My son in law recently bought a house and found some old ammo in it which He gave to me. It is some neat looking stuff, which I hadn't heard of before. A box of .45 ball and 1 each .22 short and long. Any info on this?

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More pics of the .22 ammo

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No expert but the 45 acp looks like military issue. Perhaps WWII?

It’s 1942 Ww2 .45acp ammo...some collector value there. Especially with the 1911 release coming. .22 boxes are cool

Very cool! Kyle

If I am not mistaken, the American Cartridge Company in Minneapolis was a division of Federal Cartridge, and was previously in Kansas City. The cartridges certainly predate 1962, since there is no "Keep Away from Children" warning. And, judging by the font and language, I wouldn't be surprised if they date to the 1930's. One of the .22 cartridge collecting experts will probably be along soon with more information.

Good stuff. I had never heard of the Superior brand.

The WWII .45 ammo looks to be in nice condition for its age.

Are those full boxes?

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Oh well, what the hell.

Yes, all 3 boxes are full

Thanks, I kind of thought that about the .45 stuff. I kind of remember my Dad having some similar in his military stuff when I was a kid.

Some people collect box lots of vintage ammo. There is no catalog of ammunition values and ammo is worth what people are willing to pay for it.

You may find that its best value is to simply shoot it off. I don't know if the .45 ACP ammo is corrosive primed but I'm sure it will fire.

The .45 ACP is WW II issue ammo and as the headstamp shows it was manufactured in 1942. The cases are steel (trying to save the brass for the war effort). Also they are corrosively primed. The box is in about fair condition. Not sure, but maybe worth about $25.00 to a collector.

If I get time will look up the .22 ammo later.

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USMC 69-93 Combat Pistol Inst.

Hi RichardWA,

Your photos of the SUPERIOR CARTRIDGES .22's reminded me that I had an old box of SUPERIOR CARTRIDGES .22 Long Rifle's as well. I have no idea if mine pre-date or post-date your examples. I DO know that my box is in considerably worse shape, and ALSO, mine was never equipped with box ends. The box cover is purely a sleeve that slides over the content portion; no tabs to close up the box. Also, as you can see from my photos, the color is entirely different.

This box was passed down to my brother-in-law from his father. My brother-in-law gave the ammunition to me since he doesn't own a .22.

SUPERIOR CARTRIDGES .22's

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Dave Brown
SWCA #3279

As Federali stated, the .45 is probably corrosive. If it were mine I would not shoot it. Just my humble opinion.
Jim

Over the years, I’ve shot a fair amount of 45acp ammo like yours. I still have several hundred rounds of it. It’s not particularly valuable.

It is reliable but it’s a good idea to clean the barrel soon after you shoot it because of the corrosive primers.

Pretty simple: I drop the barrel in soapy water, run a few patches through the barrel then I rinse in hot water. (Hot water dries more rapidly than cold, but either hot or cold works fine).

From memory, E C .45 Ball was made at Eau Claire

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Chris
SWCA #2243 SWHF #292

Evansville Ordnance (Chrysler)
It is corrosive.

Some guns balk with it. Seems like it is always grimy and gritty. I would not shoot it in a high quality gun. It may not be so, but I'd be worried about scratching my chamber.

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Regards,
Lee Jarrett

^
This. I'd sell it to a collector and buy a box of modern ammo to shoot.

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What would Jim Cirillo do?

Wasn't planning on shooting any of it, just thought it was pretty cool. Besides, the only .45's I have are a SW 745 and an old colt revolver that takes .45 rimmed but will shoot acp with the moon clips. Mainly I was curious because I had never heard or seen ammo boxes like that before

I shot some steel cased WW2 .45 ACP at
a range get together years ago. Can't
recall anything beyond it being GI and
steel case, that maybe every 5th
round was a dud, and all the rounds
that fired were variable in report &
recoil.

I'd vote on keeping it for posterity,
or selling to a collector. The CMP
1911A1 sales probably will give a
kick to collector interest.

I'd be more worried if the primer or powder was corrosive.

I've never noticed my CZ's getting scratched chambers shooting steel cased ammo nor my Commander but I shoot modern steel case ammo for what it's worth. So I agree with you Hand..

OP, there is a collector value to the box/ammo for the .45acp. Personally, I would keep it for it's historical value, picture taking, shadow box kinda nostalgia. That ammo looks really good to be 75+ years old. As long as ammo is stored high and dry it will shoot well. I've still got very limited quantity of 7.62's with a 68' headstamp on them them I bought in 1993'. I know it still touches off!

The 22 boxes are in decent shape and would have some collector value though I am not sure what they would go for. There seem to be a lot of 22 box collectors, certainly they are easier to sell than center fire ammo boxes or most loose rounds. I collect 22 boxes myself and sell or trade duplicates at local shows (mainly OGCA or Tri State collectors here in Ohio). I usually look for similar boxes on specialty ammo websites when trying to figure out what something might be worth, there are no Blue Books for ammo. Pricing seems to vary quite a bit sometimes, in the end any item is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it.

I don't remember seeing any of the OP's 22 boxes at shows around here but I do have a Kansas City box of Superior ammo like another poster showed. Mine is in better shape and does have end flaps but the labeling is identical. I believe the OP's boxes are from the late 30's or 1940's, IIRC Federal bought out American Cartridge but continued to use some of their brand names (including American Eagle as appears on the OP's boxes).

I just looked up the Superior Boxes in ".22 Boxes Of The USA" by Tony Dunn. Near as I can figure out the red box was used from the 1930's to the 1950's. Sometime in the 1950's the red box was superseded by the same design but in yellow.

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USMC 69-93 Combat Pistol Inst.