My 8mm collection.

I have put together a small collection of wartime 8mm ammo.
I get to hunt through gunshows for German MG parts for my movie-gun collection, ammo cans, assault drums, belts etc., and often find interesting ammo - so, I started beavering the ones I liked aside.

First is 8mm Mauser or 7.92X57mm



The loose boxes are all different dates and manufacturers - there are also projectile variants, steel ammo, lacquered cases, fur MG or fur Gewehr, on stripper clips (IL) or loose.
The three packhulze or battle packs are unopened and different years.
The wood box is an original rifle ammunition case with sticker still in place.
(The narrow boxes are 9mm P, there is one Venezuelan DWM manufactured box from WW1, and one thin box of Shoei dummy rounds for the FG42.)
*The single round is Israeli stamped in Hebrew, it was in the chamber of a K98 I bought at a yard sale, that had been jammed closed and seized up.


These are 8mm Kurz or 7.92x33mm - the Polte or intermediate round used in the MP43/44 series.
The boxes are different dates manufacturers and projectiles, on stripper clips or loose.
The boxes on the bottom shelf are post-war Czech and East German.
The loose rounds are all different manufacturers or dates



Some of the boxes are marked Mkb42 - which is the first rifle variant fielded in this caliber - those I value over the rest

The following are the different 8mm Kurz headstamps in my collection for anyone interested -
Where there are numbers in brackets, that represents different boxes from that batch.


Listing of my collection by manufacturer and date/batch:

Munitionsfabriken (formally Sellier & Bellot), Prague with factory in Vlasim,
Czechoslovakia, (Manufactured under German occupation):
ak st 6 44
ak st 10 44
ak-st 3 45
ak st 4 45
ak-st 5 45
ak st 6 45

Polte, Werk Magdeburg, Poltestr. u. Fichtestr.,Magdeburg, Germany:
aux 21 44 st
aux st 22 44
aux 26 44 st
aux 28 44 st
aux 29 44 st
aux 30 44 st
aux st 33 44
aux st 34 44
aux st 37 44
aux st 41 44
aux st 43 44
aux st 45 44
aux st 47 44
aux st 48 44
aux st 49 44
aux - st 59 44
aux st 64 44
aux st 66 44
aux st 3 45 (white metal proj)
aux st 7 45
aux st 9 45
aux st 10 45
aux-st 11 45
aux-st 12 45

Draht-u. Metallfabriken G.m.b.H., Salzwedel, Germany
fva 1 44 st
fva 14 44 st
fva 15 44 st
fva 16 44 st
fva 2 45 st

Hugo Schneider A.-G., Werk Leipzig, Germany
de - st 1 45
de - st 2 45
de st 4 45
de st 6 45

Waffenwerke Brünn A.-G., Werk Povázská Bystrica, formally Czech National Arms and Ammunition Factory, Povázská Bystrica, Czechoslovakia under German occupation
dou st 14 44
dou st 3 45
dou.-st 5 45 (the “.” after doi)

Hugo Schneider A.-G., Werk Leipzig, Germany
wa - st 8 44
wa - st 13 44
wa - st 15 44

Metallwarenfabrik Treuenbritzen G.m.b.H., Werk Sebaldushof, Germany
hla st 11 44
hla st 13 44
hla st 15 44
hla st 16 44
hla st 17 44
hla st 19 44
hla st 21 44
hla-st 1 45
hla st 5 45

Teuto Metallwerke G.m.b.H., Osnabrück, Germany
oxo-st 3 45 (x2)

Hasag Eisen u. Metallwerke G.m.b.H., Werk Skarzysko-Kamienna, Poland (formally Fabryka Amuniciji, Skarzysko, Kamienna)
kam (x0)

Post-war Sellior & Bellot czech - produced for one year (1946) on German machinery.
SB ) 1 46 (x1)


Also managed to accumulate about 500 rounds of post war East German - marked - 04 - 58 + 04 - 61
I bought this to shoot - but will probably stick to privi-partisan, the firearm is too expensive to risk with faulty ammo - (see loose gold colored round on bottom shelf - it is cheaper to buy than .303 or .308 for anyone who cares.)

I have a dozen or so blue sticker WW2 9mm parabellum - but they are less interesting to me.

Wow, that's a very nice twist on collecting!

Ammo is often overlooked, but it can be a fascinating area for study.
Polish magazine about firearms has a separate series of articles about ammo produced in Poland 1918-1939, and even with such limited time and space it is a huge subject.

Yes - overlooked -

I have a lot of friends who collect firearms, new, old, sporting, military - doctors, producers, businessmen, wall-street investors, armorers, soldiers, actors.

I am the only one who collects old ammo - lol.

I updated the Kurz collection - I know it's not really everyones thing, the other gun collectors here laugh at my obsession!

Picked up project MP44 number three.
The first two were convert to 922r compliant semi-auto only - then with a solar grip they become CA compliant, too.
Here is the third package before work begins.
1944 dated - the other two are 1945 dated Haenel plant -



For those interested the center two stocks are MP43 - they are wider at the shoulder - the bottom is a PTR44 replica - it and the two dummy aluminum receivers are already on gun broker. I prefer no reproduction parts in my collections - except those I legally have to have.

BTW. Smootik - the KAM headstamp is one that is evading me - I believe they only produced 8mm Kurz for a limited time at the very end of the war -
Hasag Eisen u. Metallwerke G.m.b.H., Werk Skarzysko-Kamienna, Poland (formally Fabryka Amuniciji, Skarzysko, Kamienna)
kam (x0)

Thank you - it is a strange hobby - but entertaining.
The ammo is out there - I don't think it will be for long -
It is bought for collections now, as the vast amounts that was brought into the US in the 1950's-60's, was shot.

It is like when I started collecting MP44 - all the old time collectors said don't spend $1000 on that, we bought our kits for $150 - well within a few years, you can no longer find a parts kit for less than $4K and that will continue to increase.
The original ammo boxes with labels (not Czech relabels) are not selling for less than $75 a box - I was laughed at for buying them at $40 -
The current generation often thinks it's the last to have interest in this stuff - it is rarely correct in this assumption.

pitfighter wrote:

BTW. Smootik - the KAM headstamp is one that is evading me - I believe they only produced 8mm Kurz for a limited time at the very end of the war -
Hasag Eisen u. Metallwerke G.m.b.H., Werk Skarzysko-Kamienna, Poland (formally Fabryka Amuniciji, Skarzysko, Kamienna)
kam (x0)

Yup, this factory used kam stamp for long time (1940-1944) but not made 8mm ammo until last moments, before they changed stamp. People here usually collect empty shells with stamps, can't have ammo without permit for a weapon that uses the same ammo.
I'm not into historic ammo market, but will look around.

Smootik - yes please, for sure let me know if you come across any inert/fired Kurz with the kam factory headstamp - it would be the first non-live ammo in the collection, but, that would be fine. I am beginning to think that live ammo with that headstamp never made it's way into the US