Surplus 8mm Ammo Review: East German (1961)

The most interesting countries to me are those in between East and West during the Cold War. No country shows this better than East Germany, being culturally German, using surplus Wehrmacht Mausers, but being controlled by the Soviet Union. Let's take a look at some surplus ammo from the country that no longer exists.
Email: [e-mail]
Playeur: playeur.com/c/... (Please be patient; I'm still getting this running)
Venmo: @Official_8MM ($3 and your address for an 8mm Mauser Man sticker)
Outro Music: PT109 by Jimmy Dean

[@theblindsniper9130]

Normally I just watch these videos because I enjoy surplus ammo. Love the way surplus 8mm mauser bullets look.

[@Captain_Subs]

Sorry about the sharpie on the boxes. All the '61 production ammo came loose in an ammo can, and I didn't have any boxes with a '61 stamp on it. I'll look out for the other years to send in. Thanks again for shooting these, I enjoyed the vids

[@8mmmauserman]

Sorry it took me so long to get the videos out! Thanks for sending it

[@charlesgillette2925]

Well done.

[@xjda68]

I will post here the same I posted for the 1959 video.
John, you ask why one flash hole. Answer is economy. These very small Berdan flash holes are usually drilled. Cheaper to do just one as drill bits cost and time is also money. Failure to fire and hang fires correlates as you suggest to lower quality production primer chemical composition, and it can cause problems as it ages and how the cartridges are stored. Late WWII German ammo is famous for this one-hole practice and noted on the headstamp with the line. The line means one flash hole. However, they used a superb noncorrosive Type 30/40 priming compound by that time and these rounds usually still fire today with a very high success rate. You can identify this primer by its steel construction with a colored anulus to match the loading. The Czechs continued this one flash hole practice after the war for economy contracts like to Israel. However, there priming compound wasn't the best. They did indicate the one flash hole on the headstamp with a line. The Deutsche Demokratische Republik (DDR) was working on a strict budget. However, they obviously did not see a need to indicate this one flash hole practice on the headstamp. There 1957 ammo was brass cased, and they did put a six-point asterisk at 3:00 to indicate brass. It is also Berdan primed and with only one flash hole.

[@8mmmauserman]

Thanks!

[@donwyoming1936]

Interesting to see Germans use IMR extruded powder instead of flake in 8mm Mauser. Must have been loading 7.62X54R as well. Could use the same extruded powder in both.

[@elliotmann9787]

I have some of the same ammo, but from 1960.

[@8mmmauserman]

Interesting

[@bigtrev761]

🇦🇺😎👍Hey Big John…Great info big guy

[@8mmmauserman]

Thanks Big Trev 🇺🇸🤠👌

[@joemorganeatmyshortschannel]

Considering the age i think it did decent