WW2 Ammunition

[Wes]

I was rereading some older Steve Ambro book, I think it was citizen soldiers, and I came across a bit about the difference between US and Greman ammo. He mentioned that american powder was not completely smokeless but that the german's was. Because of this the amercam ammo tended to give positions away. He insinuated that the more experianced soldiers tended to avoid unnessesary fire for this reason. Also, I head from other sorces that the combat loads were corrosive, but that the army didn't consider it an issue because the soldiers were trained to clean their weapons as soon as possible after fireing and that if a weapon was damaged it was easily repaired or replaced.

[mnshooter]

Those Gremens were tricky.

If the WWII 8mm I have shot is any indication, they still had a long way to go towards totally smokeless.

[TSMGguy]

I still have quite a few 600 rd. cans of original WWII .45 ball ammo, headstamped EC 4. It fires with a great deal of smoke, and leaves a heavy build up of black sludge in the gun. We fired an entire can of this nasty stuff recently, but the M1 TSMG never missed a beat. This ammo is so smoky that on a calm day your target can become obscured.

[Mk VII]

Most US WW2 ammunition was still corrosive (except for the M1 carbine stuff). Small quantities (100million) of .30 with non-corr primers were procured from Defense Industries of Verdun, Canada (h/s VC) for troop trials in the Zone of the Interior.

 

Winchester-Western did make nor-corr loads for Britain (h/s WESTERN .45 AUTO and W.R.A. 45 A.C.) in 1940.

Edited January 8, 2013 by Mk VII

[giantpanda4]

As mentioned, it is corrosive and shoots well. I too have had no issues using it, other that it is dirty!

 

On a hot day we used it, by the time I got home and cleaned the gun that night, the mag lips had started rusting already. Not as well oiled as the gun.

 

Good blasting ammo!

[Mike Hammer]

Shot a bunch of WWII ammo one day in my Thompson and cleaned my gun well (or so I thought). Opened my case the next day to discover that surface rust already appearing in chamber and barrel. It is some wicked, dirty stuff. Soldiers must have spent a good deal of time cleaning their guns. Still have a couple sealed 600 rd. cans that I probably sell to collectors. It does shoot well though. Shot some WWII German 9mm and I don't recall having that problem, nor do I remember any excess smoke. Still have some of the German ammo but not going to shoot it as that stuff is pretty rare now.

 

Mike Hammer

[bug]

Hot water is your friend if you shoot corrosive stuff. Hot soapy water, even better.