Question about Norinco 7.62x39 ammo

[Moparman485]

The only way you will be able to see if it is the premium value stuff, versus the run of the mill value stuff, will be to decode the headstamp on one of the rounds itself. The crate markings don’t mean anything hardly. I’ve bought ungodly amounts of that stuff over the years as my dad did before me. We had multiple times where identical “crates” had entirely different ammo on the inside. You might get lucky and someone will just buy it as a gamble, but the top tier value “probably” won’t come unless you can tell the buyer exactly what the headstamp is and have a picture of the round. It’s otherwise impossible to know if steel core, standard steel core, or lead core. They also had non corrosive ammo during the same era as well, but without a headstamp and pic of a cartridge, there’s zero way to know.

 

[Moparman485]

if it is norinco, it is copper washed. Only question is as some has said is is it a military crate of ammo, is it commercial boxed, etc. It is only of value to a collector, but due to age and desireability, I suspect $600 wouldn't be unreasonable. Romanian m67 brings that in the 1260 case. Gunbroker will be high on stuff like this.
God i miss this stuff when it was 99/case like you got. and it shot very well. it is a steel jacketed bullet so the random one in a mag does spark on steel backstops my.02 ymmv

Not all Norinco was copper washed, I have quite a lot of Norinco that has the lacquer coating instead of the copper wash. They had multiple factories cranking out anything and everything they could, so there’s a ton of variance on it. To the tune that multiple websites exist for the sole purpose of decoding the headstamps and determining the cartridge “recipe” so to speak. Haha. The most common and least valued is the copper washed bimetal jacket with lead core. It’s basically pretty looking ammo that is corrosive and less accurate than even modern non corrosive Tula bi metal jacket. The other variants tend to go higher.

 

[Moparman485]

Very common yes, But if my memory serves, not all Norinco imported then was steel core. I know when I sold my 762x39 Norinco steel core the buyer wanted one cut open to verify. Which I obliged. (Magnet is not a good test as it all has a bi-metal jacket.)
With yours being un-opened it might be possible to verify from the crate marking though.
I know there were issues with scammers repacking empty boxes with non-steel core to get the premium.

TLDR; It's also been known to be faked, so a buyer may be wary without proof.

^This

 

[mr ed]

I've had green/white, silver, yellow and other colored boxes.
Yellow was steel core
Green/ white non corrosive
Silver. Corrosive
But they may come in many different colored boxes.
I consider any that come in thin paper tied with a string corrosive regardless what the crate sez.

 

[Valhallajack]

7.62×39 Norinco Steel Core Ammo in 20rd box. This is the hard to find “Yellow Box” collectible. Ammo is 1992 production, plant 31 so headstamps read “31 92.” These rounds are treated as armor piercing due to the steel core bullet, hence the reason they were banned from importation in the 90’s. Unlike the more common Tinned ammo, these rounds are Noncorrosive! These are Armor piercing rounds

 

[Almost Jack Burton]

Seen the Yellow boxes steel cored going for 14-20 a box. More recently it was 14-18.00 a box. This was at the gun shows and someone on here had some for 15.00 a box last spring/early summer.

 

[Almost Jack Burton]

Would like to see the cross section just for fun, and to critique your ability of cutting perfectly down the middle of a projectile.

 

[Valhallajack]

Any 7.62x39 is $14-$18 IMO this stuff if yellow boxes sells online for $30-$60

 

[Almost Jack Burton]

Any 7.62x39 is $14-$18 IMO this stuff if yellow boxes sells online for $30-$60

Yeah and used stippled gen 3 Glock 17s sell for 800 online as "custom".
I just gave the price as to what I have seen locally, and within a buffer state area- Kansas, Texas, Arkansas, and Missouri.

 

[Valhallajack]

Yeah and used stippled gen 3 Glock 17s sell for 800 online as "custom".
I just gave the price as to what I have seen locally, and within a buffer state area- Kansas, Texas, Arkansas, and Missouri.

I didn't imply your wrong or challenge you. I did what you did. Just offered what I think is good advice for what I have seen.