Question on AP .30-06

[Mr. Tarkanian]

Hello folks. I have a quick question and hope somebody can offer some input. I've been reading up about AP .30-06 lately, and it seems that there are some scammers out there that are "faking" AP ammo to sell at a good profit. I used a sharpie on a couple ball rounds last night and it would be EXTREMELY easy to fake them. How does one verify an advertised AP round is actually AP? I thought you could use a magnet, but apparently some of my regular M2 ball ALSO attracts a magnet.

I have 220 rounds of blacktips, with headstamps of SL53, SL4, AYR55, DM42 (loaded on 5 round clips), and LC53. I think all of these are the original loadings, as they still have the military crimp on the primer pocket. I just hope I didn't get duped.

Thanks a lot in advance.

[Maury Krupp]

Steel jacketed Ball will be strongly attracted to the magnet all over its surface.

AP will only be lightly attracted on most of the exposed part of the bullet and hardly at all near the tip where the lead that is between the penetrator and jacket is thickest. You can't really get at it on a loaded round but the attraction will be greater near the base where the lead is thinnest.

Unless maybe if it's steel jacketed AP; I don't know if such a thing was ever made?

Maury

[JohnF]

I believe you can tell by the cannelure (crimping groove) of the bullet. The M2 Ball bullet had a regular cannelure with small indents or ridges in it. The M2 AP Ball had a cannelure that was a smooth impression around the bullet that had no ridges. I had a bunch of pulled M2 Ball and M2 AP ball at one time and I remember the crimping groove as being different. Memory is a funny thing, but check it out if you have a known cartridge M2 Ball and M2 AP Ball. You will probably have to use a magnifying glass to look at the crimp and you should see enough at the top of crimp to tell what kind of cannelure it is.

[raymeketa]

All of the things mentioned above are true. But, you can also find AP with a steel jacket, knurled cannelure, two cannelures, or all three, so no test is 100% accurate. Except for one - pull a bullet and cut it open to see what's inside. Some of the foreign AP is even harder to ID because some of them used different tip colors in addition to everything else.

Motto - know the seller, and ask to cut open a bullet if you're not 100% sure. There is still a lot of genuine AP on the market, so pass on any that you're not sure of or where the seller is unknown.

Ray

[Hecklerusp45]

Ray is right, there is more than one AP out there. I have some of each type of slug he is talking about. But, if it is WWII or there about and all is 30-06 it will all use the same slug. The cannelure will tell the story as JohnF states. As I remember it, there was even a AP round with a soft lead tip around about WWI, but it was gotten rid of quickly because it could be confused with hunting (expanding) ammo.

[Dan Shapiro]

Chris has a great web site on the 30-06 cartridge. Probably a lot more into than you'd ever really want to know.

http://cartridgecollectors.org/30-06intro/

The pics, especially of the sectioned bullets is well done.