Shooting vintage military arms

[Gil Martin]

Several friends and neighbors are interested in military arms from WWI,l WWII, Korea and Vietnam eras. They have seen these arms in magazines and movies, but rarely get to shoot them. That has all changed. We spend long sessions at the range shooting M1 rifles and M1 carbines, Springfields, Enfields, Mausers, Schmidt-Rubins and Russian and Finnish bolt action rifles. These folks keep me busy loading ammo and help pick up brass. Other shooters on the line walk over to see what we are shooting and tell their own war stories. All the best...
Gil

[Adam Helmer]

Gil,

Vintage military arms NEED to be shot and shot a lot. Hereabouts the old WWII guys are dying and many nice military arms are being sold at yard sales and through Penny Saver Ads.

Do you load cast bullets or fire jacketed handloads? Are you using arms from your extensive military arms collection or student arms? Naturally, you advise the students about shooting ancient, corrosive ammo in vintage arms.

Adam

[Gil Martin]

My reloads are the most cost effective way to shoot these vintage arms. Old military ammo is mostly corrosive and hard to find. I am not set up to cast cast bullets for rifle calibers. So we shoot jacketed bullets in the rifles and cast bullets in the handguns and semi-auto pistol caliber carbines (9mm and .45 ACP).

The shooters are eager students and happy to learn how to disassemble and clean these vintage military arms. They are well-schooled in the cleaning procedures required when using corrosive ammo. Take care. All the best...
Gil

[Rapier]

Be careful of the 30 Carbine and cast bullets. Years ago I had my son reloading his own 30 Carbine ammo, using the 130gr Lyman cast RN bullets. I did not notice that the bullet was leaving a tiny bit of lube and lead at the case mouth every time a round was loaded. Each time a round loaded into the chamber it was leaving a tiny bit of that lead and lube on the front edge created by the reamer for the case mouth to headspace on. Eventually, the 3 digit Rockola fired, just barely out of battery, blowing the locking lug and extractor off the bolt. Very luckily, my son whom is left handed, was taught to shoot right handed, which put the stock between his face and the flying shrapnel. The reason they tell you not to use cast in a carbine is due to that build up in the chamber pushes the headspace back.

I have picked up several carbines that will fire when just ever so slightly out of battery.
Ed

[Gil Martin]

Good point. I do not use cast bullets in the .30 caliber M1 carbine. Thanks for the heads up. All the best...
Gil