Centerfire Cartridge...

[buckshot]

Hey all, I dug this spent brass centerfire cartridge mding along with a watchfob dated 1919 in close proximity to each other. No stamped brandname. Could it be military? The headstamp markings are. F A 11 2 Is anyone familiar with this type headstamped casing in particular?

 

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[NGE]

Federal Arms ~ Loaded Nov. '02? JMWAG........NGE

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Buckshot wrote:
> Could it be military? The headstamp markings are. F A 11 2 Is anyone familiar with this type headstamped casing in particular?

The cartridge-casing is indeed a Military one, and its markings mean it was manufactured by the Frankford Arsenal in February 1911.

Because your casing is damaged, with its "neck" portion missing, and you did not tell us its diameter measurements, I'll have to guess: it appears to be a US Army .30-06 Springfield rifle cartridge-casing.

 

[cheese]

Yep, pretty sure it's a 30-'06 springfield. TheCannonballGuy said it all. That was and still is one of the most popular calibers ever. The 1903 springfield shot those in both world wars, along with the M1 Garand in the second one. I bet there were enough 30-'06 rounds fired in those wars to sink a battleship or three just by their weight.

 

[naturegirl]

Hey buckshot! Ok, you have the best casing now! How did a military casing end up there? I guess anyone could buy the bullets? or did only the military have them?

 

[ivan salis]

military surplus 30-06 rounds were often sold off after a certain peroid of time to civilians (they still sell em today that way) -- and of course military guys often "borrowed" govt issued 30-06 rounds to use in their "private" deer rifles

 

[High Plains Digger]

I have 30.06 cartridges from the Korean War period. I use them for deer season. I'll bet this area is still frequented by deer hunters. If it is that kind of area, pretty safe assumption that it wasn't the Army.

 

[Monty]

Military ball ammo is illegal for deer hunting in my state. State law here requires a soft point expanding bullet or a solid lead bullet. I don't know of any soft nose military ammunition in the USA arsenal as the Geneva Convention outlaws it. However some folks have pulled the military bullets and substituted a soft nose bullet of the same weight. It will work in a pinch, but often it is not very accurate. Monty

 

[High Plains Digger]

I will have to look and check. I purchased the 30.06 ammo a couple of years ago and haven't been out. But I also have an Yugo 8mm with a bunch of ammo that I am almost positive are mil. Perhaps I have a lot of plinking ammo. Not the worst thing around. And I thought a bullet was a bullet. They probably outlawed all the hollowpoint .22 ammo I have left from the late 60s. I know I have a number of boxes of lead shot shells. Don't even know if they are good for anything anymore. That's how far away I have been from shooting. Just keeping the arsenal stocked up. One never knows........

 

[ivan salis]

monty -- the 30-06 springfeild was a 30 caliber bolt action rifle invented in 1906 * thus 30 - 06 * the date on that 30-06 shell is 2 11 = feb 1911 (pre WW1) which was a good bit before the game laws that outlawed solid military" ball ammo" from being used for hunting --military ball ammo was invented as a "humane" bullet to be used by armys -- as per the geneva accords to prevent the mangling that soft lead bullets caused to soldiers -- military ball ammo will go thru "cleanly" for the most part --its still deadly but if one is just wounded , one's arm or leg most likely will not be lost unlike a person shot with soft lead bullets

being its marked 2 11 --feb of 1911 that round was most likely shot long before there was laws on the books making military "ball" ammo illegal for hunting game animals

however monty is right -- the use of military "ball" ammo for hunting game animals is to the best of my knowledge outlawed -- however folks often target zero thier scopes using military surplus ammo then switch over to soft nose ammo of the same bullet weight for hunting .

 

[cheese]

I don't think Monty was referring to the casing in this post, he was responding to High Plains Digger's remark that he uses 30-06 milsurp ammo for deer hunting.

 

[buckshot]

Hey, Thanks all for your comments and info. The casings diameter is right at 10mm. The reason for my interest is that it was dug in an empty "original township" lot, which is within city limits only 2 blocks from the center of town.

 

[Monty]

I knew the history of the .30-06, and yes I was responding to the use of military ammo for hunting. But I still don't think you will ever find any soft point military ammo in the .30-06 caliber. If there was then I apologize. I am pretty sure the US began using all ball ammo with the .30-40 Krag, but not necessarily due to the humane factor. A soft point bullet would occasionally get hung up and wouldn't feed properly in a bolt action rifle, whereas the ball round would feed in nearly any bolt action no matter how worn it might be. An example of what I am talking about the feeding problem is the 1911 .45 Auto pistol. You can pick up nearly any pure surplus .45 that hasn't had the feed ramp altered and soft point bullets will hang up 90% of the time. Monty

 

[ivan salis]

monty your right i do believe that there was no military soft point ammo from the usa in 30-06 caliber only "ball" ammo -- there is modern "sporting" ammo that is soft point for hunting loaded in the same weight as military ball ammo that way you can scope zero with the cheaper military surplus "ball" ammo yet hunt with the more costly soft tip ammo -- yes soft lead bullets can hang up on any push feed type of weapon (bolt action or semi auto)

 

[Monty]

Thanks for the compliment Ivan. I was into shooting matches with military bolt action rifles and had a pretty extensive collection of rifles from several countries and a multitude of calibers. I also had to do some extensive research to buy the best surplus ammo I could find. The most accurate rifles I found to be the .-6 Springfield (USA), the 6.5 Swede Mauser and the 7.62 Swiss. By far the most accurate surplus ammo was for the Swiss. I was able to find some surplus target ammo for the Swiss. The others were almost strictly a reloading challenge to achieve the best accuracy. Monty

 

[ivan salis]

the 6.5 x 55 swedish is one sweet little military surplus deer rifle -- had a 303 british lee enfeild and german mauser myself