What's the worst MilSurp ammo you have shot?

[OldGarandDad]

What's the worst MilSurp ammo you have shot?

For me, I guess it has to be the old PS Korean .30-06 that came out about 10 years ago. There were lists on numerous forums of what lot numbers to avoid like the plague and the stuff was so dirty there would be spread of dirty soot right in front of your muzzle if you were shooting prone.

[GBA]

Turkish 8mm Mauser. We had to pick through the cans and take out the cracked and corroded cartridges.

[Phil McGrath]

Not really mil-surp, but by far the worst 30.06 ammo I have ever fired was the Greek Olympic brand. It came in a goldish colored box. Accuracy was all over the place, and was it dirty! You could still see the 3ft fire ball on a bright sunny day. Even in So. Arizona it looked like a small mushroom cloud out of the muzzle, or a M-44 destroyer carbine.

[OldGarandDad]

I forgot about the Olympic stuff! Great fun at the range near dusk or on a really overcast day.

You'd definitely need a clip of that if you had to fire warning shots above a crowd. The "sheeple" wouldn't know if you were firing a rifle or a flamethrower. ;-)

[Orlando]

1962 Greek HXP M2Ball. Had loose bullets,run out and powder charges were all over the place. Total junk

[blackbird30]

OFV headstamp M80 ball ammo, believe it was Indian surplus. Very inconsistent, with several slow burns and misfires. I ended up stripping all the ammo down for the brass and projectiles.

[bruce]

The worst by far was some French produced .30-06 ball. Absolutely horrible. Got hold of some Austrian M-2 that was hotter than the hinges of the theological place of eternal torment. It would have given the French stuff a run for it's money as far as heavy recoil and hard extraction are concerned. Later did some reading about that stuff. Most assuredly not suitable for a M-1 Garand. I used a Rem. 03-A3. Back in about 1980 got some Mexican produced M-2. Given that I was at that time a poor seminary student, I shot whatever ammo I could afford. The Mexican ball was cheap. I shot it. Most dangerous experience I ever had w/ surplus ball was some Yugo 8mm. I bought a case at a LGS. One afternoon I was happily about to run some of it through my M-98. First round... M split. Bad Juju! Rifle was not damaged. Got a 9 at 12 o'clock firing prone slow fire. Cleared the rifle and then spent some time picking out the brass and such that was embedded in my forehead. My glasses were specked. The LGS refunded my money. I have not again shot the Yugo 8mm. Have had nothing but extremely good results with Korean PS, Danish AMA and CMP sourced HXP M-2 ball. The AMA brass is berdan, useless for reloading. The PS and HXP brass is very good, it works very well in M-1 Garands. YMMV.

[OldGarandDad]

"hotter than the hinges of the theological place of eternal torment"... I'll have to remember that one!