Drum contents! Centuries old jam!

[G.T.]

Hi to all, I had a BING drum on my bench in for repair. I thought the follower was missing as that is a common issue with original drums, but no! Turns out it had the classic jam to where the rounds didn't negotiate the upturn into the tube. Now the reason this wasn't cleared was because, instead of the little cross bolt in this area, it was a solid rivited cross pin! There was no taking it apart! That was right up to when I got my grubby little paws on it! The rivet was removed and the drum disassembled wthout any further delay.
What I found inside was the two rounds remaining that caused the jam? There would have been aprox. 10 rounds on top of those that obviously just poured out long, long ago.
The two stuck rounds have what looks to be farsi (sp.) or middle eastern head stamps, with the weird VL plus other stamps I cannot interperate? Otherwise, they apprear as standard 9mm ball ammo?
Anyway, that's what they are, and it goes to show the drums had issues even when new or nearly so! Best to all, til....lat'r...GT

[G.T.]

What little I cound find online shows the rounds as being 1928? Not quite a century, but a long time ago none the less.... best, til...lat'r...GT...

[HerrKaiser]

Wow! With Farsi ammo, I wonder if that drum accompanied a Mauser Persian contract LP.08 in its lifetime?

[Ron Wood]

G.T.
What an interesting life you lead
Ron

[Vlim]

Did they look like this?

If so, it is 1970s surplus ammo from Egypt. It was sold as cheap shooting and collectors ammo years ago. Quality was bad, split cases, bad primers, etc...

So unfortunately there is no Arabic history, other than imported surplus ammo, behind the drum.

[G.T.]

Hi Gerben, you nailed it! That is it exactly! Too bad it's not earlier? It would have been more interesting. I was hoping we could blame it on Lawrance of Arabia ?? .......But instead we have Forrest Gump, box a chocolates, kind of deal... Thanks Gerben, til.....lat'r......GT

[Kiwi]

I think T.E Lawrence was based out of HM Egypt office, but I believe Lawrence used a Broomhandle.

[G.T.]

Hi Gerben, according to other web sites, "rv" stands for number 28 which I assume was the manufacture date? The rest is egg salad to me???? Best to all, til....lat'r...GT

[DTR04]

IIRC, those numbers are read right to left so, 82.

[G.T.]

Wow, I wouldn't even pass kindergarten in Iran! ...... best to all, til....lat'r...GT...

[Kiwi]

No, no, G.T. Iran is Persian and speaks Farsi writes Sanskrit

Egypt is Arab, speaks and writes Arabic.

see how different they look

[G.T.]

Despite being totally un-recognizable? AND going backwords or from right to left, you might as well add upside down!!!! ... I'll never get past number 82, and that's fine with me... Thanks to all for the input, it was fun and also interesting to find out, Best, til....lat'r....GT

[DTR04]

I would not fire that ammo. It is likely super hot for SMG use and probably corrosive to boot.

[sdmark777]

Yup, that was some cheap shooting fun ammo. I remember getting a couple thousand rounds and had a lot of fun shooting it in carbines. Would have a few failures to fire but great for plinking. Yes it was hot and meant for submachine guns. I know a guy who shot several mags of it through a Sig Sauer P226 handgun. Stupid is as stupid does I guess. It was still shooting fine, but when he cleaned it, there was a crack down the side of the aluminum frame! Back then, Sig replaced the P226 with a new one. That was back then and later they pretty much stopped replacing guns even for LEO's.