Do not use Turk MKE 30-06!

[Rosco the Iroc]

About a year ago I got a case of Turk ammo from PSA for a good price. I got MKE 63 and 64 headstamps. **EDIT** I double checked and this was from 67 Shot one clip and it was fine. I shot 6 clips and on #6 of the 7th clip it tried to kill me.
The M1 was my prized SECNAV Springfield from 6/44 refurbed in 66. I was very lucky, I had on eye pro and CMP heavy shooting coat with a sweat shirt. I did find shrapnel in the coat. The BBL was 10' in front of me and front sight 5' more. The back of the receiver was 20' to my right. I have a bruise on my lip from it I think. The right side was near it, the left pieces were 10' behind and 20 to the left. I found pieces of wood in a 30' circle. I found the firing pin but no sign of the bolt body. The trigger group was on my mat along with the last 2 rounds that were smashed along with the bent clip. I cant grasp the force needed to bend out the clip. You can see the bbl was clear and my target had the correct # of hits. My face got cut up and my arms and hands hurt.
RIP M1 It only had 1,212 rounds though it.

[Walleye Hunter]

Now that hurts. That doesn't sound like just an overstuffed round.

[bogey1]

Now that hurts. That doesn't sound like just an overstuffed round.

How much could it have been over stuffed to do that type of damage? That looks like 3 times+ but there is no way to get that much
powder in there unless it was deliberate. Also,
look the the powder burns on the receiver/clip, it's white. Does gunpowder leave that color residue? Looks like a different compound.
I'm calling booby trap. The vietnamese use to do it.

[Rural Ruger]

Ah shit, that sucks! Had bought similar and realized my mistake too late, so stashed it away. You're the first I actually "know" to have had one go boom though

[ROCK-IT3]

Dang man, I'm glad you are mostly OK. Sorry about the prized rifle, that round really did a number on it.

[RockIsland]

Jesus! That sucks losing a rifle like that but it can be replaced, you can't. Glad you made out relatively unscathed.

Just more evidence of why you should never buy Turkish ammo.

[father-of-five]

That's really sad. I'm glad you didn't get hurt worse.

[JoshIronshaft]

Thanks for sharing.

Good job wearing eye pro. When I see people shooting without eye pro I just scratch my head. Its a no brainer.

Turkish ammo at one time was fine. Ive been seeing guns online blown up by it for what seems like the past two years. They really arent doing consistent work these days.

[Walleye Hunter]

Thanks for sharing.

Good job wearing eye pro. When I see people shooting without eye pro I just scratch my head. Its a no brainer.

Turkish ammo at one time was fine. Ive been seeing guns online blown up by it for what seems like the past two years. They really arent doing consistent work these days.

Are the 63 and 64 on the headstamps not years of mfg?

[JoshIronshaft]

Are the 63 and 64 on the headstamps not years of mfg?

I overlooked that part!

Regardless, old Turkish ammo is regarded as unreliable and unsafe by most. The 8mm Mauser ammo is very common and some guys will shoot it in their bolt action rifles due to the number of duds and spicy rounds. I would never put anything old and Turkish made in a semi auto.

The new MKE ammo sold as ZQI some years ago at Walmart, etc seemed to be fine ammo. I don't recall hearing bad stuff about it.

But it seems the Turkish ammo factories (I think they are state owned) are under new management or something and they suck.

As to why older ammo can get more powerful with time, smokeless powder is held together in the shapes we know (rods, flakes, balls) by a binder agent. Over time this binder agent can separate from the powder, especially if the ammo is stored in a hot environment. The gas created by this separation attacks the primer and kills the primer most of the time, creating the duds. But if it the primer survives and the binder agent isn't holding the powder together, you now have broken down powder and a more powerful round. These finer particles of powder have more surface area and therefore a faster burn rate.

That is my understanding anyways.

As time marches on the surplus ammo made decades ago is only getting older. The frequency of duds and potentially other issues will only increase.