Is it Cupronickel or steel core or what?

General Ammunition Discussion
#1

I just picked up a grab bag of different .30 Caliber rounds of various types.

Some of them are 7.65 Argentine Mauser with the headstamp of FAMMAP or “Fábrica Argentina Militar de Munición de Armas Portátiles”.

The projectile appears to be cupronickel but is very magnetic. Could it be they used steel or is it AP?

There was also some of the same that had a green tip and I think those are APT but the ones without color are just as magnetic.

What throws me off is that I always thought a silver bullet of Military type was Cupronickel but I had a bunch of VPT in 7.62x54r that had been introduced to water and the bullets were silver but were corroded badly inside the case. They were magnetic.

This lead me to believe that some manufacturers may have produced a cheap silver looking steel bullet. Sorry, I’m new to this so . . . .

I really need help from the experts here. :)

#2

It could be CN, steel, a clad or plated steel, or a steel core. The only way to tell for sure is to cut one open. Generally, an AP or other type of steel core will have some sort of point filler so a magnet will not be attracted at the very tip. But, there are steel cores that fill the jacket and they will test just as you described. Sacrifice one and see what’s inside.

Ray

#3

Ray, I did as you said. I guess if it looks like CP, smells like CP and tastes like CP, it just might be plain old steel :)

Thanks for the lesson. It was a simple steel shell with plain lead inside.