Mystery brass identification

[SigFan]

I need some help guys. My father-in-law decided to clean up some WWII era ammo cans he inherited from his late father. He found a box with maybe 30 rounds loaded on stripper clips and a bunch of fired brass. The loaded rounds are in pristine condition and the head stamp simply says “26”. The fired brass have a head stamp of 25. I assumed I mis-read the “25” so I checked several of the loaded and fired brass and there is no mistake. Any guesses as to what these two calibers might be?

I was able to get some pics today. The loaded bullet is .308. Turns out that this was part of an assortment of loaded ammo, 45-70 Gov, 375 H&M, Spanish Mauser etc. Grandpa was in the Air Force but we don’t have any info on how he came to acquire his collection. He never had a rifle in any of those calibers. Thanks for all the feedback.

 

[Bananabandit]

This thread is worthless without pictures!

 

[SigFan]

Didn’t think to take a pic at the time. Thought I’d be able to figure it out on my own. I’ll post pics when I can.

 

[1075tech]

Post pics of the whole round and the headstamp. Something for scale also.

And a pic of the rounds on the stripper clip. 5? 8? Maybe a pic of the clip also. Brass? Steel?

 

[Varmint]

I think that I have Swedish rounds with 24,25,26...maybe 27 I’m not into searching ammunition cans without pictures

 

[cgrutt]

I think that I have Swedish rounds with 24,25,26...maybe 27 I’m not into searching ammunition cans without pictures

Maybe something here.... The Swedish Military Ammunition Site

Plant codes. The list is not completed yet. Errors may occur

24	Norrahammars Bruk (Only manufactured the cases).
25	Vulcans Tändsticksfabrik, Tidaholm.
26 (026)	A.B. Svenska Metallverken. Västerås
27 (027)	Norma Projektilfabrik, Åmotfors.

The Swedish Military Ammunition Site

 

[repete]

Best way to ID ammo is
Is it rimmed, semi rimmed, or rebated
over all length
diameter of bullet
diameter of case at base
diameter of case at bottle neck (if applicable)
Length of case
With all that info it's relatively easy to ID

 

[spat]

I've run across old ammo with just 2 digit headstamps like that and it was just year of manufacturer.

Is it possible this stuff is from 1925 and 1926 ?

 

[Acer-m14]

WWII era ammo .. from what side of that war ??

and yep photos would help a lot

i have a Mosin .. never really looked at the head stamp on them from the spam can ..

 

[SigFan]

pictures attached...

 

[1075tech]

F.A. = Frankford Arsenal, Philadelphia PA.

Numbers are year produced. Likely 30-06. Not sure about the 25R. They pulled a lot of 30-03 and reloaded it to 06. When I zoom in on the picture, it almost looks like the numbers were overstamped. Could be a factory reload.

 

[meketrefe]

What a thread that is not corona virus or politics? how is this possible? lol

From the dimensions and headstamps It looks that you have a 30-06 1926 national match for the 1903 rifle... and perhaps a few other cases.
My books said FA (Frankford Arsenal) experimented with Berdan primers in those years and perhaps is why you have the R in that 25R fired one.
Would you check inside with a light and see if you see the dual flash-holes from the Berdan primers?
Or the R might be rifle annealed only done for the harder cases. I am curious. I might check to see if I have any of those in my pile.

Great find. A little piece of history and family heritage.

 

[meketrefe]

look what I found...
It should have been a box like this. do you have it? if so it is a collection item.

 

[SigFan]

That is great information! Thank you!

 

[SigFan]

Sadly, no. It was just a collection of loose (on stripper clips) rounds in an unmarked ammo can.

 

[1075tech]

What a thread that is not corona virus or politics? how is this possible? lol

From the dimensions and headstamps It looks that you have a 30-06 1926 national match for the 1903 rifle... and perhaps a few other cases.
My books said FA (Frankford Arsenal) experimented with Berdan primers in those years and perhaps is why you have the R in that 25R fired one.
Would you check inside with a light and see if you see the dual flash-holes from the Berdan primers?
Or the R might be rifle annealed only done for the harder cases. I am curious. I might check to see if I have any of those in my pile.

Great find. A little piece of history and family heritage.

A little more reading seems to indicate that the "R" case is either a match round or possibly the "rifle" case indicating a harder annealed case.

In either case, very cool.

 

[Varmint]

Frankford rifle grenade cartridges were stamped with an R...the bullet is made of wood