This site, if you haven't gotten to it, can be very helpful: http://7.62x54r.net/
It may have the "tuna can" marking somewhere in it - it's a very comprehensive site.
All I know is the 440wt is the cartridge count
Crap, wait. I think I got it!- 188 means made at the Novosibirsk munitions plant. APS (looks like "ANC") means 147 grain steel core bullet.
Edit: I think it was made in November 31st, 1973.
So the ammo is still younger than I am!
WWII type packaging
1948 Frunze/#60 Type L light ball on stripper clips in 15 round boxes. 20 boxes/60 clips/300 rounds per tin, 2 tins per wooden crate. Galvanized tin soldered closed with pull tab.
Yes, that was the first website I went to. I did NOT see the "packaging" link. Thanks for that.
Oh my goodness...the first can I bought is some ancient stuff:
I have no reason to believe that it won't shoot fine. The tin is still sealed as far as I can tell.
The friggin' stripper clips are actually worth something to people?!? Huh. I have new ones and sure, they seem a bit flimsy but what's the allure of WWII era stripper clips?
I'm going to shoot modern, non-corrosive rounds to get the rifle sighted in. Then I'll try this old stuff just to see how it performs.
Oh my goodness...the first can I bought is some ancient stuff:
I have no reason to believe that it won't shoot fine. The tin is still sealed as far as I can tell.
I was born before '73, so I'm ancient
I've also shot plenty of early 70's Bulgarian and Russian Ammo. Corrosive but shoots better than PPU ammo when sealed up like that.
I used to have a spray bottle of amonia/water mix in my range bag to spray down the bore then swab out before leaving.
I'll take it your learning the term when cleaning your bore : "There is clean, then there is Mosin Clean"
Peeing down the barrel at the range for some reason was discouraged.
Crap, wait. I think I got it!- 188 means made at the Novosibirsk munitions plant. APS (looks like "ANC") means 147 grain steel core bullet.
Edit: I think it was made in November 31st, 1973.
So the ammo is still younger than I am!
ЛПС (LPS) means light bullet, steel core
(ЛПС = легкая пуля со стальным сердечником)
гж (g zh) means gilded case (copper washed steel I think... some sources identify it as гильза железная or 'iron case' but this and гб are both used for what is called 'bimetallic' case)
гл (gl) would be brass case (гильза латунная)
гс (gs) would be steel case (гильза стальная)
'Л97' is a lot number
'77' is the year of production
'188' is the factory (Russian)
вт is powder type
102 is powder lot number
77 is powder year of manufacture
шт (sh t) is abbreviation for 'штук' (shtuk), or 'items' (440 count)