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At work we ran across a belt of 7.62 that looked different. It was painted black and the primers appeared to be recessed about an eighth of an inch into the cartridge. When shaken we couldn't hear powder. Are these dummy? What are they used for? Thanks in advance!

All black suggests some processing after assemly. Going to the trouble of recessing the primer is odd. Sure it isn't completely missing and no flashhole punched into the body of the cartridge?

FWIW, I remember dummy rounds for MG drills that were just like the ones you describe. It didn't take long before the annodizing was all scratched off and the QM guy was mad at us!

They definately had some sort of primer. Looked like they had been hit by a firing pin too. They had the "LC" on them (the primers) for Lake City ammo plant.

I decided to do a little research:

Cartridge, 7.62mm, Dummy, M172

The cartridge is inert and is used to test the mechanism and metallic link belts of 7.62mm weapons.

The cartridge is identified by a black oxide finish over the entire round and has no primer. There is no vent hole in the primer pocket.

Type Classification: STD - AMCTC 4635

Here's some information I found on Lake City Arsenal that I found when researching various bullet caseings I have found on my various field problems while on active duty and otherwise;

Lake City Ordnance Plant (LC)





Located at Independence, MO this plant was originally operated by Remington Arms Co. and much later by Olin-Winchester. Lake city was one of the first wave ordnance plants and operated from 1941 to 1945. It was reopened in 1951 and has since operated continuously to the present time, now known as Lake City Army Ammunition Plant (LCAAP). Lake City produced caliber 30, caliber 30 carbine, caliber 50, caliber 50 spotter-tracer, 7.62mm and 5.56mm ammunition in very large quantities. Also produced but in smaller quantities were caliber 38 revolver, 7.62 X 39mm, 20mm and 30mm ammunition. In 1985 the plant operations contract was reassigned to Olin-Winchester and in 1999 it was again reassigned to Alliant Techsystems (ATK).