Decomissioned Shells, Looking for dummy rounds Options

[BlacKat]

Greetings,

I am looking for a 30 cal round. Would like the actual case and bullet to be intact. Not looking for a live round just a dummy round. A roommate of mine in college had one on his desk as a paperweight. he bought it from a travelling army/navy supplier that visited campus. This was back in 1994, when people were not so anal or scared of dummy ammo, let alone a bullet 7 inches long.

Anyways I am looking for it to use as a prop in a game I am running.

Anyone know where I could find one? No army/navy stores in upstate NY carry decommissioned ammo anymore.

BlacKat
--who remember being able to buy a sand filled landmine in an army/navy store in NH back in the early 80s.

[hyzmarca]

It would probably be faster and cheaper just to buy a box of real .308 or 30-06.

Edit: Here is a link. http://www.northridgeinc.com/sp_ammo.htm
A box of real ammo would be cheaper.

[Shrapnel]

[Nikoli]

Real ammo might run afoul of Zero intele-err Tolerance policies on some schools. A student with a dummy round can't be held as accountable as one with a live round.

[Vagabond]

Then again, in a world where some public schools suspend students for bringing in the little plastic guns that come with your GI Joe figure...

[Foreigner]

Shrapnel:

It's possible that BlacKat has his/her terminology mixed up. :)

A lot of people use the term "bullet" when they mean "cartridge", and vice-versa.

BlacKat:

Try your local military surplus store--while they rarely (if ever) sell *live* ammunition, it is possible to find dummy or deactivated rounds--the difference being that that dummy ammo is inert (incapable of being fired at all; it's primarily used for display or weapon-familiarization purposes), and deactivated ammunition was once live (capable of being fired), but is no longer. The usual method of deactivation is by removing the gunpowder and/or deactivating the primer.

If you're looking for a cartridge for display/demonstration purposes, I'd suggest looking at a website that sells cartridge-based jewelry--keychains, necklaces, and the like. An example that comes to mind would be the Lone Ranger commemorative cartridges, which are nickel-plated .45 Long Colt cases with Sterling silver bullets. They contain no gunpowder, and there is a piece of metal
--either a small loop in the primer pocket in the cartridge case's base--a small loop in the case of the necklace, and a spring-loaded key ring in the case of the keychain version.

There are also places that sell inert ammunition for collector purposes--some people collect cartridges; others use them as props for display purposes. The latter are usually used to fill the cartridge loops of gunbelts and the like when the weapon isn't intended to be fired. For example, the cartridges frequently seen in the old cowboy pictures--and more recently in the ammo belts of machine guns in war films--are props only, as the weapons are modified to fire blank cartridges.

Another possibility would be a sporting-goods store--they frequently sell "snap caps", which are plastic dummy cartridges of the same size and shape as the live ammunition of the same caliber. The idea is to allow "dry firing"; that is, operating the weapon's mechanism safely--say for indoor shooting practice--without the risk of an accidental discharge. Such devices are also used for that purpose to prevent possible damage to the weapon's mechanism, as repeated dry-firing can cause the firing pin or spring to be damaged.

If all you want to do is illustrate the size of a given cartridge, any of the three would be good choices.

:)

--Foreigner

[eidolon]

Except that he/she clearly specified what they're looking for.

[Foreigner]

eidolon:

Oops. :)

I guess that I wasn't paying close enough attention when I read BlacKat's post the first time.

--Foreigner

[Shrapnel]

As far as "bullet vs. cartridge", I knew what BlacKat meant.

My question was regarding the length of the cartridge he was looking for.

The maximum cartridge overall length (C.O.L.) for a .308 Winchester is 2.810".

The maximum C.O.L. for a .30-06 Springfield is 3.340".

Considering that these are two of the most common ".30 Caliber" cartridges available, I doubt that this is what he was looking for. They aren't even half the size of the cartridge he described.

On the other hand, the .50 BMG has a maximum C.O.L. of 5.450". Still not exactly what he was describing, but closer than the .308 or .30-06.

The 20mm is the closest to 7", but I don't have an actual C.O.L. for the cartridge, as my reloading manuals only go up to .50 BMG.

The first link I posted had a good comparison picture at the top of the page, which I will post again for convenience:

Comparison Picture of .223, .308, .50 BMG, and 20mm cartridges.

My point is that I don't think BlacKat is looking for a ".30 Caliber" dummy round, but more likely a .50 BMG or 20mm. So, just to be safe, I posted a link for all of them.

Now, as for pulled bullets, rather than dummy cartridges, those are available as well. I just happen to have a .308 FMJ, a .50 BMG armor-piercing incindiary, and a couple of 20mm projectiles sitting on my desk as I type. They really do make great paperweights... :D

[hyzmarca]

He probably meant 30mm. The link I posted earlier has a single 30mm dummy round for $20. Kind of exensive. Froogle also lists some available on ebay.

Oddly, I can't find any live 30mm ammo on froogle.

[BlacKat]

My error.

I was looking for 30 mm rounds. The round my friend had was from an anti-aircraft gun.

BlacKat

[Ed_209a]

If you are still in college, I would drive DIRECTLY to a trophy store and have it made into some kind of presentation piece, rather than a loose round. Campus officials get nuttier by the year.

[BlacKat]

Nah I graduated in 99. I just have been looking around off and on since then. RIT the college I was at used to not care but in 95 or so they started to complain about that kind of room decoration.

BlacKat