Third Party Press

Post war E-German Kurz.

pitfighter

pitfighter

Senior Member
Hi Guys,

I have a neutered-semi-only 1944 Haenel MP44 - not an SSD replica.
This shoots great with PPU, and has done thousands of rounds of blanks, way more than it ever should have.
I'm having a tough time locating PPU ammo for it.

Doing a garage tidy up I found a couple of large ammo boxes, 1000 plus rounds in cardboard cartons of East German Cold War Kurz.
(I thought I sold my entire retro Kurz collection to Tor, but, this was stowed in with some .303 boxes, so, overlooked.)

Now this subject has been discussed and warned against.
But, has anyone actually had a bad-time with the 1960's 7,9x33?
I don't mean dud rounds, I mean anything potentially damaging to the rifle?
I realize some of these steel rounds could be rusted on the inside, but, other than a split case, what's the draw-back - ?

Anyway, just enquiring on what has I am sure been discussed a lot before.

I know of actual smiths who have made a side-living fixing semi-MG34's that their owners used Turkish ammo in, with disastrous results, so wondering if any of the old timers here had heard of similar tales of woe with the East German ammo.

You can't give the ammo away, at any rate the sale price doesn't make it worth the effort to ship it IMO.
A couple of boxes might be collectable, and if it was a wooden case it could be fun in the office, but, this doesn't have any intrinsic historical value to me.

Thoughts?

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I wouldn't shoot it alone just due to the corrosion on the case. The bullets could maybe be pulled, cleaned and reloaded with cut down brass.

 
I’ve made hundreds of rounds of Kurz from 8mm brass using dies already available. No spacer necessary.
I have also hundreds of original German produced steel cased rounds captured and relabeled by the Russians. These are in pristine condition and do not display the corrosion shown on the OP’s ammo. I have shot hundreds of them without issue. Storage is definitely a factor in determining the safety of old ammo.
IMG_5498.jpeg
 
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Thank you for the answers, really helpful!

Yes, the commie Kurz in the photo is nasty, I wouldn't shoot those either.

The stuff I found in the ".303 crate" in the garage has been stored better.

I'll maybe try one or two rounds - this now has a new Ordnance Research barrel on it, so should be sturdy.
 
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