Old armor piercing .30 caliber rounds

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Mikestebs
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Old armor piercing .30 caliber rounds

Post by Mikestebs »

Hello! Thanks for accepting me into this forum, I have a bit of a weird question.... I have some very old armor piercing black tips chambered in .30 caliber guessing old 30-06 ammo. I was wondering if I pulled the projectile if I can use it in my 300 blackout? Has anyone ever done this? Am I a complete red neck for wanting to do this? They are possibly from the 1940s, will it be safe to pull them in a kinetic puller? Most the people I talk to say just keep them as a a prop, but I don’t really care about that. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, new to the blackout caliber but not new to hand loading. Thanks!
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dellet
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Re: Old armor piercing .30 caliber rounds

Post by dellet »

Mikestebs wrote: Thu Jun 24, 2021 4:40 pm Hello! Thanks for accepting me into this forum, I have a bit of a weird question.... I have some very old armor piercing black tips chambered in .30 caliber guessing old 30-06 ammo. I was wondering if I pulled the projectile if I can use it in my 300 blackout?Yes
Has anyone ever done this?yes
Am I a complete red neck for wanting to do this? yes
They are possibly from the 1940s, will it be safe to pull them in a kinetic puller? yes
Most the people I talk to say just keep them as a a prop, but I don’t really care about that. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated,Don't shoot your eye out
new to the blackout caliber but not new to hand loading. Thanks!
I have shot some 190 grain.

The problem is the size and shape, combined with what you are shooting them out of. if you have to load to magazine length, there is not much room for powder, so low velocity. Will punch a hole in wood, but not anything more than heavy tin.

Basically use 1680 or Shooters world powder, load the bullet as long as possible get as much powder under it as you can fit without compressing it in the press.

You might get a comparable same weight bullet and work up a max load for charge and seated depth.

anytime asking for load help, always include what you are shooting it from, it makes a huge difference in the responses you get and if they are safe.
300 Blackout, not just for sub-sonics.
bearcatrp
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Re: Old armor piercing .30 caliber rounds

Post by bearcatrp »

Not worth it for the BO but if you own a 308 bolt or semi auto, would work better. I shoot these in my 308 semi. If you don’t own a 308, pull them and sell them. Will sell fast.
BJK
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Re: Old armor piercing .30 caliber rounds

Post by BJK »

I'd leave them as is. But one thing you will dodge by taking them out of the loads they're presently in is the corrosive primer. No such thing as non-corrosive priming back then.

edit: I didn't think of it when I wrote the above, but is there collector value to what you have? You might be able to sell them and turn that ammo into lots more bullets to load.
cdl
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Re: Old armor piercing .30 caliber rounds

Post by cdl »

27 CFR 478.37. Hint: Buy it, don't make it.
Mikestebs
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Re: Old armor piercing .30 caliber rounds

Post by Mikestebs »

Nah no real value, and apparently the primers aren’t corrosive, either way they’re getting tossed. But I did find out a good deal of info on them. Just useless to me.
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plant.one
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Re: Old armor piercing .30 caliber rounds

Post by plant.one »

if you're going to toss them i'll happily take them off your hands, for collectors reasons.

it'd be a shame to have them just go to corrosion.

i'll even happy volunteer to pay for the shipping label. :mrgreen:
Reloading info shared is based on experiences w/ my guns. Be safe and work up your loads from published data. Web data may not be accurate/safe.
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pctechdude
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Re: Old armor piercing .30 caliber rounds

Post by pctechdude »

I experimented with this, the closet projectile being the Hornady 165gr GMX bullet for weight and length(solid copper). I used 14.5gr Lil' Gun, new starline 300 blkout brass, CCI#41 primers and seated to just into crimp groove, 2.225" overall length. I shot two of these, as it's all I had into a 5/8" thick ar200 plate. It didn't have enough oomph to pass through. It did severely bulge the back of the plate. If it was 1/4" or 3/8" it would pass through the plate with ease.

According to Hornady data you could move up to accurate 1680 and achieve higher velocity. As a side note, my upper is a 7.5 inch barrel.

I would have tested ar500 1/4" plate but we didn't have any scraps at work 🤣 so had to use what I could. We build snowplows and hitches for the state plow trucks, so hardened steel is fairly common at my work.

If you choose to go on this endeavor, please exercise caution, wear your safety glasses, and possibly stand behind a barrier. We'll leave it on that lol
jlwilliams
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Re: Old armor piercing .30 caliber rounds

Post by jlwilliams »

Sell them. 30-06 has value
Maxduty
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Re: Old armor piercing .30 caliber rounds

Post by Maxduty »

I'm under the impression that creating armor piercing pistol rounds is frowned upon. Could be wrong, check your local jurisdiction.
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