Beware what looks like military surplus that is not in a proper container. Saw a guy nearly come to grief that way with his Garand. He bought a bunch of milsurp ammo that had clearly come off a machine gun belt. However, at some point afterwards the stuff had been hotrodded and reassembled.
His gun was hanging up and he asked to score a few rounds of my boxed M2 to check function. His gun then worked fine. I fired two rounds of his "milsurp" ammo from my 03A3 and EVERYBODY on the firing line came to look. Stoked didn't cover it. The report was super loud and the recoil downright nasty. I declined to shoot any more of the stuff, but it would have been interesting to get a chrono reading from a Model 1917 with that longer barrel.
I am 100% positive this is original milsurp ammo. Back in 1957 my Grandfather purchased a surplus rifle through the NRA. an M1903A3 for $15.00 + 2.85 shipping and handling. It shipped out of Letterkenny Ordnance Depot in PA. (I have the shipping documents.) Later he also purchased a bulk quantity of surplus ammo through the NRA which I now am in possession of. This ammo was stored for well over 50 years in a GI ammo can up in his attic. I know the ammo is genuine LC 53 and serviceable . Yesterday I had the very same 03A3 and ammo at the range and fired some over a chronograph. It clocked at 2737 and 2739 fps. I'd say any ammo 63 yrs old with only a 2 fps deviation is plenty well preserved.
Last year I bought a Garand and was just asking whether this 1953 vintage of GI Ball ammo was manufactured with specs consistent with the Garand. It's not packed in bandoliers and the only markings are LC53 on the rim. It has red colored sealant on the primers.
Thanks all for your guidance.
