Hirtenburg cartridges

[charlieboy-shooter]

Hi,

Anyone got any ideas how old these cartridges may be. I have just the one box which has a number 9003025 stamped on it and they are 50gr SPP for .222rem. Box is a bit aged but the cartridges look fine. Still have seal around the primers which is red.

I went to a funeral awhile back and whilst waiting around outside I passed on some venison to someone and someone else passed these on to me. which all seemed rather strange considering the circumstances.

Anyway I am just curious to know how old they may be.

Thanks

 

[levigsp]

So when the old Eley factory had an explosion in the early 70s, there was a period where all sorts of foreign shotgun cartridges were sold here, Hirtenberg 12 bore cartridge were freely available for a time, but I've never seen the Rifle ammo.

 

[charlieboy-shooter]

So when the old Eley factory had an explosion in the early 70s, there was a period where all sorts of foreign shotgun cartridges were sold here, Hirtenberg 12 bore cartridge were freely available for a time, but I've never seen the Rifle ammo.

Quite possibly from then as they came from an ex RFD

 

[Bavarianbrit]

They had a bad reputation for the brass case quality.
RUAG bought them out and then shut the production down.
Supposed to be loaded up at the upper limits where drillings were hard to open after being shot.

 

[enfieldspares]

They break or bend decapping pins and decapping rods! The primer flash hole is smaller that standard specification on American, Norma, RWS, SAKO and everybody else's cartridges. Beware! I've some 7x64 marked *HP* that cost me a bent decapping rod!

 

[plonker]

Never reloaded any but have shot a few hundred through my 223 and have to say they shot amazing.Think they were 50/55gr soft points.
Atb dave

 

[Sinistral]

Hi,

Anyone got any ideas how old these cartridges may be. I have just the one box which has a number 9003025 stamped on it and they are 50gr SPP for .222rem. Box is a bit aged but the cartridges look fine. Still have seal around the primers which is red.

I went to a funeral awhile back and whilst waiting around outside I passed on some venison to someone and someone else passed these on to me. which all seemed rather strange considering the circumstances.

Anyway I am just curious to know how old they may be.

Thanks

View attachment 97815

These should be headstamped HP which stands for Hirtenberger Patronen or Hirtenberger Präzisionstechnik from Hirtenberg, Austria.
I don’t think HP was ever owned by Ruag but just got out of the ammunition business as the company grew & diversified.
According to the Hirtenberg Group website no smallarms ammunition has been manufactured since 2004 but this probably ended a couple of years before.

Yours look like very early production from late 80’s - early 90’s.

Here’s another product line from 2001. These were loaded with Nosler 55gr BTSP with HP primers & powder. The brass is good quality similar to RWS. All the components are now in my .223 adjusted to the same loading density.
The rounds on the RHS are .223 and 5.6 x 50 Mag (rimless).

 

[Laurie]

I acquired some Hirtenberger 7X57s in similar packaging some years back from a gunshop who'd got them with a trade-in rifle. There was no issue with their flash-holes being undersize.

There was a top American long-range Palma / Fullbore shooter who had Hirtenberger 7.62/308 Berdan primed cases imported specially in several thousand case orders many years ago. He believed the brass was better than equivalent US brass and the twin-flashhole Berdan priming system superior to the usual Boxer single central flash-hole variety.

 

[charlieboy-shooter]

Hi,

Yes they are headstamped HP. When I search the company a while back it appears they now deal in Mortar system and there was some historical information I came across about being bought out and then stopping small arm ammunition manufacture.

I don't intend to fire them. Not because of there age. As I have some remingtons SP for .222rem loaded back in 2004 and they shoot fine. It's just if the poi is different 20 cartridges aren't really enough to sort out and make worth while.

Thanks guys for your reply's and effort to take pictures.

 

[8x57]

Hirtenberg were at one time suppliers of 7.62/.308 target ammunition to the NRA. A friend gave me a couple of hundred cases once fired cases from ammunition that he had purchased for competition use at Bisley. I can't recall having any problems reloading them.

 

[Jagare]

I acquired a Box of .308 Hirtenberger back in the distant past. The thing that i still remember about them was the complete jacket separation from the core of the bullet in the deer i shot with them.

 

[WildBoarHunter]

Back in it's day, Hirtenberger was similar quality ammo as RWS. Besides softpoints, they loaded Nosler Partition, Ballistic Tip and Sierra Game King bullets and a certain type of monolithic bullet, called ABC, which was very famous for it's penetrating abilities well before Barnes and other monolithic bullets. FOX ammo is similar in appearance and in bullet material, but opens up in a different manner. ABC opened up to four petals while FOX mushrooms. In 2003 RUAG bought Hirtenberger and produced ammo for a couple of years more and then ceased production alltogether. Last boxes I had were 2004 German production and labeled Ruag. A few years ago Norma started loading the Norma Hirtenberger Line with Partition, Ballistic tip and Game king bullets. Those loads are current production copies of original Hirtenberger loads but are quite hard to find on the market. They were still in 2016/2017 Ruag catalog but seem to be missing from the current 2017/2018 catalog. Might also be discontinued.

 

[Jelen]

Resurrecting this thread as i've been offered 3 boxes of Hertenberger cartridges. They are .223 Sierra 55gr SP all the same lot number.
Ditto 3 boxes of Federall .223 Sierra Matching BTHP 52gr cartridges. These have the date (?) 09/99 and price £14.50 on the lid.
The condition of both the boxes and cartridges are as new so - presumably - they've been kept in a dry stable environment.
Does anyone have any info on either?
Maybe Laurie?
Safe to shoot?

 

[Sinistral]

Resurrecting this thread as i've been offered 3 boxes of Hertenberger cartridges. They are .223 Sierra 55gr SP all the same lot number.
Ditto 3 boxes of Federall .223 Sierra Matching BTHP 52gr cartridges. These have the date (?) 09/99 and price £14.50 on the lid.
The condition of both the boxes and cartridges are as new so - presumably - they've been kept in a dry stable environment.
Does anyone have any info on either? Maybe Laurie? Safe to shoot?

Yes, but I'd suggest googling both for info relevant to you. FWIW, I concur with WBH's assessment in #12.
Usually the date of production is encrypted for commercial reasons, so numbers stamped on the box don't mean anything without the key.
If possible, you need to post at least this level of detail to get an opinion on age & condition. Whether to shoot them is of course your call.