Old-school .30 bullets

NukeMMC

Chlanna Nan Con Thigibh A’ So ‘S Gheibh Sibh Feòil
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  • Mar 3, 2009
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    Harrisburg, PA
    I was pulling apart some .30-06 ammo my dad put together back in the late 50s. Kind of apprehensive the primers are corrosive, but more so the brass (FA32NM) was pretty tarnished.
    Bullets are the pre-war M1 ball bullets, the predecessor to the M72/M118 match bullet. I figured I would share this extremely uncommon bit of ordnance history. Check out the looonnggg boattail!

    Here is a pic with some more modern examples to compare with. L-R - M1 (172gr), M118 (173gr), Lapua D46 (170gr), 168SMK, 175SMK, 180SMK

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    The M1 has a 9deg boattail while the 168 has a 13. Apparently that steep angle is why it becomes so unstable in transonic velocities. Works great for 300m where it was designed for.
    The 175 stayed below 10 and it's long range performance shows why. Apparently the TMKs went back to 9.