So, recently I stumbled upon a batch of "trade in" 45acp, described as unused and unopened boxes sent back from the dept. It was $17.99 a box/50, for either Speer Lawman TMJ or American Eagle FMJ. I ordered 8 boxes of both, which came to $321 shipped and tax. Or, $20 a box total.
It came in today, I am satisfied by the description of being unopened. Boxes were clean without wrinkles on the sides, and hard to open.

So, wondering about date of manufacture. I'm fine with the AE, as those boxes have, among other things, a date (2019) on the FCC registered trademark info.

The Speer, I'm not quite as sure about. I did note the lot #, which was E04C202.
Looking it up, it appears Speer has a cyclic date code, first letter (E) being month (May, in this case), numbers (04) being the day, and second letter (C) being the year. C is 1972, then 1997, then... 2021?
I get that from this site
SPEER Manufacture Dates - General Ammunition Discussion - International Ammunition Association Web Forum

So, I'm getting May 04, 2021 from that. Sound right to y'all?
The boxes aren't old, they list Speer's www address, so I think that rules out the past cycles.

Why is date of manufacture important?

If you are wondering about safety that's another matter. Speer should be your source for that. In most cases the stuff is stored within reason and should be safe to shoot. Did the vender mention anything about testing the stuff?

Smiles,

Something is funny about this. Cops don't give back bullets. Usually it would either be duty ammo, which the officers shoot prior to getting new ammo, or practice ammo which they would practice with. Not sure why they would trade in ammo.

Not sure I trust that it is trade in ammo.

My guess is they switched from .45 to 9mm.

Local PD made the switch last year and a LGS sold their .45 Glocks and ammo as “trade-in”.

Appears you got a decent deal on the ammo and if from a PD reasonable to assume storage was not in a leaky old shed and only a couple years old. Looking a gift horse in the mouth?

GT Distributors has LEO trade in ammo most of the time as well as pistols and few revolvers. Never had a problem. All LEO trade ins were when a Department changes caliber pistols.

Couple of years ago, Texas, I think Highway Patrol dropped the Glocks in .45 GAP they had been using for a change in caliber and gun. A Texas distributor was selling . 45 GAP Gold Dots for less that $20 a box of 50.. bought over 1500 bucks worth, yes it was trade-in ammo.

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Old paratrooper in NC

Same for me. Bought some 45gap from them for my 625.

Nah, I was really just curious about it, is all.

AE from 2019, Speer from 2021... I don't look at the date on things I buy "new", for all I know I've bought 2-3 yr old ammo off the shelf in quieter times. And I've certainly got a lot of stuff older than that.

The AE cases seem shinier; the Speer is duller. I haven't had the chance to shoot any (I don't seem to be shooting nearly as often). I'm pleased to have come across this.

How and where ammo is stored is more important to me that when it was made, as I have never personally had any issues with old ammo failing as long as it was stored correctly. Ammo made prior to the recent ammo shortage might even be better quality - since they were producing it under less stressful and less demanding circumstances.

I am still hunting with inherited 12 Ga. shotgun ammo that is just about as old as I am - never had a Pheasant get away due to ammo! BTW, those are paper/cardboard hull shells - which are more moisture sensitive than plastic. Never had one fail. Just recently went through a case of 2,000 rounds, Remington 38 special 158 grain RNL from the late 1950's or early 1960's..... not a single failure! My Dad stored them correctly.

Totally disagree here. When my dept went from 9mm to 45, we swapped a pickup truck load of 9mm ammo for credit on 45 ammo. The dealer said he does it all the time on dept deals.

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S&W factory revolver armorer