Strange .30 cal Ammo Box

[Mr.Jerry]

This just walked into our shop yesterday. I have never seen one like it. Embossed and sized like a WW2 .30 ammo box, but that's where the similarities end. It is white, and looks like it has always been white. No trace of green. There is no top handle, never was. The end pieces are twist latches, and the whole top is removable - not hinged like a normal can. The inside of the lid has a pressboard top lining.

 

has anyone ever seen anything like it?

 

Thanks.

Jerry

[General Apathy]

Hi Jerry, I think you will find that ' Forum Support ' posted an identical box but different color about six months or so ago, I also seem to remember he e-Bayed it and got the dizzy heights figure of $10 or something like that.

 

Cheers ( Lewis )

[Bob Hudson]

Hi Jerry, I think you will find that ' Forum Support ' posted an identical box but different color about six months or so ago, I also seem to remember he e-Bayed it and got the dizzy heights figure of $10 or something like that.

 

Cheers ( Lewis )

 

Here's the thread on that one: http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/ind...showtopic=24444 - it sold for $30 and the consensus seems to be that they were used in armored vehicles and came in red and white.

[Mr.Jerry]

Thanks Guys!

 

That helps. I know an old armor guy, I'll have to ask him about them. It would make sense as there is no way you could easily carry these things full of ammo on a battlefield.

[J_Andrews]

A friend of mine turned up one of these about 20 years ago, at an estate sale near Aberdeen MD. Other items indicated the decedent was an Ordnance vet if not lifer retiree. The sellers thought it a "tool box".

 

He researched it, partly by querying the Aberdeen musuem. It was the first type of METAL ammo box field tested by the Army, in 1940-1941. It LED to the more familiar pressed steel type of 1942 vintage. His, and most others seen, are finsihed with red lead paint (primer). The white ones apparently got the paint job commonly used inside tanks (for high visibility of anything "adrift" and ready eyeball check of the on board equipment).