Author Topic: Dangerous case spilts in Korean M2 ball .30-06  (Read 494 times)

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Offline GGaskill

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Dangerous case spilts in Korean M2 ball .30-06
« on: January 26, 2008, 03:43:28 PM »
I met a man today who was shooting some Korean .30-06 Ball M2 he bought several years ago from Widener's.  While I was watching him fire, one of the shots spit some small particles and a cloud of smoke from the breech of his M1 rifle.  He had had an M-split; a case split that goes from in front of the case web through the primer pocket.  Observation of the remaining cartridges of that ammo showed another case that was already split in the M region even before firing.

In US military practice, one failure of this type will get the whole lot condemned.  It is my guess that this ammo was likewise condemned by the Korean military but it found its way into the civilian market and was sold cheap (for obvious reasons.)

The cartridges are in Korean marked packaging with .30 and M2 in English characters on the box.  The headstamp is PS over 75.  If you have any of this ammo, it should not be fired, and if you have cartridge cases from this ammo, they should not be reloaded.

Those of you who frequent other reloading forums may feel free to spread this info around.
GG
“If you're not a liberal at 20, you have no heart; if you're not a conservative at 40, you have no brain.”
--Winston Churchill

Offline Mikey

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Re: Dangerous case spilts in Korean M2 ball .30-06
« Reply #1 on: January 26, 2008, 04:57:19 PM »
GGaskill:  a warning about the use of Korean mil-surp 30-06 ball was posted on the Military Surplus Forum here on Graybeards within the past year.  Case separations and the 'M" split you referenced were cited as the problems.  Mikey.

Offline trotterlg

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Re: Dangerous case spilts in Korean M2 ball .30-06
« Reply #2 on: January 27, 2008, 04:04:02 PM »
And he was Shocked that Korean surplus ammo purchased for $1.98 per hundred had some bad rounds in it?  Larry
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Offline GGaskill

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Re: Dangerous case spilts in Korean M2 ball .30-06
« Reply #3 on: January 27, 2008, 08:15:57 PM »
And he was Shocked that Korean surplus ammo purchased for $1.98 per hundred had some bad rounds in it?

No, he was aware of the problem and had been sorting out the pre-split cases but either skipped the procedure in haste or missed one.  I posted on the subject since that kind of ammo is hazardous.  Can't believe someone in the US would have sold it unless it was advertised as condemned.

I actually searched the reloading forum for previous references but didn't check the surplus forum.  Can't hurt to bring it up again if the stuff is still out there.
GG
“If you're not a liberal at 20, you have no heart; if you're not a conservative at 40, you have no brain.”
--Winston Churchill