1942 vintage M2 Ball

[LouisianaJoe]

I picked this up and Thought that yall might like to see some WWII ammo. This was made in Salt Lake City in 1942.

 

[BUFF]

My mom worked there for a few months.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

Cool photos, thanks for sharing them...

 

[625smith]

Nice just clean your rifle well as that is corrosive ammo.

 

[cgt4570]

I've got a case of '43. Yep they used corrosive primers. I only run it through my 1903A3, and not my Garand due to the '03 being easier to clean. You can neutralize the corrosive salts after shooting by squirting some ammonia based window cleaner down the bore. That'll keep it from rusting until you can get home and give it a proper swabbing.

 

[David Sinko]

I have some in similar boxes from 1918 that was engineered to shoot between the propeller blades of the planes on which the machinegun was mounted. Some of it actually looks brand new and I'm thinking about shooting it through my Ruger bolt action. The powder is still dry (I can hear it rattling around inside) but I have no idea if the primers are still good.

Dave Sinko

 

[mkk41]

I've seen that the wide red stripe was also painted on US Model of 1917 rifles (and M1 Garands) sent to Great Britian , to easily tell the diff between those and .303 chambered rifles.

 

[Texasflyboy]

The stenciling on the can decodes as:

20 CARTRIDGES: Self Explanatory
CAL 30 BALL M2: Self Explanatory
IN CARTONS: Means in cardboard boxes of era
LOT U 16053: Per TM9-1990 (May 23 1942) this is the original lot number of the ammunition inside the container
GRADE AC/R: AC = Suitable for use in Aircraft or Anti-Aircraft Machine Guns. R = Suitable for use in Semi-Automatic and Bolt Action Rifles.
CODE: TIEHW-5 = This is a reference to the order that repacked the ammunition at Hawaii Ordnance Depot in 1950.
REPACK HAW . 50 = Ammunition repacked from original container into this storage unit at Hawaii Army Ammunition Depot 1950.