7mm Mauser Ammo (KYNOCH)

[Alan Smith]

Here is one of two 50 round boxes full of pre-war KYNOCH production 7mm Mauser ammo that I purchased this weekend (at the same local show as I acquired the 6.5mm MG ammo box posted in my other recent thread). As will be shown in the photos, the ammo is headstamped "37" and the bottom of each box is dated "1/38".

I assume this ammo was produced by KYNOCH for export to countries whose military used 7mm Mauser rifles. Any information or comments is appreciated.

[Alan Smith]

Photo 2

[Alan Smith]

Photo 3

[Alan Smith]

Date on bottom of box

[Alan Smith]

Ammo on stripper clip

[Alan Smith]

Another ammo shot

[Alan Smith]

Marking on stripper clip

[Alan Smith]

More ammo

[Alan Smith]

Headstamp

[Gary Cain]

There were still a lot of 7mm Mausers in South Africa and Rhodesia that were in use up through the 50's. Also there were a lot of professional hunters that used them because they allways went bang and were a very efficient hunting round. D.W. Bell hunted everything in Africa with the 7 Mauser and killed dozens of elephant, rhinocerous and other dangerous game with a 7mm Mauser.


Cheers
Gary

[Alan Smith]

Thanks for the information, Gary. Do you think this particular lot of 7mm ammo would have been for commercial sporting use? I was assuming it is military contract due to the stripper clips and FMJ bullet.

Interestingly, this ammo was mixed in with a quantity of KYNOCH sporting ammo of similar vintage. The sporting ammo was in various calibers, including the really big "Elephant Gun" calibers such as .475 Nitro Express (contained in 5 round boxes). On the .475 rounds they are FMJ as well, so maybe FMJ was used for sporting purposes with big game?

Anyway, I found this to be a pretty cool stash of old pre-war ammo that just came "out of the woodwork", so I went ahead and purchased some even though the 7mm may turn out to not be military contract.