Typical mix. East German are the right column.

500 rounds of German military 8mm Mauser ammunition (7.92 x 57mm), mixed WWII and East German production with lacquered steel cases and FMJ bullets. All casings have had "8x57 IS FA" etched into them.

Despite the claims of the labels, there is nothing new about this ammunition. Scuttlebutt is that this came from Turkish military stores- they had obtained this from Russia (who of course, picked it up from the Germans), and the bit about "new" casings was due to some sort of shenanigans with import regulations. It's definitely a mix of German WWII (complete with color coded primer seals) and East German production.

Nearly all of the WWII ammo has green primer seals indicating S.s. standard ball (lead core, steel jacket). A few rounds with blue seals for S.m.E. (mild steel core) may be present, but they are usually few and far between.

Function: I have shot the hell out of this stuff (about 4,000 rounds so far) in my MG's and the only malfunction I had was 1 sheared casing in the MG42. I checked the case and it was not corroded inside- the extraction on the '42 is rather violent and they are known for tearing casings now and then.

I noticed no functional difference between East German and WWII ammo. Compared to Romanian, clean up is easier (less carbon build up) and my MG34 loves this stuff- whereas it's a bit moody with the ammo from Transylvania. The MG42 doesn't care- it likes them both.

Packaging: Originally, this was packed in what were essentially white plastic garbage bags, which was then stuffed in a cardboard box. However, two boxes were found to contain 7.62 x 39 (AK47 ammo) instead of 8mm. So, now we're opening up the boxes and checking. Since we have a pallet of Grade 1 (nearly new) ammo cans, and 500 rounds fits perfectly, it just seemed logical to use them instead of crappy plastic bags in a box.

Condition: It varies- most is clean and newish looking, but a few rounds are dusty and others have some light corrosion. I took the worst of these and cycled them in a K98 and all seated and extracted no problem.

WARNING! This ammunition is 60-80 years old so there may be some defective rounds. Thus far I have not had any with bad primers nor noticed variation in power- German ammo is not known for having helter-skelter powder loads like Turkish and such. That said, this is not new ammo and has no warranty.

Shipping option UPS Ground only. Please don't check out with economy shipping, they are not allowed to accept this item.
Yes! This is LIVE ammunition and it is NOT for reenactments.


Click here to see this ammo in action.
(The video is on our server and it is secure.)

The price works out to .50 per round.

No, we aren't getting into the ammo business. I simply have far more than I'll ever use so I'm selling some off.

UPS Ground only. NO POST OR FED EX!

US Sales only.

No shipping to California.