Firearms Stack Exchange Archive

Surplus 7.62x54R misbehaving. Can someone identify what ammo it is?

posted by: Uncle Meat on 2011-12-18
tagged: ammunition, jamming, mosin-nagant, 7.62mm
score: 3

I bought some cheap 7.62X54R at a gun show and now I regret it. It totally jammed my Mosin-Nagant rifle. I had hard time getting just the spent casing out even with rod and mallet. Casing had some small crack on it after I knocked it out.

I think it could be a good lesson on using cheap ammo. So before I get rid of remaining two boxes, I was wondering if anyone has an idea what kind of ammo it is. It has green casing with 54 at the top and something that looks like ‘uxo’ on the bottom. In comes in a cardboard box of 20 rounds with label glued on it that has following text:

7.62 - Tž    29|54 - bxn
tbpl|Fe         VI-54
20 ks Nctp1.2x0,5|1.2 - KFnma 17|52 - 2,97 g

Has anyone met those? Can we make any conclusions from this markings to avoid buying similar ammo?

Images of ammo and box.

enter image description here

Answer 854

posted by: kbyrd on 2011-12-18
score: 3

UPDATE:

It appears you have something very similar to http://www.7.62x54r.net/MosinID/MosinAmmo012.htm. It is heavy ball steel core in a lacquer coated steel case. It was made in Czechoslovakia in 1954.

DETAILS: Disclaimer, I have no experience with this ammunition. I simply did a series of searches and applied some intuition based on the results:

uxo and 54 headstamp. This is probably ‘bxn’ upside down (which would match the ‘bxn’ on the box. These pictures have me convinced. If that’s the case, many headstamp references say this indicates these were manufactured by Sellier & Bellot in Czechoslovakia. 54 means this was made in 1954.
Tz is heavy. It’s steel core heavy ball ammunition, not lighter ball that was used later.
tbpl/FE is gilding metal clad/steel cartridge case.
20ks is 20 pieces. That is, 20 cartridges in this box.
Nctp1.2x0,5|1.2 I’m not sure about this, but I believe it describes the type of powder.

As Karl indicated in another answer, I’ve seen several references to lacquer coated cases causing problems with extraction if the chamber is not clean or if the gun isn’t a bit looser than spec.

Answer 855

posted by: Karl Bielefeldt on 2011-12-18
score: 0

It’s the lacquer coating you want to watch out for, which is what gives the case the green color, if it’s the same kind I’m thinking of. My Dad and I had similar trouble with old green-lacquered cartridges in his Mosin-Nagant, although I don’t remember their exact brand, and I’ve seen people on various forums with the same problem.

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