Found Some M1 Garand Ammo

[AGE Ranger]

I try to collect vintage ammo for my collection and as luck would have it my wife was going through her dad's garage and found a basket with two clips and a hand full of M1 ammo. The neat thing is the ammo dates to the year before my M1 was built and the clips from Springfield Armory same as the M1.

My question is: Is there any significance of the black tip?

It's Lake City 54; the first 5/16" of each the bullet is black while the rest of the visible bullet is copper. The tips are very uniform in shape and color and there are no scratches.


There was one 45acp--WCC 42. Guess I have to buy a 1911 now.

Thanks

 

[Tenbore]

Black tip is armor piercing.

 

[loaded round]

FWIW, I found that LC armor piercing ammo is extremely accurate in a M1 Garand.

 

[ncrobb]

Both of the previous posts are dead on. The black tip "armor piercing" ammo is great shooting fodder in an M1 Garand. My father-in-law was issued ammo cans of it to practice with when he was on the local National Guard rifle team. I got some left overs 40 years later and its still extremely accurate.

 

[AGE Ranger]

Thanks for the info. So far the only ammo I've shot out of it the Greek stuff from CMP.

 

[loaded round]

That was cheap but decent ammo also but on the dirty side compared to GI ammo.


"AGE Ranger"]Thanks for the info. So far the only ammo I've shot out of it the Greek stuff from CMP.[/quote]

 

[AGE Ranger]

That was cheap but decent ammo also but on the dirty side compared to GI ammo.

Yep it shoots pretty good and not a bad price. If CMP was open on Wednesdays I'd go up and buy some more. I think they have a 10 can limit per year.

I was given a can of 500rds of corrosive Korean ammo. If I ever get a chance to shoot several hundred rounds at one time it'll make the cleaning worth while.

 

[JD2]

Just to note, I believe 1954 vintage AP ammo is probably corrosive, in case you decide to shoot any of it....

 

[cadillo]

Just to note, I believe 1954 vintage AP ammo is probably corrosive, in case you decide to shoot any of it....

According to "Hatcher's Notebook" the transition to the loading of noncorrosive primers in M2 ammo began in 1947. I doubt that anyone knows for sure how long it took to consume the rest of the corrosive primers, but by 1954, I think that it's unlikely that there were any left.

As others have said be cautious with it until you know for sure. If it were to turn out to be corrosive, I would not reload the cases regardless of how they were cleaned. The corrosive M2 that I have shot (SL-43) causes the spent cases to begin disintegrating from the inside out in pretty short order. Accordingly I pulled down most of the lot, and re-primed the cases with modern Winchester caps, loaded and shot the ammo, and was able to load the cases several times. It's the corrosive priming mixture that causes the case rot, and not the cases themselves.

 

[AGE Ranger]

Thanks for the replies.I doubt I'll shoot any of the LC54 AP don't really have enough. Maybe one or two rounds at the railroad base plates just to see what happens.

That Korean stuff is Berdan primed. I've expirmented converting some brass to boxer; it's a lot of work for brass you can still buy.