At some time in the past (probably at a gun show??) I picked up a couple of hundred rounds of FMJ brass case ammo. I don’t know what I paid for it, but I’m sure it wasn’t much. Anyway, when I got home I threw it onto the ammo shelf and pretty much forgot about it until today when I decided to take the 39-2 and 639 out to play.

I grabbed one of the RED, 50 round boxes and turned it over and saw “Made in China”. The only specs given were that it was 9X19 and 124 gr ball. The headstamp is shown in the attachment, but if it comes through fuzzy it has 9X19 at 12 o’clock, L @ 9 o’clock, Y at 3 o’clock, and what appears to be 73 at 6 o’clock.

I mixed and matched them with some Federal American ammo I had open already, and the commie stuff felt just a bit more brisk than the Feds, but barely noticeably. Anyway, I’m curious about anybody else who has used this stuff and what your experiences were if you did?

TIA ~ Froggie

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That’s Norinco ammo from China North. I had good luck with it, but importation was banned years ago.

Headstamp Codes - International Ammunition Association

__________________
"I also cook."

IIRC, I haven’t had it that long, but maybe so, or maybe somebody just had them left over and I was in the right place to take advantage. I was only concerned to be shooting unknown ammo, even if it is “factory.” Good to hear it worked well for you Chad, and thanks. Does anybody else have any experiences they would like to share with the Chinese ball ammo in 39 series S&Ws?

Froggie

I never had any issues with it and shot it in a number of different 9mm handguns when it was available. It was clean shooting, reliable and cheap (back then) before import was cut off. Cases were boxer primed and could be reloaded which was a plus for me as I like to be able to reuse brass whenever I can (I'm cheap, okay lol). Can't remember ever running it through a 39 but don't recall any issues in any gun I had.

A lot of the commie stuff is loaded hotter than normal because they're made to function well in sub-guns.

I used to buy the Norinco ammo by the cases when it was cheap and plentiful. As other have said, it was good clean ammo.

I bought a case or two of back when it was available in the early 90s. As I recall it shot fine through all the 9mm pistols I had at the time.

The Norinco 5.56 seemed a little warm compared to other 5.56 ammo and clearly hotter than 223. My only 5.56 rifle at the time was a Daewoo AR-100 which had an adjustable gas port and I turned it down when shooting the Norinco ammo. But the 9mm ammo seemed in line with other ammo.

I used a handful of boxes of that same chinese headstamp stuff back in the 1990’s, it was indeed Norinco and it was made for retail sale, came in a yellow box.

Here is what I did notice that eventually became IMPORTANT!
That brass later showed me heavy pressure signs using exactly the same loads that were perfectly fine, normal and typical in all my other known/common brass headstamps.

About the only conclusion I could muster was that while this brass had perfectly good structural integrity... it must have noticeably reduced internal capacity.

9mm is without a doubt the easiest and most common brass to find, so I definitely won’t reload in Norinco brass these days.

A word of warning.

Ignore what words are written on the boxes of Chinese ammo.

My experience is with 7.62X39, however some of the MOST CORROSIVE ammo I ever fired was Chinese NON-CORROSIVE.

Despite beng marked non-corrosive, within days of firing, the gas tube and piston face on my AK would rust over.

Just say'n, treat all Chi-Com ammo as corrosive and you will be better off.

This is a point I hadn't even considered! As of now, I plan to put the oldest spare barrel in my Franken-Smith and have a good day shooting up the 150 or so rounds of this stuff I have left, then clean the gun inside and out extremely well and forget I ever heard of Norinco. I certainly will need some trigger time with the 639 build, so this could be a good way to get it cheaply, and the stainless steel receiver will give me that little bit of extra strength and safety in case some of this batch is a little warm.

Thanks to all who have responded to my query... I've been feeling strange being around all of this semi-auto stuff, a very weird place for an old wheel gun guy to be.

Froggie

I bought and shot a bunch of the Norinco 9mm back in the late 80s and
early 90s before it was banned. I still have quite a bit. It is warm 124 gr
FMJ with fairly hard primers but I have never had a misfire. The stamping
on your case is probably 93 not 73. Good ammo and accurate in my guns. All Chinese ammo marked non corrosive has been so that I have
used. Too bad it's no longer available.