I purchased a lifetime accumulation of ammunition from an estate and a few of these boxes of Remington .45 Automatic were part of the deal. You'll notice the back is stamped "05 FEB 1941, LOT 47" and the box is marked, "... adapted to Colt Automatics and Thompson Sub-Machine guns."
I've never seen this particular box before and was having a hard time identifying it. It's not typical military packaging and Lend Lease wasn't passed into law until March 11th 1941. The NFA was passed in the mid-1930's, so I found it odd that the box mentioned the Tommy gun. At first I thought this might be LE ammo, possibly for the FBI. I finally stumbled across a British War Relics Forum that answered my questions.
When Britain was first attacked, the British Purchasing Commission began buying commercial ammunition from US manufacturers. Remington received the first contract for .45 ACP ammo in February of 1941. The contract was for 3 million rounds at a cost of $24.50 per thousand. My boxes were part of that first contract run and were packed 50 rounds per box (standard for the USA). Later boxes were made to hold 42 rounds, so the boxes would nest better in standard British shipping crates.
I have no idea how many of these boxes survived in the US or if they have collector value, but I had fun doing the research and thought I'd share the information.
I've never seen this particular box before and was having a hard time identifying it. It's not typical military packaging and Lend Lease wasn't passed into law until March 11th 1941. The NFA was passed in the mid-1930's, so I found it odd that the box mentioned the Tommy gun. At first I thought this might be LE ammo, possibly for the FBI. I finally stumbled across a British War Relics Forum that answered my questions.
When Britain was first attacked, the British Purchasing Commission began buying commercial ammunition from US manufacturers. Remington received the first contract for .45 ACP ammo in February of 1941. The contract was for 3 million rounds at a cost of $24.50 per thousand. My boxes were part of that first contract run and were packed 50 rounds per box (standard for the USA). Later boxes were made to hold 42 rounds, so the boxes would nest better in standard British shipping crates.
I have no idea how many of these boxes survived in the US or if they have collector value, but I had fun doing the research and thought I'd share the information.
