Fair value on this 1940 8mm Mauser ammo?

[casey_714]

Long story short, I picked up this ammo on a whim from someone who didn't need it anymore, and am hoping now that I'm not going to take a loss on it.

It is 8mm Mauser imported by Iterarmco, and produced in Finland. They are brass cased 174 grain Soft Points. The headstamp on them is "FN 40". Still in original wood boxes. From my research, I think that they are military rounds made in 1940, but then had the bullets pulled and replaced with soft points when they were imported? I could be wrong, though.

I'm having a hard time finding an appropriate value on them. Does anyone else know how much these are worth per round?

[ron]

Long story short, I picked up this ammo on a whim from someone who didn't need it anymore, and am hoping now that I'm not going to take a loss on it.

It is 8mm Mauser imported by Iterarmco, and produced in Finland. They are brass cased 174 grain Soft Points. The headstamp on them is "FN 40". Still in original wood boxes. From my research, I think that they are military rounds made in 1940, but then had the bullets pulled and replaced with soft points when they were imported? I could be wrong, though.

I'm having a hard time finding an appropriate value on them. Does anyone else know how much these are worth per round?

looks like good stuff but not anything that a whole lot of people would know much about as far as it's accuracy, reliability, and consistency but I'd guess that anything made in Finland is probably pretty good except that taking cartridges apart and putting it back together again can cause problems but the Finns probably worked out a way to do it and might even have done some testing before they put this stuff on the market.

Just going by the average price of ANY ammo these days and taking into consideration all the nice packaging that this ammo comes in, I'd say a high of $1.25 a round and a low of 80 cents

I would also speculate that this ammo was re-manufactured and imported about the time when a lot of surplus mausers were on the market, Yugo, Czech, Russian capture, etc and there was also a lot of deals on 8mm ammo then, around 8-10 years ago. Whoever bought it back then and hung on to it until now probably at least doubled his investment.

[casey_714]

Thanks for your input, Ron. You're very beneficial to this forum, just browsing on here every day I see you giving out a lot of knowledge to people who have questions.

Now to find someone that needs a bunch of this ammo, haha..

[Blacklion66]

This ammo almost surely will have corrosive primers, which is not a problem if the shooter is aware of it and uses the correct cleaning procedures.
The brass will not be reloadable as instead of one hole under the primer there will be two.

Value?

[R.J.]

I would check the headstamp & see if you can find any for sale for a ballpark market value.

http://www.cartridgecollectors.org/?pag ... ampcodes#F

[ron]

I would check the headstamp & see if you can find any for sale for a ballpark market value.

http://www.cartridgecollectors.org/?pag ... ampcodes#F

I don't think you can go by that in this case but that's a handy website to know about.

Keep in mind that this is "FN40" stamped Mil-surp imported by Iterarmco, and "re-manufactured" in Finland. This ammo has had the original FMJ's pulled and substituted with 174 grain softpoints and repackaged in cardboard boxes marked :sporting Ammo" (see pics with OP) "FN40" would indicate that it was made on 1940 by Fabrique Nationale in Belgium. Nazi Germany Invaded Belgium in May 1940 so this ammo may have been made for the German army later that year or they might have been selling it to them even before that since they were trying to remain neutral and on friendly terms with the Germans. Oh well, so much for appeasement because Germany invaded them anyway.


It's hard to say whether the original ammo is worth more or if these loaded with softpoints are worth more, which might also have to do with whether the original ammo is packed in boxes or sold loose and also the condition of either ammo and whether the prospective buyer is a cartridge collector or a shooter.

I would think that if the ammo was accurate and consistent that it would make very good hunting ammo for anyone who has a rifle chambered in 8mm Mauser.

[BC38]

2100 rounds, if you can even get $0.50 a round that's a nice chunk of change...

[ron]

2100 rounds, if you can even get $0.50 a round that's a nice chunk of change...

I'd ask A buck round And maybe sell for 75 cents if the wanted to buy all or it. But I expect that a lot of people will only want to buy smaller quantities. and even then starting our asking $1 dollar per round you cold come down to 80 cents and still make money depending on how much you paid for it.

[R.J.]

I would check the headstamp & see if you can find any for sale for a ballpark market value.

http://www.cartridgecollectors.org/?pag ... ampcodes#F

I don't think you can go by that in this case but that's a handy website to know about.

Keep in mind that this is "FN40" stamped Mil-surp imported by Iterarmco, and "re-manufactured" in Finland. This ammo has had the original FMJ's pulled and substituted with 174 grain softpoints and repackaged in cardboard boxes marked :sporting Ammo" (see pics with OP) "FN40" would indicate that it was made on 1940 by Fabrique Nationale in Belgium. Nazi Germany Invaded Belgium in May 1940 so this ammo may have been made for the German army later that year or they might have been selling it to them even before that since they were trying to remain neutral and on friendly terms with the Germans. Oh well, so much for appeasement because Germany invaded them anyway.


It's hard to say whether the original ammo is worth more or if these loaded with softpoints are worth more, which might also have to do with whether the original ammo is packed in boxes or sold loose and also the condition of either ammo and whether the prospective buyer is a cartridge collector or a shooter.

I would think that if the ammo was accurate and consistent that it would make very good hunting ammo for anyone who has a rifle chambered in 8mm Mauser.

There I go again reading too fast, completely missed that in the OP's post . Good info ron