Early 7.65 ammo
 

Hi everybody!

I had a very lucky opportunity to get 2 full boxes of that original 7.65mm ammo made in France for the PARABELLUM pistol.

I plan to display the ammo with some early LUGERS in upcoming gunshows.

I need info on the ammo......bullet is blackened FMC ( steel? ), date of manufacture?

HELP is appreciated [img]smile.gif[/img]

thanks

kidvett [img]cool.gif[/img]

http://boards.rennlist.com/upload/Ammo7.65.jpg

Stick a magnet on it, if it is steel it will attract it. Be careful with this stuff, some of it is armor piercing and is illegal to own without a C&R license, but that probably doesn't apply in your case, but still might be illegal in Maple Leaf country.

Hello Kidvett,

Congratulations on a fantastic find!! My best opinion is that the ammunition was produced in France for the 1903 (French) Commercial in caliber 7.65 mm (Lugers at Random, P86) or the 1906 French Marked Commercial (1900/06) (Lugers at Random, P106).

In addition, I would venture to say that the French ammunition could have been retailed in neighboring Switzerland for the 1900 Swiss Lugers or any Commercial Lugers firing the 7.65 mm cartridge in Europe. I have seen 1900 Commercial Lugers being retailed in catalogs as late as 1910.

I hope my opinion gives you some information on your ammunition.

Happy hunting,
Albert

Kidvett,
Albert is right. A box of those sure would look good next to my 1903 French Commercial! [img]smile.gif[/img] [img]biggrin.gif[/img]

Well, I have a box of 25 9 MM, picked them up in Nebraska a couple of months ago at a gun shop. They've been opened, and it is interesting to see the oxidation on the bullets.

http://boards.rennlist.com/upload/french9mm1.jpg
http://boards.rennlist.com/upload/french9mm3.jpg
http://boards.rennlist.com/upload/french9mm4a.jpg
http://boards.rennlist.com/upload/french9mm2.jpg

My guess is that the bullet jacket material is what's called cupro-nickle which was a common jacket material during the early part of the century and into WW2. I once had some surplus Japanese 6.5 ammo that had cupro-nickle jacketed bullets. IIRC, it wore bores more rapidly than later developed materials.