Dating ammo by lot number

[Animal Mother]

I recently traded some low recoil target rounds for some 00 buck my dad had from years ago and I was curious about just how old these are.

They are brown boxes of 5 round shotgun shells, with the following markings:
5 CARTRIDGES
12 GA SHOTSHELL
NO. 00 BUCKSHOT
LOT WCC 88D058-XXX
OLIN CORPORATION

From looking at the lot numbers, it would appear that they were manufactured in 1988, which my dad says it could the right date, as he's had them in storage for awhile. The boxes and shells themselves look brand new, but they've been stored well.

I strongly suspect that these are military rounds but they may just be some bulk ammo offering by Winchester/Olin. If anyone has any idea about the manufacture date or if these have any special value outside of normal 12 gauge rounds let me know.

 

[lipadj46]

WCC = Winchester
88 = 1988

Not sure if they are military surplus

 

[Pete409]

I've got some Olin Winchester 00 loads in 5-shot boxes from about that era and they are in white boxes. I also have some from about 10 years ago that are in silver color boxes.

I used to have some surplus military rifle ammo from about 40+ years ago and it was in brown boxes. My guess is that your shells were made for the military.

Question: Do the shells have a rolled crimp with a card on top of the shot, or are they paper or plastic shells with a star crimp on the end? This will give some idea of the age of the shells.