Return to the
Back Creek Diary
Old .30-'06 Ammo
©
2014 – Ed Harris
A
common question is: "How long will my stored ammo last?"
The
answer is 50 years or more for US Military ammunition stored under proper
conditions.
I
recently test-fired a WWII-era Remington 03A4 sniper
rifle, scope and period ammo from sandbags at 200 yards with the following
results:
|
Avg. of six 5-shot groups at 200 yards* |
||||||
|
||||||
|
Ammunition |
Velocity @ 15 Feet |
Smallest |
Largest |
Average |
|
|
|
2475,28Sd |
2.4 |
5 |
4.5 |
|
||
|
2758,17Sd |
3.9 |
6.3 |
4.9 |
|
||
|
2713, 25Sd |
4.1 |
6.9 |
5.5 |
|
||
|
2665,12Sd |
1.6 |
5.3 |
3.9 |
|
||
|
||||||
|
*Ammunitions were fired in rotation without cleaning. Each
ten-shot series started with a fouled, cold barrel, firing the first target
in slow fire cadence in an elapsed time of approximately 3 minutes, followed
immediately by a second group fired from the warm barrel in rapid-fire
cadence of about 30 seconds. After each ten-shot series, the bolt was removed
and a steel cleaning rod inserted into the bore as a heat-sink while we
walked to the pits to pull, mark and reface targets. Upon returning from the target
pits the cleaning rod heat sink was removed and the rifle allowed to air cool
to ambient temperature before the next ammunition in rotation was fired. This
test sequence was repeated three times. The Lake City 1965 National Match
ammunition used as a control was known to have produced a 1.9 inch Mean
Radius at 600 yards during lot acceptance. |
|
|||||
|
||||||
|
||||||
|
||||||
|
||||||
|
||||||
|
||||||
|
||||||
|
||||||
|
||||||
|
||||||
|
||||||
|
||||||
|
||||||
|
||||||
|
||||||
|
||||||
|
||||||
|
||||||
Click on Photo for
larger pic…
There
were no misfires, hang fires or other failures with any of the ammunition
tested. The mean velocity of FA 1934 Ball M1
ammunition was significantly low, about 3 standard deviations below its
specifications as published by Hatcher, but its performance was otherwise
normal. The other ammunitions produced velocities typical of published
specifications for their type, with normal ballistic uniformity and accuracy.
These results speak well for the quality of the ammunition, as well as the
assembly and adjustment of the rifle years ago by military armorers.
Return to the Back
Creek Diary