Cartridge box first attempt

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going to go down to Michaels this weekend and get some of that craft paper heavy card stock. then im going to have some fun making some. Took me a while to figure out how to do it. Looking at web sites that sell the old style cartridge boxes some places wanted almost $10.00 for 1 box. kept thinking how dumb that was as i almost took out my credit card. now i am going to go to town and make up a bunch
 
I suggest using cereal boxes. That's what I use. Cereal boxes are thicker than the soda boxes.

My process (once I figured out the dimensions I needed) has been to cut out the pattern, fold and glue appropriately with the printed side out, spray paint the outside with a dark color (gray or drab green, even used tan on a couple), and finally print full-page labels that I wrap and glue to the entire outside. I spray a few coats of a flat clear-coat to finish things off and help seal against the elements.

The end result leaves a pretty clean look.

The little strips on the bottoms of the boxes are just to temporarily cover up my hometown that I used for a location as a little joke.
 

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And just for reference, the larger box holds 50 .38 Special cartridges stacked alternately as seen below.

They're probably not very "authentic" but I like them and they hold 50 cartridges at a time in a smaller package than modern boxes/trays.

By the end I might spend 45-60 minutes on each, but there's more time in there for allowing paint and glue to dry so in the past I've made them in batches. Save up a few cereal boxes, get one or two cartridge boxes cut from each cereal box, etc.

Fun little side projects. Hope I helped.
 

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Thanks. It took a couple prototypes to really get the process down, but I'm happy with these examples here. Believe me, the first one didn't turn out right at all, lol.

I don't mean to hijack your thread though, if you do up more boxes with card stock or whatever keep us posted with updates. I'm always interested in how other people do things. Your first box there looks similar to what I tried to do with mine.
 
Here are some I made. The first photo is of boxes ready purchased, forget who from but they were 44 magnum vintage looking boxes, of which I applied my own decals. The shotshell box I made as well as the decals.

Correction...the first box on the far left is a pre-made box/label. Again I forget where I purchased them.
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Nice job! IF you are worried about how you stacked them alternating like you did, that was how they did it years ago. I am old enough to remember and still have a few old boxes around very similar to what you came up with.
 
I thought it was going to be a military leather cartridge box. Those must be tough to sew. :uhoh:

Instead, it was a cardboard special made cartridge box. Whew. That's do-able. :D
 
Looks good! What do you use these for? Do you sell reloads? Or is this for re-enactments? Just curious.
 
Looks good! What do you use these for? Do you sell reloads? Or is this for re-enactments? Just curious.
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I don't know about others, but I just do it for fun. I do only put my reloads in them, and I have both smokeless and BP (substitute) reloads so the home-made boxes make it easier for me to keep things straight. Plus it just feels "right" when I'm taking out a lever gun and a SAA to grab a more vintage-esque box of ammo.
 
Same here AS! In my above post I used 44 Rem magnum boxes and applied my own decals of original boxes for the 44-40. I used different labels for each headstamp case. I used the 44 WCF boxes as is for my Winchester brass and the 44 Rem Magnum boxes with custom labels for my other brass like WW, StarLine, and Remington. I also use different black powder charges for each headstamp. Like you say, it keeps them separated as well as something to do in my spare time. The shotshell boxes are home made using medium chip board from my local hobby shop.
 
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