Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Mausers and Military Rifles Armscor USA ammo and a SA M1A1

Going through more of my deceased buddies stuff and found 7 boxes (140 rounds) of what looks like newer Armscor USA ammo in 308 Win. There was a sticky note on it that said "do not sell armscor ammo" and it got me curious. First, all the brass is different headstamp military ammo and all this is 147gr FMJ. I found 1 fired case out of the 140 and it has definite case head separation and flattened primer. The only thing he has that would shoot anything 308 Win/7.62x51 is the Springfield Armory M1A1, nothing else in his collection chambered for this. I'm not a Garand guy or M1A1 guy, not my thing and don't have any. Anything to be concerned about with the rifle? Or could this just be an ammo issue? Maybe I'll try a couple rounds out of my Ruger. Sorry about the picture of the case head, not the best but best one out of what I tried. Lots of carbon around it too. Any thoughts or insight is appreciated. Thanks, Dean.

That is lake city 2011 long range brass m118. It was manufactured with out primer cramp. Looks like Corrsion on the brass

No, no corrosion. Lots of soot/carbon around the head split.

1 piece of defective brass doesn't mean it all is. Mb

I realize that, I also know how my buddy was... I don't shoot these rifles, just wondering if there's anything to give a heads up about from guys that do.

If you are going to sell it give all the information you know before completing the transaction. I personally would pull the bullets and dump the powder and keep the brass for reloading. If you are going to shoot it check for corrosion before loading the ammo. Armscor has been around for a while and I have not heard anything bad about their ammo. But, I don't shoot it on a regular basis. I reload the brass when I find it.

kwg

All the ammo looks fine, actually really nice. No corrosion, no tarnish, nice crimps... The one fired case, out of the 140, is a case failure/rupture/head separation. Classic headspace issue? I just know nothing about M1A1's and before doing anything with the rifle thought I'd ask here...

I would tear down that ammo and use as components. Without knowing the condition of the rifle I'd say at least you should give it a good cleaning. For help with that you could go over to M14.com and checkout there site or better yet youtube videos by Tony Ben. He's an builder of M14's in Oregon.

Sounds like your buddy got some ammo in trade that was mixed brass with an unknown load in Armscor boxes and was smart enough (and decent enough) not to try and sell it to some unsuspecting buyer.

Again, you're talking about Armscor boxes, not Armscor ammo. Agree with those who say to break it down and dump the powder.

(And it's just M1A; M1A1 is a tank.)

Maybe he had a rifle with serious headspace problems so I would try it if you have a Ruger bolt action.
It'll work, see how the primer looks after firing for over pressure, if non you figured out what happened to that
fired round.

Haha, thanks Mesabi, appreciate it! Ammo will be broken down as I found some other fired rounds, he labeled everything, that were fired in this rifle and are fine. Tom was in artillery during Vietnam, just one of the reasons he had hearing aids. He was meticulous with every aspect he had control over. Thanks again to all who contributed. Dean

The recoil action on a M1A is pretty violent and cases only last about 4 reloadings before they begin to have case failure issues. If there is no reloading data or log showing the numbers of times the cases have been reloaded I would definitely not fire them.