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Wooden Ammo Boxes
- Thread starter boykinlp
- Start date
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Winchester has offered a wooden case for the 50th anniversary of AA target loads.
fat tom
Absent Comrade
I've got a couple of those old crates. They are full of gun stuff of one kind or another. Probably need to dump 'em out and see what I've forgotten that I have. 
f.t.
f.t.
DWalt
Member
Wooden ammo crates were being phased out by the late 1950s, and nearly extinct by the mid-1960s, having been replaced by corrugated cardboard. There are several different construction styles of wooden ammo crates. The very early ones were very well made, got cheaper as time went on. Note the jointed corners of the Remington crate vs. the others with simple nailed corners. Your shotshell boxes are from the 1950s and 1960s. The one piece cardboard shotshell boxes began in the late 1930s, and were about the only kind in use from the end of WWII onward. Prior to that, most shotshell boxes were two piece. The oldest wooden shotshell crate I have is a UMC crate for 10 gauge shotshells from around the 1890s. Printing is barely visible.
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the ringo kid
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Nice boxes. I have three myself but are of new manufacture.
OP
I've got a couple of those old crates. They are full of gun stuff of one kind or another. Probably need to dump 'em out and see what I've forgotten that I have.
f.t.
Bobby,
Probably full of junk like pre-war SATs, early tool kits, MOP and ivory grips, Tyler T-grips, bags full of pre-war N frame Large Silver Medallions, and pre-war grip adaptors.
35Rem
Member
loeman
Member
Those boxes are very cool. Thanks for sharing. Somewhere in the garage, I have a similar box labeled Dynamite. I need to dig it out and see how it was constructed and what the company was/is that made it.
DWalt
Member
I have several dozen assorted wooden ammo crates. I get them at garage and estate sales, but the supply seems to have dried up, as I haven't seen any for quite awhile. I use them for storage, keep them on shelves full of various types of stuff. The smallest I have is one for .410 shotshells. It's for hose clamps. Largest is a GI WWII crate for shotshells.
I picked up one of these a few weeks ago. Also my grandfather had a few of the older Western Cartridge Company crates and I was able to salvage a couple of them before my cousin got them all. Great to store gun & hunting stuff.
Don
SC_Mike
Member
All I can understand on mine is 7.62mm the rest is in Russian.
Rogue Wizard
Member
That bottom one is dovetailed. A bit of a lost art now-a-days. A good joint like that makes the box 100 times stronger than one that is nailed together (other two). Can ya tell I'm a woodworker........
DWalt
Member
The Remington crate has what is known as box joint or finger joint corners, typical for early ammo crates (and other types of crates and boxes). A dovetail joint is a similar idea, but not the same, and not usually used for boxes or crates as it is more complex to cut. It is commonly seen on older furniture, especially drawers. They resist pulling apart better than a finger joint corner due to the "dovetail" shape locking the corner together.
Rogue Wizard
Member
I stand corrected. They are finger joint corners! My eyes ain't what they used to be.
OP
Curiosity got the better of me today. I saw in some of the posts that these wooden ammo boxes were probably from the 50s or 60s and it got me to wondering.
Especially today with computers being what they are, you can find information on anything. I thought I would look up the "history" of these type boxes. I could not find anything!
I also figured that these were kinda collectible, so that there might even be a collectors site for them online.
I guess I am the ONLY one in the world who has wondered such a thing!!
Especially today with computers being what they are, you can find information on anything. I thought I would look up the "history" of these type boxes. I could not find anything!
I also figured that these were kinda collectible, so that there might even be a collectors site for them online. I guess I am the ONLY one in the world who has wondered such a thing!!
DWalt
Member
If you go onto the International Ammunition Association forum ( International Ammunition Association {iaaforum.org} - Index page ) and search, you'll probably find several threads about wooden ammunition crates. Most of the serious ammo nutcases hang out there.
I have a few. My only complaint is that they really don't hold much ammo.
John
John
In shotgun I have 12, 16, 20, 28, & 410. One dyneemite (Hercules) and a few rifle.
