best cheap available ammo for US model 1917 rifle

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  • bigmike349

    Member
    Jun 26, 2013
    58
    dumb question...

    Just made my first C&R purchase, a U.S. Model 1917 rifle in 30-06, and I was wondering if anyone can recommend a source for inexpensive reliable ammo to feed it. Thanks in advance!
     

    bigmike349

    Member
    Jun 26, 2013
    58

    my first instinct was to hit up a similar search engine like ammoseek but while this does help me find the cheapest stuff, I doubt the cheapest is also reliable or recommended (I think LAX reloads came to the top of the list). I'm hoping someone is aware of a little corner of the internet that has surplus 30-06 at a good price that might not be listed on standard searches. for instance, this danish surplus from JG sales looked promising

    https://www.jgsales.com/30-06-danish-surplus-148gr-fmj-ammo,-1960s-ama-mfg,-100rds.-p-102796.html
     

    ken792

    Ultimate Member
    Sep 2, 2011
    4,480
    Fairfax, VA
    Cheapest .30/06 from retail would be PPU or probably something like Remington Core-Lokt.

    There was some Ethiopian ball ammo floating around not to awful long ago. Users on another forum reported it was clean and worked well for them. Boxer primed, bright and some packed with enblocs. I seem to recall it was manufactured by Men in Germany or something like that.
    https://www.outdoorlimited.com/...ammo/...ammo/ethiopian-30-06-ammunition-am29...

    Ethiopian .30/06 was made in Ethiopia. I chronographed some that my friend fired from an M1 and the velocity had a 29.19 FPS standard deviation, which is acceptable for ball ammo. The clips in his I believe were all USGI, but painted. Around the same time, some Italian SMI and German MEN came up for sale too, so maybe that also came out of Ethiopia.
     

    WeldonHunter

    Active Member
    Apr 27, 2011
    129
    Louisiana
    my first instinct was to hit up a similar search engine like ammoseek but while this does help me find the cheapest stuff, I doubt the cheapest is also reliable or recommended (I think LAX reloads came to the top of the list). I'm hoping someone is aware of a little corner of the internet that has surplus 30-06 at a good price that might not be listed on standard searches. for instance, this danish surplus from JG sales looked promising

    https://www.jgsales.com/30-06-danish-surplus-148gr-fmj-ammo,-1960s-ama-mfg,-100rds.-p-102796.html

    That Danish ammo is on gun-deals along with other surplus that you might not find on the other sites. gun-deals has some of the out of the way shops that don't have feeds that are used on other sites. Gun-deals was created by a mil-surp collector and is run by one on a daily basis, namely me.
     
    Last edited:

    Drmsparks

    Old School Rifleman
    Jun 26, 2007
    8,441
    PG county
    if your barrel cleans up well and you want to see what the old girl can do I would recommend creedmore or hornady 168 grain match ammo. The 17's love the heavier bullets.

    For cheap ammo, any garand related surplus. But then again....you have a bolt gun. any 3006 would work- you don't have gas system issues to worry about.
     

    bigmike349

    Member
    Jun 26, 2013
    58
    That Danish ammo is on gun-deals along with other surplus that you might not find on the other sites. gun-deals has some of the out of the way shops that don't have feeds that are used on other sites. Gun-deals was created by a mil-surp collector and is run by one on a daily basis, namely me.

    In the words of Ben Wyatt “Well I hope that you are a podiatrist or a dentist, because I appear to have a case of foot-in-mouth disorder.”
     

    WeldonHunter

    Active Member
    Apr 27, 2011
    129
    Louisiana
    In the words of Ben Wyatt “Well I hope that you are a podiatrist or a dentist, because I appear to have a case of foot-in-mouth disorder.”
    Hey it's no big deal, just reminding people that we have a lot of surplus stuff on the site that you'll never see on any other site. The site was started by a Marylander and fellow Maryland Shooters member in 2006, it was the first of it's kind. I run the site on a day to day basis and am also from Maryland. There's a lot of ammo and firearms aggregators these days and most are showing you deals from a feed provided by the vendor to the site but these sites tend to not have some of the smaller businesses because they charge a bunch of money to be on them. Gun-deals doesn't do that. We have businesses that will never show up on these feed sites. Like J & C Sales, J & G Sales, Dan's Ammo, Pack Rat Collectibles, Fulton Armory, Liberty Tree Collectors and the list goes on. We're more focused on supporting the shooting community then raking in a bunch of money from vendors. That said the surplus market absolutely sucks right now but I'm constantly on the hunt for new sources but anyone can submit deals to the site and should so we can all benefit from them. After all the site belongs to the shooting community.
     

    bigmike349

    Member
    Jun 26, 2013
    58
    So I ended up getting a little mix, all from classic firearms as they had low prices when combined with shipping (from what I found at least). I got 1 20 round box of Sellier & Bellot 180 GR SPCE, 1 20 round box of PPU 150 GR FMJ, 1 20 round box of PPU 150 GR SP, and 2 20 round boxes of PPU 165 GR SP.
     

    jmike3543

    Active Member
    Sep 10, 2018
    207
    There was some Ethiopian ball ammo floating around not to awful long ago. Users on another forum reported it was clean and worked well for them. Boxer primed, bright and some packed with enblocs. I seem to recall it was manufactured by Men in Germany or something like that.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0umlHpEzpQ

    This was made in Ethiopia in a factory set up by the Czechs. It's standard Div was hovering around the mid 30's last time I chrono'd it and I had a blown casehead. Use with caution
     

    Doco Overboard

    Ultimate Member
    This was made in Ethiopia in a factory set up by the Czechs. It's standard Div was hovering around the mid 30's last time I chrono'd it and I had a blown casehead. Use with caution

    Sorry to hear that lucky it didn’t wreck the rifle. Just goes to show you cheaper is not always better. That’s why I use LC or Hxp and then handload for obsolete rifles.
    Might also be worth having the rifle checked out to make sure it’s in spec.
     

    SKIP

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Mar 5, 2009
    3,248
    Glenwood/Glenelg
    After watching the video I purchased a 250 rnd belt of Ethiopian 30-06. I delinked it and gave them to a FA owner.
    I noticed in the video that some ammo had a velocity over 3000 FPS so I was not going to use it in my Garands. Potential oprod damage.
    I did fire some in my Winchester M1917 and had two cases that had gas leaks at the case head. The ammo is dated 1972 and advertise as non-corrosive but being the man I am I cleaned it after every firing.
    My intent is to shoot this ammo in my M1917 and Springfield 1903, A3 and A4 sniper. There actions are all strong enough to withstand any gas leaks.
     

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