What's new
British Ordnance Collectors Network

This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

7.62 X 51 mm lack of a head stamp

L

Lakeside

New Member
This my first post so please bear with me, or perhaps humour me. In the early '80s I was an armourer in a NATO country taking an advanced armourer's course. Part do the course package was to tour various firearm and ammunition production facilities. During the tour of an ammo plant, which exclusively made military ammunition, one of my course mates noticed 7.62 X 51 casings being fabricated without any head stamps. Quite innocently he asked the engineer accompanying us about the head stamps. The engineer promptly became very quiet and changed the subject. Later that evening we talked about the (lack of a) response from the engineer and some of us opined the ammunition was probably going to either Special Forces, insurgents (AKA "freedom fighters") and all the way to the IDF.

Has anyone come across modern military ammunition without a head stamp? Is there any reason not to have a head stamp other than to hide the point of origin?
 
Maybe the "engineer" became quiet because he didn't know the answer and was too embarrassed to say so.

Yes, you can find un-headstamped cases. They could be for several reasons. Dummies or Experimental cartridges to name just a couple. Or, maybe the cases were being made for a contract buyer who didn't want them headstamped. Clandestine cartridges usually have a bogus headstamp to better confuse whoever it is they are trying to fool.
 
On British manufactured .303" the head stamp was that of establishment completing the round, which was not necessarily the establishment making the case. Thus, the cases would have to have been manufactured without a head stamp.

This might be the situation with the 7.62 x 51 cases you saw.

Somewhere on the site there is a post by the late TonyE explaining all of this

TimG
 
During the Angolan War, South Africa was producing ammunition which only had the calibre and no Manufacturer's details, so as to "hide" the origin. We referred to these as semi-sterile. I think that often the end user does not want to reveal the supplier of it's ammunition.
 
Another example of a "Semi-sterile" round are the American made Russian 12.7x108 SLAP rounds with an "8" headstamp.
 
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top