Well, today I went out for dinner and when I came home, lo and behold there was a package waiting for me on my doorstep. I think the UPS guy kicked over a plant on his way out for making him lug this package to my house.
After peeling off 40 layers of cardboard and several nautical miles of packing tape, I was graced with this kick ass wood crate. Inside, there were 800 7.62x54r* rounds just dying to meet me. And I was dying to meet them too!
I broke the seal and checked out the contents. To my surprise (not) there was another box inside the wood box. This is Russian ammo, and seeing it pop out like a matryoshka doll was to be expected.
The tin case had rings that you pull, much like opening a FedEx package. One broke off, and the whole damn thing was coated in cosmoline (a thick Vaseline sludge) which made holding onto it a bit of a chore. But I persisted and finally won.
Guess what was inside?
You got it! More boxes. 40 of them, each storing 20 beautifully lacquered 7.62x54r cartridges. The whole case had this... smell. I can't describe it, but it was quite interesting. I guess if I sat around for 20 years I'd kind of smell funky too. Especially if I was sitting wrapped in cardboard in a tin container smeared with brown cosmoline.
I stacked about 18 boxes in an ammo can I just picked up for easy toting to the range. Not that I plan on shooting 360 rounds in one sitting. I don't have that much connective tissue in my shoulder. But it's easier than carrying around loose ammo and the cardboard boxes they sit in aren't super sturdy.
Now, if you want to see why the AR-15 (Poodle-shooters as Kim DuToit likes to call them) sounded so wimpy compared to the M44 in my video, check out the differences in cartridge sizes.
Heading to the range again tomorrow with a friend. It's his birthday and what better gift to give that a broken shoulder and sore eardrums? I'm planning on shooting a few while standing to get the feel from firing on my feet. I have a feeling if I ever need to use this rifle for actual defense, sitting in a chair resting on a table isn't going to be feasible.
Range report when I'm done. Promise.
*Oddly, the markings on the crate and inner box indicate 7.62x59, however I've seen several pictures on the web that all have the same markings. They're identical to the Brown Bear rounds I have and are sold at 7.62x54.
Did you see the little packing slip inside the outer case?