army we fired both types from the M14 and M60 weapon systems. The soft steel core bullet could be identified by is attraction to a magnet. I would suspect that this is what you have.

    My last assignment before retiring in 1979 was the commander of one of the Army's 3 Advanced Marksmanship Training Units. We primarly shot M118 ball, the NM ammo with its 173 gr boattail bullet with lead core. For civilian matches we would use the M118 load, but replace the bullet with Sierra's 168 gr Match Hollowpoint. This would improve the performance of the round.

    The groups with the M80 with either bullets were so poor that we didn't even use that stuff for practice, but that was what was used in the field, with the exception of the snipers, who used the M118.

    Hope that adds some light on the question about steel core bullets.

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    Default More on 7.62 Nato Bullets

    Did a little more research on the issue of ball 7.62 bullets in the NATO round. TM43-0001-27 lists two ball rounds used in the field. The M59 bullet had the soft steel core, while the M80 bullet had a lead core.

    Below is a list of all the 7.62 rounds listed in the TM:
    7.62MM CARTRIDGES
    Cartridge, 7.62mm, Ball, M59
    Cartridge, 7.62mm, High Pressure Test, M60
    Cartridge, 7.62mm, Armor Piercing, M61
    Cartridge, 7.62mm, Tracer, M62
    Cartridge, 7.62mm, Tracer, M62 (Overhead Fire mission)
    Cartridge, Dummy, 7.62mm, M63
    Cartridge, 7.62mm, Grenade, M64
    Cartridge, 7.62mm, Ball, M80
    Cartridge, 7.62mm, Ball, M80 (Overhead Fire Application)
    Cartridge, 7.62mm, Blank, M82
    Cartridge, 7.62mm, Ball, Special, M118
    Cartridge, 7.62mm, Frangible, M160
    Cartridge, Dummy, 7.62mm, M172
    Cartridge, 7.62mm, Dim Tracer, M276
    Cartridge, 7.62nmm, Match, M852
    Cartridge, 7.62mm: Armor Piercing (AP), M993

    This TM shows all military smallarms ammunition used by the US during the period from early 1900's until the 1994 period, including some 30mm cannon ammo.

    Another reference: http://www.inetres.com/gp/military/i...62mm_ammo.html

    Last edited by wildbill49; 03-03-2009 at 03:42 PM. Reason: add information

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check        

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