Surplus Military Ammo

[MJC9678]

New to the site guys but I have been reading for a while. Anyway, just picked up a M1A, and with 308 ammo prices where they are, I was looking into buying bulk surplus military ammo.

My question is: Does anyone have an opinion on which country's ammo to look out for. Only stuff I am finding right now is Serbian and Lithuanian. I'm a little hesitant to just jump into 500 rounds of surplus Serb 308. Any thoughts?

[qwerty2]

New to the site guys but I have been reading for a while. Anyway, just picked up a M1A, and with 308 ammo prices where they are, I was looking into buying bulk surplus military ammo.

My question is: Does anyone have an opinion on which country's ammo to look out for. Only stuff I am finding right now is Serbian and Lithuanian. I'm a little hesitant to just jump into 500 rounds of surplus Serb 308. Any thoughts?


Ah yeah...thoughts....there's a war on. Goodluck.

[Mister_manji]

I've seen South African ball ammo for cheap. I think I heard its pretty hot.

[T3ngu]

New to the site guys but I have been reading for a while. Anyway, just picked up a M1A, and with 308 ammo prices where they are, I was looking into buying bulk surplus military ammo.

My question is: Does anyone have an opinion on which country's ammo to look out for. Only stuff I am finding right now is Serbian and Lithuanian. I'm a little hesitant to just jump into 500 rounds of surplus Serb 308. Any thoughts?

If all else fails go to handloading.

[denneym1]

This question would require a very long answer to really cover it. There has been a lot of good surplus on the market in the past, South African, Portugese, and British were some of the best. Spanish was pretty good as well. I have not heard anything about the Lithuanian. The Igman as far as I know is supposed to be OK. They supply 5.56mm NATO spec ammo for the US Army, so I would think thier 7.62mm would be good. There have been some lots of Indian that were very questionable, stay away from that unless you know what lot it is and which ones were problems. You might pop over to the FAL files and so a search there, lots of discussion on surplus ammo on that board. I am glad I bought a bunch of the SA and Port when it was cheap. Used to be able to get battlepacks of SA as cheap as $15, now they are $100!! I failed to stock up adequately on 5.56mm though. HTH.
MD

[MJC9678]

Thanks for the input. I have seen and heard some first hand accounts of what I call "when surplus ammo goes bad". I like my fingers and eyes too much to chance it. I found some decently price SA 308. Think that is my best bet at the moment.

[Laworkerbee]

Ah yeah...thoughts....there's a war on. Goodluck.

Do you think surplus ammunition is used by our armed forces? if not then you need not have given such a smart ass comment.

Serbian ammunition is good as is the So. African stuff but for Gods sake stay away from Pakistani surplus.

[Hollis]

The war may be a factor but there are bigger ones out there. There is already a thread on this topic.

[MJC9678]

Correct, the war is a factor but not the main one. The price of brass and most metals has been rising for years. China and India are driving prices up on many industrial materials.

[Pidyon Shevuyim]

buy it cheap stack it deep.

www.ammunitiontogo.com (http://www.ammunitiontogo.com) is a place i suggest looking.

Your good to go on the SA ammo, and good to go on the Serb stuff (Both surplus, and Prvi Partizan)

[MEGR]

Compared to Indian, the best I've shot was South African.

[BillySing]

If you can, try and find Australian F4 Ball. Bloody good stuff.

Otherwise, try and find either Portuguese or South African.

[HiOct]

Do you guys have experiences about Sellier & Bellot surplus 7.62X39. I would be able to get something like 5k rounds packed into original wooden crates.

[Mundzos]

Igman is very good as I used 30-06 for hunting....It is comparable to much more expensive remington rounds I used before....I also tried some Serbian ammo, but I couldn't get same groupings as with other two, so I didn't buy more...

[Hollis]

Ammo matching your rifle characteristics is important if you want a small group. Hand loads (nothing really special) on my .308 bolt gun will clover leaf. I shot some surplus (Portuguese) .308 and it was all over the place. Really spread out.

For precission I use hand loads, for plinking fun surplus. Or I should say use too, Surplus is way up their in cost.

Just bought bullets from Hi Tech Ammo, 223 and 308 for a reasonable amount. I am GTG on that for a while.

[~center~]

A M1A isn't exactly a cheap gun, why shoot cheap ammo through it?
Just keep in mind that surplus ammo is surplus for a reason. Usually a specific amount failed inspection and so it was surplused. Keeping that in mind, I've had great experience with African ammo.

[Hollis]

A M1A isn't exactly a cheap gun, why shoot cheap ammo through it?
Just keep in mind that surplus ammo is surplus for a reason. Usually a specific amount failed inspection and so it was surplused. Keeping that in mind, I've had great experience with African ammo.

Depends on if it is true surplus or "seconds" or made to be marketed as surplus (the repro market),

A lot is stocked piled incase there is a need. Once a date is passed the ammo is replaced with fresh ammo in many cases. Also it can be deactivated, Components are pulled and sold separately.

[Jurpula]

I usually buy South African surplus for my Tikka .308. It's cheap and reliable. As far as accuracy goes, I can easily hit a clay pidgeon at 100 meters with it.

[MJC9678]

I usually buy South African surplus for my Tikka .308. It's cheap and reliable. As far as accuracy goes, I can easily hit a clay pidgeon at 100 meters with it.

Nice. I think the SA is the way to go from what you guys have let me in on. I mostly will be at the range with the M1A, and have not got too deep into competition shooting, so I am not very concerned with accuracy after 100 yards or so. Appreciate the input.

BTW, it is an oak stock National Match M1A. I live in the People's Republic of NJ and got a good deal, so I could not pass up the extra cost over the standard M1A.

[Sheikh Al Stranghi]

Just about the only thing that's still cheap and plentiful here is .308w but I'm afraid that will dry up in a few years. Surplus french .45 ammo can be found, but it's expensive as hell...