Romanian Surplus 8mm: Ruptured cases

A

AlphaAssault

New member
Ive been firing 1950s Romanian 7.92x57mm, and have noticed that a lot of the cases seem to rupture when fired. I'd say one out of every 20 or 30 rounds cracks or ruptures, though rarely do the cases rupture in the same place. Most split up towards the top of the case where the bullet was, and occasionally one will split down the main body of the case. So far, I havnt gotten any hot gas in my face. which is nice. could this be a chamber issue with my Mauser 93, or can I chalk it up to the surplus ammo?
 
I've heard of this with Yugo surplus from the mid-50s, but never with Romanian. Not that I don't believe you. Bad things happen to a Hakim when you get a split, so Hakim forums are usually quick to note ammo types that are hazardous to fire. If you fire a couple rounds of commercial brass, do you notice that they bulge particularly badly?

I'd cruise through a few FN-49 and Hakim forums and ask if anyone has had issues with Romanian surplus with your headstamp date.
 
When surplus ammo is purchased in a large box or in bulk there are no controllers, just load and fire then 'What Happened'?

I would suggest pulling the bullets on a random number and examine the powder and cases, Who Knows? the powder could be caked, when fired the cake could act like a shaped charge, and as a results the case could be pinched/cut, the cases may never had the ability to recover (spring back) or the ability to expand, I have tore down 1,000s of 8mm57 ammo for the bullets and powder AND to get rid of the corrosive primers, I was surprised the Turk ammo in 8mm57 could keep up with the 30/06, so one of my favorite chambers is the 8mm06.

Who knows? tumble 100 rounds then fire, take another 100 rounds and firem then, compare the results.

F. Guffey
 
This is very common with ComBlock surplus military ammo.

As others have said, improper (or in some cases no) case annealing allows stress to remain locked in the brass after final forming.

If that stress isn't relieved, over time it creates a natural fracture point in the case.

When subjected to the stresses of firing, it fails.

A crack in the case mouth, or even down along the body, normally isn't anything to worry about. Just an annoyance/point of worry.

A stress failure of the case head, though, is usually a LOT more spectacular because it allows high-pressure gas back into the action.

Fortunately, those are, even with surplus, VERY rare, and are normally caused by a flaw of some type in the brass, not an annealing issue.
 
Well, its reassuring to hear that others think its the ammo. I had the headspace checked just this summer, so if it was out of spec already, I'd be in trouble. usually the bolt fails to extract the split cases, which is annoying in itself, but as long as no long term damage is done :cool:
 
The extraction is probably a rough chamber or weak extractor.

Headspace generally won't cause neck or body cracks.

It can, however, cause a case head separation
 
Don't know if you are shooting brass or steel.

However folks shooting old surplus ammunition ought to know the stuff is probably beyond its shelf life.

Gunpowder is deteriorating the day it leaves the factory. It is a high energy compound and if you remember your Thermodynamics, high energy stuff wants to become low energy.

Gunpowder breaks down releasing nitric acid gas. That gas will ruin cases. I had IMR 4895 surplus powder go bad in the case and the stuff caused case neck cracks. Case necks are highly stressed and thin. It makes sense that they would be the first to crack. The nitric acid gas also caused green corrosion on the base of my bullets.

The Army scraps ammunition by clock time. Single base is scrapped at 45 years, double based 20 years.

If your powder is outgassing, the nitric acid gas has used up the inhibitors in the powder and now is being released to the atmosphere. If this is so, you would expect case neck cracks.
 
50 romanian 8mm are you shure its romanian ?

All all the Romanian I've seen is from the 70's and is steel cased you no blackish gray in color like a wolf ak round but shoots great. however I did have had some 1954 dated Yugo ammo that was loaded to hot I cad a couple rounds split all the way down the case and some suffer case head separation when one broke the claw extractor on my 24/47 Mauser after this happened about 5 times I realized I must have a problem yeah I no I should have stopped after the first one but my friends were shooting it in another gun fifty yards away from me and had the same problem just didn't break the extractor it happened in my gun twice and three times in theirs so I went home puled the rounds down and discovered that the powder loads were very inconsistent ranging from 37 grains of powder to 41grains I pulled all the ones I had reloaded them to 39.3 grains and never had another problem and that load must be perfect because they shot fantastic inch and a quarter groups after as well so yeah beware of the 50s Yugo ammo as some lots of it are loaded to hot.
 
My Romanian 7,92x57 which is in the small, rough beige boxes is green steel with a lacquer coating. There is a red sealant where the bullet protrudes from the case.
77 and 33 (or 22?) are the head stamps.
 
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