Interesting info, Slamfire. I have often wondered about that. It's interesting to see some real numbers regarding pressures of degraded powder. My experience with old powder has been that it SEEMS to lose "oomph" as it ages. Of course I have no way to actually measure pressure, and it could very well depend on the type of powder in question.
That powder from the old 30-40 round looks like some form of cordite, and that could very possibly be what it looked like when new. I have several of those very rounds from the late 1890's; maybe I'll check one just out of curiosity.
As to the old '06 round in question-
I have no plans to shoot it, safe or not. I'm quite convinced that it is the real thing, not a reload.
1. The primer looks original. It is definitely period correct and has been there a long time.
2. I pulled it apart. The inside looks like unfired brass, dark from age but no residue. 48 gr. of stick powder.
3. Correct bullet- 150gr flat-base cupronickel "M1906". These were only used before 1926.
Date indicates it was originally the 1903 (30-03) version of the cartridge. They were loaded with a round nose bullet. Yours has a pointed bullet meaning it has either been reloaded or case length reduced and turned into a 30-06 dummy round. Typically the dummy round has three grooves around the body of the case. In any case, it is more valuable as a collector round.
Definitely not a dummy round. It could be that someone pulled an '03 round apart, trimmed it, and reloaded it with the correct mil-spec M1906 bullet, but I suspect it's more likely that this was done during production, or maybe during pre-acceptance trials as they went from the 30-03 to the 30-06. I would assume that the very first '06 rounds were assembled from trimmed '03 brass stock on hand since that's the only difference.
As an amateur cartridge collector I see no sign at all that it's anything but what it was when it came out of Frankford Arsenal 107 years ago. Not that it matters though. It's been polished which I assume would destroy any collector value. It's still a cool specimen for my meager collection.
I guess meager isn't the right word. I have a large 20mm naval ammo can full of oddball ammo, but I think the most I ever paid for one round is about $10 (most far less), so I'm not what you would call a serious collector.
Thanks again for all the comments.
