38 special midrange wadcutter

[jolsen]

I have an unopened box of federal midrange wadcutters. Are these collectable? Are they worth anything with bullseye shooting a thing of the past. John

[Sevens]

Lots of cartridge collectors love stuff like that, but a single box of it means that shipping it somewhere is, at least, annoying as it isn’t allowed to go US Postal.

That’s the food that the phenomenal S&W Model 52 eats!

[505Gibbs]

That's a 'Brand' I haven't seen in a loooooooooooong time!!

[ggibson511960]

I reload most of my ammunition so I don't buy much factory ammo, and don't pay a whole lot of attention to the factory ammo on shelves, but I have never laid eyes on a factory box of .38 Special 148 gr. wadcutters. I see them listed for sale online, but for me they are unicorns. I've reloaded a ton of them as range fodder for my own enjoyment. To clarify, I live in a part of the world where NRA bullseye shooting is not so popular.

[max]

When I started reloading over 40 years ago, I bought a case of once fired brass in boxes like that. I may have a few empty boxes left if I were to look.

[4barrel]

I have a case of once fired Winchester wad cutter nickel brass in the original boxes from the 70s.

[Sistema1927]

I hate to think just how much of that I shot up way back when. I think, but an not 100% sure, that I paid about $4.50 a box for it.

[JH1951]

I don't see a ZIP code on it so I'm thinking it is prior to 1963.....
There are collectors that would likely like to have it. The box alone may even sell on a large auction site. I have seen them sold for between $10. to $20. empty.......

[stansdds]

Collector stuff, for sure!

[LoboGunLeather]

The Monarch brand was made by Federal, usually seen in chain stores like Western Auto, KMart, and others. Many of the bigger companies produced ammo (and firearms) specifically for store brands (Sears "Ted Williams" line, Wards "Hawthorne" line, Western Auto "Revelation" line, and others). Usually a little lower price than the "big brand" products, but sold by the trainload to the bigger chain stores, and probably just the same as regular production.

Probably an interesting niche for collectors.

The 148-grain wadcutters were very popular for target and practice ammo, also about the lowest priced .38 Special ammo on the market. Back in the 1970's we used remanufactured ammo with wadcutters on the police department range; the brand name was 3-D and if I remember correctly the company provided ammo in our returned cases for under $2 per box (in multi-case lots, of course), less than $40 per thousand round case. We were required to qualify twice each year, but we could go to the range and shoot just about any time we wanted to. At that time new factory .38 Special ammo was about $5 per box at retail stores, maybe $9 or $10 for the fancy new hollow points.

Nearly a half-century later I am still using the 3-D cardboard boxes I collected from the police range for my reloaded ammo. I must have a hundred or more.

I got into reloading at that time. Primers were about $7.50 per thousand and bulk powders were under $5 per pound. I dug tens of thousands of .38 wadcutters up in the pits of our indoor range and used those to cast my own bullets, so the only cost was bullet lube. I figured my reloads at about $1.25 per box.

[PatriotX]

I loved the 3-d wadcutters.

They were an affordable training round that allowed me to practice as much as I wanted.

[jolsen]

Thanks everyone for the help. Does anyone know of a collectors website? John

[Robspeire]

Funny I just moved all my ammo today to a safe & I have 10 boxes of the same ammo & was wondering how old it was. I believe I bought them in the 70's
Thnx