View Full Version : .308 surplus ammo prices?
Got a guy locally that I picked up 3 140 round sealed South African .308 battlepacks from recently for $100 per pack. The ammo came from his father-in-law, who recently passed apparently. He's going back out of town to pick up the rest at the end of the month, and this is what he has, descriptions copied directly from his email:
1 - 200 round battle pack Hertenberger 7.62x51 $200
3 or 4 - 140 round South African battlepacks 7.62x51 $100 each
860 rounds CAVIM 7.62x51 in boxes $450
340 rounds Chilean 7.62x51 in boxes $200
930 rounds NATO 7.62x51 misc Israeli, VZ, M1A2, Izzy etc $500
Thoughts on these prices and the quality of this ammo? I don't know what CAVIM, M1A2, or Izzy is, but I assume VZ is Venezuelan? I seem to remember reading somewhere that Hertenberger is high quality stuff. Any help would be appreciated. The weapon it will be used in is a Norinco M14.
Finding any .308 right now is hard. The S.A. 140 rd. battle packs screams bargain to me. You had better get all of it.;)
The S.A. 140 rd. battle packs screams bargain to me.
I want to grab that at minimum. But the price for the various Israeli stuff, etc. seems pretty good as well, considering the amount. Any thoughts on this? And any help identifying the ammo I don't recognize?
CAVIM ammo comes from Venezuela and I remember hearing that it runs fairly hot. I would jump all over the Hirtenberger and South African stuff as well as the Israeli. See if you can get more info on the headstamps. I believe that the Israeli ammo will be marked TZZ maybe IMI. Been a while since I have seen it.
So grab the hertenberger, SA, Chilean, and the 930 rounds of various israeli stuff? What's the M1A2?
1 - 200 round battle pack Hertenberger 7.62x51 $200
3 or 4 - 140 round South African battlepacks 7.62x51 $100 each
860 rounds CAVIM 7.62x51 in boxes $450
340 rounds Chilean 7.62x51 in boxes $200
930 rounds NATO 7.62x51 misc Israeli, VZ, M1A2, Izzy etc $500
Quality surplus (RG) is now going for 60¢/round... These prices are high, especially if the seller got them as a windfall. Check out the ammo price link on TFL to compare.
Check out the stickies in the ammo forum on TFL regarding the various headstamps and countries of origin.
CAVIM is Venezuelan. It's not well regarded. I had a case, and I re-sold most of it because it was dirty and underpowered.
Hirtenberger (with an I) and South African are well regarded.
There was a bad batch of 1980s-production Israeli surplus that consistently split cases (again, there's a sticky in the TFL forum).
Good luck,
Bimmer
RE: CAVIM
I had a bit >30rds of CAVIM brass that was once fired and when I went to resize it in my Dillon dies, big hunks of brass shaved RIGHT off. I shit canned every round that I had of it, softest brass I've ever seen.
What is TFL? What should I offer him for the hirtenberger if you think the price is high? what about the Chilean ammo? I don't know much about .308, I just know its kinda hard to find at the moment.
What is TFL?
The Firing Line
http://thefiringline.com/forums/
This is what I paid for a 19 August 2006 aimsurplus order. Your sale could be originally purchased from around that time.
Shopping Cart (Prices in US Dollars)
DESCRIPTION QUANTITY PRICE COST
----------------------------------------------------------------------
A308SA South African .308 1 $175.00 $175.00
Surplus 147grn FMJ 980rd Can
(7 Battlepacks)
======================================================================
$175.00 Subtotal:
$037.00 Shipping (UPS Ground):
$212.00 Total:
canucklehead
05-11-09, 20:24
Man, I thought prices in Canada were crazy!
Although I snagged a bargain, I picked up 1160 rounds of SA .308 for $450 CDN shipped to my door just a few months back!
Last summer quality (2004 Lithuanian in battle packs) 7.62 was 50¢ a round or so.
Now it's running 60¢ a round or so (for 1990s Radway Green in bandoliers).
Given the unknown provenance of what this guy is offering, I'd rather buy 1990s RG.
Bimmer
So give me an idea of what to offer this guy for the 3 SA 140 round battlepacks and the Hirtenberger 200 rd pack. He also has 6 25 rd. CMI M14 mags, new, that he's trying to get $40 apiece for, which I can get for $38. So the 6 mags, 3 packs of SA, and 200 rds of Hirtenberger, what do you guys think a respectable offer would be? His prices add up to $740 for all of that.
Israeli surplus with the headstamp TZZ 80 or TZZ 81 should be avoided, it's dangerous garbage.
The Israelis don't surplus anything out unless it's not something they can use anymore....
I had a civillian class 3 M60 have an out of battery detonation using that stuff about 15 years ago, I still have the scars on my hand.
The Chilean stuff is also crap.
My basic rule of thumb.....if they urinate in their drinking water, you don't want their surplus.
European surplus, South African surplus, Australian and New Zealand surplus, Argentine, and Brazillian is fine. If they have a well developed military industrial complex then you're good to go.
My basic rule of thumb.....if they urinate in their drinking water, you don't want their surplus.
European surplus, South African surplus, Australian and New Zealand surplus, Argentine, and Brazillian is fine. If they have a well developed military industrial complex then you're good to go.
And you probably shouldn't drink their water either.
Does Portugese fall under the blanket European statement? I would think so, but just want to double check...
So give me an idea of what to offer this guy for the 3 SA 140 round battlepacks and the Hirtenberger 200 rd pack. He also has 6 25 rd. CMI M14 mags, new, that he's trying to get $40 apiece for, which I can get for $38. So the 6 mags, 3 packs of SA, and 200 rds of Hirtenberger, what do you guys think a respectable offer would be? His prices add up to $740 for all of that.
CMI mags are $35 each from 44mag.com or from Palmetto...
Magazines, 6x$35=$210.
South African, 3x$70=$210.
Hirtenberger, $100.
I'd offer him $500 for the lot.
And you probably shouldn't drink their water either.
Does Portugese fall under the blanket European statement? I would think so, but just want to double check...
Yes, the Portuguese was good stuff, by and large.
There were some lots (and I don't know them off the top of my head) that tended to have harder primers than the standard stuff.
It would require a second hit out of my father's M1A with a GI trigger group in it, but would function out of my DSA FAL just fine.
CMI mags are $22 as of last week at 44mag. Is SA now a bargain at $100? I am gonna ponder selling some if so.
Wow, the 25 rounders are 27.50, I had completely forgotten about 44mag.com. I'm gonna offer him $400 for the hirtenberger and 3 packs of SA, see if he takes it. The $38 price I was getting was from Copes.
Made the offer of $400 for the 200 rd pack of hirtenberger, and the 3 140 rd packs of SA. He basically told me to shove it up my ass. Apparently he thinks there's no .308 available. :rolleyes: On that note, copesdistributing.net has Turkish American tactical imports .308 for $13 per 20, and brown bear for $9. I assume the brown bear is crap, but what about the other?
Made the offer of $400 for the 200 rd pack of hirtenberger, and the 3 140 rd packs of SA. He basically told me to shove it up my ass. Apparently he thinks there's no .308 available. :rolleyes: On that note, copesdistributing.net has Turkish American tactical imports .308 for $13 per 20, and brown bear for $9. I assume the brown bear is crap, but what about the other?
Wow, I didn't realize that M14 mags had gotten so cheap so fast. This is good news. I might have to get myself some 25-round CMIs...
Look at the ammo forum on TFL. There's other quality surplus out there for 60-65¢/round.
I don't know anything about the Turkish stuff, and nobody else on TFL seems to, either (there was just a thread on this —*lots of shoulder shrugging, but no info).
Bimmer
Just sold 10 SA battlepacks last month for $150. each. Used the cash to help finance the new WC 1911 I was buying. Prices vary widely, somebody offered me that price and I jumped on it. Here in Maine it's nuts what ammo is going for.
Regards
R.T.
Just sold 10 SA battlepacks last month for $150. each... Prices vary widely, somebody offered me that price and I jumped on it.
I've been tempted to do the same. I've got 1,200 rounds of Radway Green in sealed ammo cans. I bought it for less than $100 per 400rnd can.
Prices are so nuts that I've thought of liquidating it (I could easily get $300 a can, I figure) and then simply buying back in "when prices go down."
Sigh,
Bimmer
Grafs has surplus Portugese .308 in stock. I shot some many years back and had no issues. I have heard good things about it from others as well.
Anyone offers me $150 for BP and I'll do it. Shipped
Yeah, bought a bunch of SA years ago at $19.95 per battlepack. You hear about gold as an investment, gold can't touch ammo. $19.95 invested in 2003 turned into $150.00 in 2009.
How's Malaysian 7.62x51 surplus? (bought some linked around 2001)
What's the consensus on Brown Bear .308? Have some for my Saiga .308
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