semi-OT: what ammo is this?

peasant

Question for the experts:

Found 13 empty cartridges in my van (ex German military police) yesterday.

First I thought it was pistol or MP ammo, but both the P7/P8 and the MP5 (standard German issue) use 9 mm ammo.

The shells I'm looking at are ~ 5mm in diameter (anything between 4.9 to 5.1 ...don't have calipers so can't measure correctly) and about 18 mm long.
Trawled the internet yesterday but didn't really come up with anything.

According to the code on the cartridge "DAG 96 E 1009" it's made in Germany by Dynamit Nobel, but that didn't really leave me any wiser.

What were the previous owners of my van shooting with ...any idea?

concussion

What shape are the cartridges - do they taper at the front like rifle cartridges or are the straight all the way like traditional pistol cartridges?

Have a trawl through this site, you may find it.
http://ammoguide.com/cgi-bin/ai.cgi?catid=359&sn=BCqevnCUNt&dim=metric

4.6x30mm HK PDW - http://ammoguide.com/?catid=359

peasant

No, not tapered, straight all the way

concussion

peasant wrote: »

No, not tapered, straight all the way

Rim fire or centre-fire?

peasant

Hang on, hang on ...I'm too stupid to measure

It's of course 9mm and not 5mm (that's what you get when you use the wife's stupid measuring tape)

That solves the mystery as it would tie up with either the standard pistol P7/P8 or the MP5 (MP7was only introduced recently)

Sorry for wrecking your head for nothing

concussion

peasant wrote: »

Hang on, hang on ...I'm too stupid to measure

It's of course 9mm and not 5mm (that's what you get when you use the wife's stupid measuring tape)

That solves the mystery as it would ty up with either the standard pistol P7/P8 or the MP5 (MP7was only introduced recently)

Sorry for wrecking your head for nothing

Don't worry, you're about to receive an invoice for 30 minutes of my life!
MP7 has a 4.6 x 30 mm cartridge anyway
Didn't measure properly...mutter mutter....:D:D:D:D

Hagar

Best ask in the shooting forum to confirm this but technically you may be committing an offence by having those spent cartridges in your possession.

peasant

They are now in the possession of my bin (except for the shiniest one)

It wasn't me!

I've heard of guards having a small hissy fit over it, but as far as I recall, it came to nothing, so it should be fine.

Tenger

peasant wrote: »

They are now in the possession of my bin (except for the shiniest one)

Would keep the shiny one myself!

meathstevie

They contain no powder, no primer or no bullet. They're basicly just scrap metal. Having said that under the strictest interpretation of firearms legislation they could be interpreted as component parts of ammunition or a firearm and you need a licence for that but in practice I think you'd have to come up against a seriously loopy cop and judge to and up in trouble over it.

If you really want to be completely in the clear I suggest you punch a tiny little hole in the case which would make them unsuitable for reloading and as a consequence no longer a component part of ammunition.

So far for my five cents....

kowloon

A case against someone who had spent cases in their possession was thrown out before. I very much doubt you're a threat to national security but do drill a little hole in each case if you're worried.