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Posted: 6/26/2007 5:00:01 PM EDT
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Today I found some of this at the fun shop. 100 rounds in 20 round GI boxes marked M2 AP. It's black tipped, Saint Louis manufacture, Headstamped 'SL' over '53'. They were selling it in packs of 5 boxes for $50.00 and they also had a sealed metal can of 240 rounds for $100.00. I bought one 100 pack leaving another pack and the can still on the shelf. Are these decently priced considering what they are? Also, is it corrosive? Thanks! -K |
| I would treat as corrosive. That is right at the changing to N/C. Not a bad price i say considering cmp is selling regular m2 at .30+/ round. We were shooing some ww2 m2 ap though my m1917 and it was cutting through 1" thick steel 80% of time like butter and the other 20% the core was half way hanging out of the back. |
| The '52-'55 timeframe was when the loading plants changed over from corrosive to noncorrosive priming in M2 cartridges. Some were earlier, others later. You should be safe considering rounds with headstamps AFTER 1955 to be noncorrosive. I'd expect the AP rounds to be corrosive until proven otherwise. Fortunately, the Garand is forgiving of that sort of ammo, as long as you do your part and lay on the hot, soapy water ASAP after firing. |
Thanks for the heads up. Is there any way to be sure? The lot number is on the boxes. FWIW, it's for a Remington 700 and I don't want to ruin a good barrel. -K |
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When you could find the 163grn M2 AP bullet by itself for reloading you could expect to pay around 25 bucks per 100. 50 cents a loaded round is a decent price for original non-remanufactured ammo. The bullets are wickedly resilient, I've fired them at a good 3200fps from a 300WinMag and the steel cores remain sharp after impacting with 1 1/4 inch steel. At 80-100 yards I've put 1 out of 5 shots on my 3rd loading over starting through the 1 1/4 inch steel plate. By comparison, my 50BMG with M2 AP has managed to only put 3 shots clean through out of around 40 impacts at 150-200 yards. 163grn M2 AP out of a 300RUM at 3500fps would be a reall hoot to watch. |
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They used Tungsten alloy for a very short time then did away with it. One of the guys on Biggerhammer took an M2 AP core to his work where they have a spectrograph that can detect down to something like .05% of the sample for quantities of metal in the alloy. The result was no tungsten at all in the core, it turned out to be an extremely high percentage of ordinary steel that is just remarkably well hardened. |
According to records, this particular lot should be non-corrosive. Records have been known to be wrong, so treat it as corrosive ammo. As the above post stated, after 1955, all U.S. ammo was made with non-corrosive primers. The phase out of non-corrosive primers started in 1951. BTW, some distributors will list ammunition as being "slightly corrosive". No such thing; it is either corrosive or non-corrosive. A note in interest: The Swiss and Finns did not manufacture ammunition with corrosive primers even before WWII. This is the reason the Finn M-39 and Swiss K-31 rifles have such good bores. Should you find a Finn produced rifle with corrosion, it was likely caused by the use of captured Russian/Soviet ammunition. The commies used corrosive primers well into the 1980's. The commies were behind the times when it came to using non-corrosive primers; so was the U.S., but not nearly as behind. |
| The SL 53 blacktip will shoot completely thru an '84 Buick at 400 yards. This from any angle that doesn't contact the engine. 'Any angle' includes 2 wheels at a time, and both front doors with the windows rolled down inside plus a piece of windshield between the seats . If it hits brackets, or other hard stuff, the exit holes can be 1.5" or greater. The bullets aren't "done" when they go thru a car, they will crack & pierce a cinder block on the far side. I had a lot of this ammo at one time, and it never seemed even slightly corrosive. |
It should be non-corrosive
www.jouster.com/Bulletin/primers.htm Here is a link you might want to add to your favorites 
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.30-06 M-2 AP cores had 3-4% tungsten in the alloy up until the early 1940s. The tungsten was replaced with an alloy refered to as "furnace steel" and tests showed it to be equal in performance. Very, very few AP cores are made of tungsten. Most have either a small pecent in the alloy or none at all. The WWII German 7,9 Mauser "SmK(H)" AP load is a notable excpetion with a core made of well over 90% tungsten. Very rare and very expensive. D.D. |
 Thanks for posting it.
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