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**jmcm** · 05-03-2020, 06:49 PM

Many rifles were sportorized and used for hunting

**bodes** · 05-03-2020, 07:59 PM

Originally posted by jmcm View Post

Many rifles were sportorized and used for hunting

I realize this, as finding untouched pieces are the bane of the military collector....Funny thing is, I remember the house that stood on that piece of land....In fact, a classmate of mine lived there and we visited the family a few times....

Guess I don't recall many WW1 Gew98's being sporterized....WW2 K98k's and G33/40's yes....

This and I would have thought commercial 8mm ammunition would be marketed around the time many German military rifles were being converted....Bodes

**phild** · 05-03-2020, 10:25 PM

Originally posted by bodes View Post

I realize this, as finding untouched pieces are the bane of the military collector....Funny thing is, I remember the house that stood on that piece of land....In fact, a classmate of mine lived there and we visited the family a few times....

Guess I don't recall many WW1 Gew98's being sporterized....WW2 K98k's and G33/40's yes....

This and I would have thought commercial 8mm ammunition would be marketed around the time many German military rifles were being converted....Bodes

My guess would be a WWI vet brought back a rifle and some ammo.Neither were widely surpluses in the states between the wars. I realize that not that many rifles were brought back by doughboys either compared to WW2. You also had some war bond rifles (still doesn’t account for WWI dated ammo) and given your location it may have come in from Canada in the 20s-30s. Bottom line is that people that I knew from back then were very pragmatic and frugal, they shot what they had and did not much fool with boutique loads and the like. I fired WWI French lebel ammo all over my family farm 45 years ago somebody is probably trying to figure it out today.

**bodes** · 05-04-2020, 07:41 AM

Originally posted by phild View Post

My guess would be a WWI vet brought back a rifle and some ammo.Neither were widely surpluses in the states between the wars. I realize that not that many rifles were brought back by doughboys either compared to WW2. You also had some war bond rifles (still doesn’t account for WWI dated ammo) and given your location it may have come in from Canada in the 20s-30s. Bottom line is that people that I knew from back then were very pragmatic and frugal, they shot what they had and did not much fool with boutique loads and the like. I fired WWI French lebel ammo all over my family farm 45 years ago somebody is probably trying to figure it out today.

What is also unusual is the surrounding terrain of the area....It's brushy coverage makes it an ideal place for 30-30's....When I hunted the area as a teenager, the Winchester model 94 was the rifle of choice....In fact when I found the spent cartridge, I readily expected it to be from a .30-30....

I can understand people using vintage ammunition.....If obtained along with a firearm, it's handy and available....Why buy something you already have?.....

Would be interesting to research the property, and see who previously resided there....As for the French rifle and ammunition, that is comical....Bodes

**phild** · 05-04-2020, 08:29 AM

I agree with you on the wide use of the 30-30 for deer in most parts of the US. Back about 40 years ago it was widely published that 30-30 had accounted for more white tailed deer than any other single cartridge in the US. I’m not sure that still stands but it well may. Interesting is that the 30-30 is ballistically very similar to the 7.62x39, so when the anti-gun say “you can’t deer hunt with an AK” they don’t know what they are talking about in terms of the cartridge.

Most would judge the 8MM Mauser more similar to the British .303 but for me any practical differences in all of these full size.30-.32 caliber military rifle cartridges is splitting hairs.

**MikeP** · 05-04-2020, 11:46 PM

I grew up late 50s, early 60s on a farm with lots of places to shoot. Myself and folks I knew fired every type round you could imagine. Ammo was very cheap and there were all kinds of different types at gunshows. I recall firing a few boxes of 8mm incendiary explosives at one time. Days when things were mostly about being free.

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**bodes** · 05-05-2020, 07:59 PM

Originally posted by MikeP View Post

I grew up late 50s, early 60s on a farm with lots of places to shoot. Myself and folks I knew fired every type round you could imagine. Ammo was very cheap and there were all kinds of different types at gunshows. I recall firing a few boxes of 8mm incendiary explosives at one time. Days when things were mostly about being free.

Is that a .30 cal machine gun?....You could certainly burn up ammunition quickly with one of those.....

Bodes

**MikeP** · 05-05-2020, 08:08 PM

MG 08.
Not exactly legal in 1963, but lots of things were about in those days.
Gunshow parking lots were very interesting places.

Firing original 8 mm ammo.
It is long gone.

**alfred213** · 05-05-2020, 09:06 PM

good old days

hi guys
my name is andy i was born in year 1939 bklyn new your i was 6 yrs old my friend unckle just trturned from south pacfic i believe he was from 1 st marind div. he brought home japanese swords i think two and a japanese nambu pistol and last was a japanese pill box machine gun with a big banana clip shape like a big banans on the top i said go get the machine gun and lets shoot the grass hoppers had plenty of those thats for sure so we go down the end of the block with the machine gun waiting for grass hoppers to jump here comes the cops hey kids where in hell did you get this machine gun and is there any ammo i said no sir then he said then whwt are you shooting with no ammo my reply was grass hoppers they both laughed and said kids dont get hurt that was in 1945 we brought machine gun back then my friend had the welts on his behind also 1945 up to 1950s german lugers were sold by ye old hunter from alexanderdria virgina for 39.99 shiped thru the mail to your house boy how every thing has change but please 39.99 was a weeks salery how much is lugers now i cant thank you all for listning to my old stories of truth what i have seen with these 81 yr old eyes god bless allyou guys and god bless america cant wait to vote for our american rights andy

**pauke** · 05-05-2020, 10:08 PM

And J.C.Murphy's had military surplus bolt action and a couple semi-auto rifles for sale cheap as well as 8mm German issue ammo in 15-round boxes inside the original 300-round cartons. Don't recall how many of those I shot up in the mid-1960's. If I remember correctly the 8mm ammo was dated 1937 which seemed strange.

**Alan Smith** · 05-05-2020, 10:09 PM

IMO: Odds are pretty good, as plenty of vets brought back original foreign military issue ammo to shoot in their war trophies. From stories I've heard, taking out the war trophy and firing off a few celebratory shots on the Fourth of July holiday was particularly appealing.

By way of example, here is a (now-deceased) WWII vet friend of mine who brought back as much Italian 9mm SMG ammo as he could stuff in his personal effects; the ammo was for use in his Beretta 38/44 SMG. Admittedly, he fired it very little, so when I acquired the SMG from him some 65 years after the war he still had original ammo with it to pass on to me. He also brought home a quantity of 7.92 hunting ammo (RWS soft point) that he would deer hunt with using his war trophy 98k (so those casings are out there somewhere in the ground).

As previously noted, tons of surplus WWI - WWII ammo was imported into the US post-WWII for sporting use, so I expect you can find foreign military shell casings in various spots all over the US.

BTW: Really nice 08 Maxim gun on the improvised trench mount (i.e. field made by unit blacksmith). Those improvised trench mounts are very difficult to find here in the US and would be a real prize for a German Maxim collector like myself!

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**bodes** · 05-06-2020, 07:32 PM

Thanks for the additional information and posts....Makes sense that German ammunition would become readily available after WW2....Many guns were brought home along with those that were later exported....So it would stand to reason, they needed something to shoot in them...One question however I'm still unclear about....Did the European ammunition just than become popular, or were some US commercial rifles/pistols using this prior to this time period?.....Bodes

**MikeP** · 05-06-2020, 08:36 PM

In the 50s and 60s tons of weapons were imported by folks like Hy Hunter and others I forget.

Enfields, French MAS, Moisins, and most anything you could imagine.
They were found at shows and ads in Shotgun News, and gun magazines.
Ammo for them was also imported and quit cheap and plentiful.
Most all of it dried up by late 60s and was not available again in quantity.
When the Soviet Union went out of business, the boatloads of MNs, Mausers, and demilled parts kits flooded the market for a time. Ammo, mostly 8mm and 7.62 Russian was available in big shipping containers. Man of us saw the reality and stocked up on the spam cans.

Stuff like .303, 30/06, 7.5, never got very common at that time, though.

Most all of it has relatively disappeared, now.

**phild** · 05-07-2020, 09:21 AM

Originally posted by bodes View Post

Thanks for the additional information and posts....Makes sense that German ammunition would become readily available after WW2....Many guns were brought home along with those that were later exported....So it would stand to reason, they needed something to shoot in them...One question however I'm still unclear about....Did the European ammunition just than become popular, or were some US commercial rifles/pistols using this prior to this time period?.....Bodes

I don’t disagree with any of the comments posted but getting back to these 1918 dated cartridge cases I tend to believe that they were bring back WWI and hold some very slight possibility the same surplus 8mm ammo was imported into the US or Canada after WWI and sold in the 20s and 30s. I will admit that I have never researched the issue and was not alive then to know. I feel pretty confident in saying that 1918 ammo was found in Germany in any quantities and imported after1945. I guess ultimately it would impossible to say for sure without talking to the person who left it there.

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