30 cal A.P.

[Renegade]

30 caliber armor piercing dated 1943 from Eau Claire (Wisconsin) ordnance plant. Why would these be in boxes and not in clips/ bandoliers or MG belts

 

[Renegade]

inside view ( a couple of rounds dont belong in this box)

 

[Big Al]

Those were probably intended for filling machine gun belts. MG ammo did not come belted from the factory. It came in cartons (like yours) and was belted up with a belt-filling machine in the rear before being brought up to the guns in the wood or metal boxes.

[jeed]

or like this........

[BigMoose]

Boxed ammo was and is very common, it could be sent to the rear and loaded into anything that was needed.

 

The M1918A2 gunners would usally directly load thier mags from the boxes.. But there was some AP loaded on five round stripper clips to be used with the BAR MAG loader attachment.

 

M1903A4 snipers took to carrying around boxed ammo. The scope blocked the stripper clip guide so the boxes made it easy to pull and single load. After the old M1 BALL was used up, M2 AP became thier favorite load.

 

http://s1191.beta.photobucket.com/user/bginner/library/S%20L%2055%20M2%20AP

[Johan Willaert]

Look at the upper Ammo Crate in this picture...

 

M2 Ball Ammo in cartons (boxes)

[BigMoose]

Look at the upper Ammo Crate in this picture...

 

M2 Ball Ammo in cartons (boxes)

 

Good point, the box held more.

[shtur]

I have two cans like the one jeed posted. I emptied their contents by cutting off their bottoms. They look good for a display on a shelf. I don't know if it's cost effective, but if someone wants one for the cost of shipping, let me know.

[Johan Willaert]

I have two cans like the one jeed posted. I emptied their contents by cutting off their bottoms. They look good for a display on a shelf. I don't know if it's cost effective, but if someone wants one for the cost of shipping, let me know.

 

PM sent!