FRENCH .30 Carbine Ammo

[SKIPH]

I have a question, need some real expertise. Bought a bunch of carbine ammo at a local gun show, 200 rds for $60. Some is Lake City 69, but about half is French VE 2-62 BD 7.62. Now I have been informed that the French ammo is not only corrosive, but due to high pressure, will damage a carbine. Any one else have this kind of information. Makes no sense to use ammo that could damage your own weapons. SKIPH

[Tuna]

Over half of the French 30 carbine ammo production is corrosive primed. It has been loaded with brass cases and with steel cases. Berdan primers and boxer primers. There is no way to tell what is corrosive primed and what is not. Most will tell you not to use the French ammo as even the chance of corrosive primers is very bad for the gas system of the carbine. Now as to the pressure variation. I have never heard of the carbine ammo having pressure problems. Now with the French 30-06 it is a well know fact that there is pressure problems. If you reload then you can pull the French ammo apart and use the bullets and the powder. It's only the primers that are corrosive.

[SKIPH]

Tuna- Thank you for the information. Will probably never use the French ammo, since I don't reload. Inventoried, and separated the ammo last night. Have 114 rounds of French, 16 rds WRA 58, 70 rds of LC 69. Again, appreciate the information. SKIP

[S.A. Boggs]

Saw this stuff 30+ years ago along with .45ACP French, worth zilch and I mean zilch! Don't keep it around, it is a ticking time bomb to pass onto someone else. If you have a river nearby ditch it where no one else can find it.
Sam

[jimb]

Check the case length on those french rounds too. Some batches were a different length because french law change to prevent military ammo from being used and the cases were made a bit too long for use in the original gi carbines..

[Art]

One possible reason for the surplus corrosive .30 Carbine ammo could be French independent development of their own weapons for the cartridge. None made it past the test phase but the tests were extensive which meant a lot of ammo was produced and not all used. The model they spent the most time and money on was the .30 Cal. MAC 1949 Carbine. This weapon bears a strong superficial resemblance to the U.S. M1 Carbine but is entirely different in operation. The MAC 49 uses a roller locking short recoil system so is not as vulnerable to corrosive ammo as the U.S. system.

Right after I got out of the Army I bought some French .45 ACP ball at a good price and ran it through my old C series Colt Government Model. It fed fine but was underpowered and underpowered enough that the pistol's operation felt sluggish. I had two failures to eject (stovepipes) in 100 rounds.

A too long case in a carbine can be really bad mojo. It is possible for the weapon to fire out of battery with over length cases. It happened to me once and it does get your attention !!!

[SKIPH]

Thanks for all the responses gang! Will check out the cartridge lengths, but suspect I will never use the ammo. SKIP

[SKIPH]

Art- Compared the length of the French to the Lake City .30 carbine ammo. All I checked were the same. SKIP

[Tuna]

Because of the French law. Johnson made a version of a rebuilt carbine with a shorter chamber then the standard .30 carbine round. This way the carbine could be sold in France as it took a different round even though the rounds was the same as the .30 carbine except it was a shorter case and would not fire in a non converted . He offered converted carbines, barrels and newly made ammo for sale in France. It was not a big seller in any form.

[Major Tom]

That French ammo will just go "POP", then fall out the end of the barrel. 8-/