# modify surplus ammo??



## 7mm08 (Dec 22, 2005)

I was just wondering if a person could modify a fmj surplus ammo round by removing the tip to make it expandable?? legal/safe/ aerodynamics??


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## TN.Frank (Nov 12, 2005)

Most FMJ military ammo is open at the base, by cutting off the nose you'll end up getting the lead core to exit the barrel while sticking the jacket in the barrel, a very dangerous practice. What you can do is get a bullet puller and put the FMJs out of the ammo and replace it with a like weight soft point. Of course most if not all of the military ammo has berdan primed cases so it's a one shot deal. You can buy brass that's boxer primed in most military calibers. Give Graff & Sons a google and check out their web site. I got some good 7.5x55mm Swiss form them.


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## Danimal (Sep 9, 2005)

CAUTION if you do decide to pull military bullets.... I've seen older surplus ammo that was SUPPOSED to be FMJ and when we shot it, some were tracers mixed in.


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## MossyMO (Feb 12, 2004)

Doesn't all tracer ammo resemble ballistic tip ammo with the colored plastic tip? Much different than full metal jacket, which is solid to the end?

I can see mistaken tracer for ballistic; but full metal jacket, soft point and hollow point each have their unmistakeable characteristics. 
Is my thinking wrong here?


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## TN.Frank (Nov 12, 2005)

It's not a plastic tip, it's painted to tell what kind of round it is. I know it looks like the Nosler plastic tip ammo but it's not. I'd just get some modern brass, boxer primed cases and handload what ever you'd want before I'd mess with reloading berdan primed military ammo with new bullets.


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## Danimal (Sep 9, 2005)

Well, trcers are SUPPOSED to be different.... I guess this maker of this batch of ammo from some 3rd world country didn't understand the basics of QUALITY CONTROL.... The only thing different was the bullet had a more rounded front section.....


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## Scooter (Nov 4, 2005)

The paint used on tracers is inbedded with metals such as magnesium in order to produce the light with the bullet travels. The paint and or color coding used is a feature utilized by the U.S. and other Nato countries to identify differnt styles of ammo such as armor piercing, high incinerary, ball and such. But not all counties use color in their bullet coatings for identification purposes so it is wise to handle military surplus ammo with care.


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## Plainsman (Jul 30, 2003)

TNFrank

All the military surplus ammo that I have used has boxer primed cases. I reload a thousand rounds a year of military surplus 223. The primers are crimped in so near impossible to get a new primer in. They make a tool that swages the primer pocket open, and another that reams the pocket to SAMI specks. 
One thing to keep in mind with military ammo is that the cases are thicker. The outside dimensions are the same, so this means there is less powder capacity in military cases. Do not load maximum loads in military cases, because you will in reality be going far beyond maximum. In fact the starting load in one of my manuals gives me the same velocity as the maximum load claims to reach.


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