I remember that, too.  It's the reason I have 2 FALs that hardly ever get shot.  If I could go back and tell my 22 year old self (who made less money but had more disposable income) what I know now, I might well still be sitting on an ammo fort made out of full crates of South African and Portuguese .308 ammo.

The cheap 8mm is why I have 2 Czech Mausers, too.  I wish I had bought a lot more of the Turkish 8mm ammo.  You had to inspect every round because about 10% of them had split necks so bad you could pull the bullets by hand.  I pulled a lot of those bullets, poured the powder straight from the Turkish case into a freshly sized and primed Winchester or Remington 8mm Mauser case, and seated the Turkish bullet into them.  Voila, non-corrosive, half-surplus 8mm Mauser ammo.

.308 and cheap .303.

My inventory list shows the following .308/7.62

Australia, in bandoleers, on clips  15 cents (have only 1 bando left)
Germany MEN boxed, 23 cents (200 rounds)
Portugal, on belts in cans 20 cents (600 rounds)
South Africa, 18 cents (about 250 rounds left)
India, dirty in 50-cal cans,  9 cents (3500 rounds)

And .303

Greece HXP, on clips in bandoleers, 25 cents (350 rounds)
South Africa PMP, boxed, 20 cents (1200 rounds)
Britain WWII surplus, 15 cents (1300 rounds)

Rob

Still there, just not cheap anymore.  Have a case of Austrian Hirtenberger 7.62x51 Surplus coming in now..don't get much better than Hirt in my book.  But at $400 shipped for 720 rounds it's no where near as cheap as it once was :(  Still, it is far, far cheaper than it will be down the road.

Did that come in the green sleeves, or the crimp sealed .50 cal cans?

I'm a bit surprised this trip down memory lane thread has lasted 3 pages......

I still have some South African 5.56 and 7.62 BP left.
The non-re-loadable 7.62 brass is great in my CETME.
- I grabbed as much of the .50cpr ZQI 7.62 as I could find so I can keep shooting that rifle.

I am surprised at the fond memories of the Turkish 8mm, though.
The last of that crap I ever bought (10+yrs ago) was scary 'wait-a-minute' ammo.
about 70% hangfires. .... click..1...2...3... bang

My 1942 kar98k deserves better......

However, another one I really miss is surplus .30carbine.

South African was stinky......    At least I thought so.  Meaning it smelled when you shot it.

Some of us are sadistic and like the knife in the back twisted a bit.

No, I just meant that it is not really a technical topic.

I only know the more recent surplus.  I remember 7n6 for around a dime and Yugo 7.62x39 for .17 a round.  I still have 1000 rounds of the Yugo in the green box on clips.  During the most recent panic I was buying 7.62x54r for .18 a round and the cheapest brass 223 was over .50 a round.  Now 54r has doubled in price and Wolf Gold 223 is under .30 a round.  Crazy.

It does serve to give some perspective on pricing and availability within just the last few years and how fast that changes.