Old Ammo Cans And Crate.

[GunnyUSMC]

Last month my buddy Matt came down from South Dakota to visit and repair some of his gun stocks that he had shipped down here. Matt makes it down here about once every three years and has stock work for me. I think that I have done about $3000 worth of free stock work for Matt in the pass 10 years, maybe more. But what are friends for.
But from time to time Matt will send me something to pay me back for the work I’ve done. Today the mail man dropped of two boxes from Matt.
Here’s what was in them. Two WWII ammo cans and a 410 ammo crate from India. Matt knows how much I like ammo cans and creates.

 

[Charliefrank]

It's always nice to get unexpected payback.
In the 70's you couldn't walk 5 feet without kicking an old surplus can. Not so much anymore. Shame because they work so well.

 

[bannockburn]

Charliefrank

It's always nice to get unexpected payback.
In the 70's you couldn't walk 5 feet without kicking an old surplus can. Not so much anymore. Shame because they work so well.

I remember you couldn't walk into an Army-Navy Surplus store without running into a bunch of ammo cans; use to be priced pretty cheap too. I would say nearly 80% of my ammo is stored in metal ammo cans, both .30 cal. and .50 cal. Did have a 20mm. ammo can my brother gave me but even halfway loaded up with ammo made that box way too heavy to move. Last time I moved I gave it away so I didn't have to lug that thing around anymore.

 

[Ks5shooter]

Good friends are hard to come by, but worth the patience to find. Enjoying your cans I can see,but I expect you enjoy his company much more.

 

[Slamfire]

In the 70's you couldn't walk 5 feet without kicking an old surplus can. Not so much anymore. Shame because they work so wel

World War two cans are hard to find, but, take a walk down the sporting goods aisle at Walmart, and you can buy newly made, chinese made, 50 caliber ammunition cans. Current Walmart web price for "Stout Stuff" ammunition cans is $8.97 https://www.walmart.com/ip/Stout-Stuff-Metal-Ammo-Box/181890587.




I have purchased a good number of these, the paint color is correct Army Green, I can't tell a difference in construction between a Stout Stuff can and a military surplus can. The Stout Stuff cans are new, don't have rust, which is to their advantage, over used military surplus cans.

 

[dh1633pm]

I have almost all loaded ammo stored in 50 or 30 cal cans. They are wonderful.

 

[GunnyUSMC]

World War two cans are hard to find, but, take a walk down the sporting goods aisle at Walmart, and you can buy newly made, chinese made, 50 caliber ammunition cans. Current Walmart web price for "Stout Stuff" ammunition cans is $8.97 https://www.walmart.com/ip/Stout-Stuff-Metal-Ammo-Box/181890587.


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I have purchased a good number of these, the paint color is correct Army Green, I can't tell a difference in construction between a Stout Stuff can and a military surplus can. The Stout Stuff cans are new, don't have rust, which is to their advantage, over used military surplus cans.

I have a few them.

 

[AlexanderA]

Here's some more information on your .30 cal. ammo can. It's an M1A1 model, which was standardized in June 1945, right at the end of WW2. The previous M1 design was produced starting in the fall of 1942. Both were superseded by the more "modern" design as early as 1946.

The latch on your M1A1 can was specifically for attaching the can directly to the side of the M1917A1 MG tripod mount. If you don't need it for that purpose, the latch simply gets in the way. But, if you're an MG owner with that tripod mount, you'll pay a premium for this type of can in good condition. (The alternative is the old wooden type of ammo box, or the less-than-satisfactory M1 can.)

 

[GunnyUSMC]

Here's some more information on your .30 cal. ammo can. It's an M1A1 model, which was standardized in June 1945, right at the end of WW2. The previous M1 design was produced starting in the fall of 1942. Both were superseded by the more "modern" design as early as 1946.

The latch on your M1A1 can was specifically for attaching the can directly to the side of the M1917A1 MG tripod mount. If you don't need it for that purpose, the latch simply gets in the way. But, if you're an MG owner with that tripod mount, you'll pay a premium for this type of can in good condition. (The alternative is the old wooden type of ammo box, or the less-than-satisfactory M1 can.)

Thanks for the info. I was wondering what that latch was.
The inside of the cans are in pretty good shape.

 

[H&R Glock]

Sheesh, after looking at Gunny's can, I'd like to offer these poor photos of my can, or cans. I would like to know how old they are. I found these while searching for 3006 ammo for my hackberry M1. The latch is strange but similar to one of Gunny's. I am thrilled that the goofy companies that made these seemed to put their names proudly on the can.

Any info on these would be appreciated.

 

[Dr.Rob]

All my ammo cans are 7.62 VN era.

Though my brother gave me some ghastly heavy metal navy gray box that might have been for Bofors rounds or some such.

 

[AlexanderA]

Sheesh, after looking at Gunny's can, I'd like to offer these poor photos of my can, or cans. I would like to know how old they are.

Those are M1 cans, which preceded the M1A1 in Gunny's picture. They were produced from 1942-45, and are very typical of WW2. The locking lever was designed to clip onto the side of the M1917A1 MG mount, with the slot at the bottom of the lever fitting over a tab on the tripod's side bracket. This works, but it's not as positive an attachment as the M1A1 can.

 

[czhen]

Gunny my wife ask me all the time how many ammo cans or crates I need.
I put my tools and reloads on them.
I got the answer for her now, I will show your stash.

 

[sharkman]

After seeing all of the Gunny’s Ammo cans, I know who I want for a neighbor in case of a zombie apocalypse

 

[AlexanderA]

Don't forget that ammo cans, like fuel and water cans, are part of a logistical system, designed to mesh seamlessly with the weapons for which they are intended. Even the painted markings on them are significant. When we buy surplus ammo cans and put them to mundane uses, we lose some of that significance. The cans, particularly the early ones, are fast becoming highly collectible and valuable in themselves. (Who would have thought a few years ago that M1918 belt-filling machines would be worth close to $1,000?) So don't abuse them just because, at the moment, they might be cheap and plentiful.

 

[GunnyUSMC]

Gunny my wife ask me all the time how many ammo cans or crates I need.
I put my tools and reloads on them.
I got the answer for her now, I will show your stash.

I have more.

 

[SamT1]

What do y’all recogn the 50 cal can that age is worth? I frequent a gun store with one that style and age for $40 I believe.

 

[GunnyUSMC]

What do y’all recogn the 50 cal can that age is worth? I frequent a gun store with one that style and age for $40 I believe.

You can find them on Ebay for around $50, but if you look a little harder you can find them for $20.
http://armysurpluswarehouse.com/ammo-box-50-cal-can-wwii/

 

[AlexanderA]

What do y’all recogn the 50 cal can that age is worth? I frequent a gun store with one that style and age for $40 I believe.

That sounds about right, if in good condition.

Unlike the .30 cal.cans, the side-opening .50 cal. cans, although typical of WW2, are not specifically needed for the gun mountings. (Most .50 cal. vehicle mounts have built-in or accessory trays with pressure arms, that will accept any kind of can, with lid removed.) Therefore the market for side-opening .50 cal. cans is mainly WW2 reenactors or can collectors, and not so much vehicle collectors or .50 BMG owners. In either case, we're not talking about a lot of people. All of this tends to keep prices down.

 

[GunnyUSMC]

I cleaned the cans up yesterday, they were pretty dirty.

 

[AlexanderA]

I cleaned the cans up yesterday, they were pretty dirty.

I'm not familiar with those markings. What is an armor piercing (A.P.) "core"? A bullet? And how do you substitute it for a Ball "core"? Do you pull the M2 Ball bullets and handload the A.P. bullets in their place? Or, are these complete A.P. rounds, intended to be put into belts, substituting for Ball rounds in a certain ratio? (I think the latter.)

Likewise, the .30 cal. tracers, even though linked in a 250-round belt, seem to be intended to substitute for a certain ratio of Ball rounds in another belt. If intended for this purpose, why link them together? They would have to be unlinked before being put in the other belt. Why not just pack them loose?

 

[H&R Glock]

Official military ammunition markings were meant to confuse the green recruit and further aid in endangering his life. During the war:
Linguists were also hired to compose ammo can marking language that would utterly confuse the enemy if an enemy were to capture the ammunition, Hopefully resulting in the enemy wounding himself in an attempt to re-load one bullet casing with another while reading the Hornady reloading manual in a battle trench.
Unfortunately this led to foreign governments failing to buy surplus U.S. ammo as the markings on the cans were thought to be undecipherable consumer warning labels.


Just kidding!

 

[Kaeto]

I have a side opening can in Navy Grey.

 

[bandur60]

and I have a ".50-size" can that instead is labelled '1200 38 Special - Ball M1 - in cartons - lot WCC-1-6018', and a ".30-size" one I can't find that is labelled for 22 long rifle. Just got them 'cause they are unusual and conversation pieces.

 

[CapnMac]

I'm not familiar with those markings. What is an armor piercing (A.P.) "core"? A bullet? And how do you substitute it for a Ball "core"? Do you pull the M2 Ball bullets and handload the A.P. bullets in their place? Or, are these complete A.P. rounds, intended to be put into belts, substituting for Ball rounds in a certain ratio? (I think the latter.)

Likewise, the .30 cal. tracers, even though linked in a 250-round belt, seem to be intended to substitute for a certain ratio of Ball rounds in another belt. If intended for this purpose, why link them together? They would have to be unlinked before being put in the other belt. Why not just pack them loose?

It's a doctrinal thing. There will be a diktat roll down from Higher that nothing but M7 Ball is to be used in M2 HBs.

But, there are existing stockpiles of M2 ball that are perfectly acceptable for training purposes (usually with a TM or FM on specifics of "non approved" use). So, the Ordinance commands (which will have all sorts of names now) tells the people stockpiling the ammo to label those stockpiles according to the current and past diktats.

Loading belts used to be a Brigade/Regiment task--the weapons commands would get wooden crates of loose ammo and would set the privates upon loading machines to create the ammo to be passed down to Battalions, Combat Teams, and Companies, and so on.

But, early on, the DoD discovered that simply ordering the belts loaded in cans directly was far more efficient all around. Before 1947 (really before about '55) ammo cans had no markings, as they were a separate Supply item to pass through trains to line units. At a certain level of logistics logic, you had the absurdity of wooden crates of empty cans taking up shipping room next to wooden crates of loos ammo, and empty links. Somebody along that way said, "If we don't tie the Gordian Knot, we don't have to cut it later." But, that, meant having to stencil all those cans with more than a small bit of Supply verbiage. Which has its own argot and jargon, and therefor abbreviates into a rather specific gibberish []