Vintage ammo, too much collector value not to shoot?

[dacoontz]

Have accumulated these boxes of ammo over the last few months. Bought it to shoot but wondering if any of this stuff is too valuable to shoot. The Jet ammo (only 1 full box) probably has some value and may be worth keeping but the other stuff I am not so sure. The red boxes are unused jet cartridges that I picked up this weekend thanks to the sharp eyes of another S&WCA member. Not sure I want to load these jet cartridges for the same reason that I am reluctant to shoot some of this ammo. Any opinions from the ammo experts? I am NO expert on this topic. Thanks gents.

 

[perrazi]

why not load the jets? they are my favorite gun to play with.personall i would keep the older peters ammo, and the metal point super-X. the rest is not valuable beyond the worth of factory ammo. keep anything that says jet on it. if you an experienced reloader, the jets load just like rilfe cartridges,but you must be mindful of powder selection and amounts. btw, only .222or .223 diameter bullets in the jet.

 

[30-30remchester]

I have been a cartridge collectoer for 45 plus years now so I do have some knowledge. Of all the ammo you show the most valuable is the yellow Winchester box of 357's with the metal piercing bullets. While not armour piercing these do bring @ $50 for a full box. Not rare but hard to find I would suggest you shelve the Metal piercing and the Peters ammo as these are your nicest most valuable. The real shame is to shoot any of it. Most likely will be wasted on paper or tin cans. How about trading it to a collector for some shooting ammo.

 

[dacoontz]

I agree that it would be a shame to shoot some of this stuff just for plinking. I would rather hold onto it and keep it in as great condition. Some of this stuff I have duplicates of so I might be willing to trade or sell off to fund other things like more appropriate shooting ammo or S&W stuff, not that I am trying to turn this into a WTS add. I appreciate the opinions thus far.

The ammo does make great gun photo scene props. How does one date this stuff?

As for the jet cartridges. I'd rather reload stuff that has been once shot. Do you get much longevity out of the jet cartridges or are you limited on the amount of times you can reload these?

 

[30-30remchester]

A ROUGH date follows. The yellow box Winchester have the "child warning" thus made after 1962 and until @1970. The green and white Remingtons are from the late 60's thru the 1970's as is the blue and white peters boxes. The blue and yellow Peters are from the 1960's if I recall correctly.

 

[dacoontz]

Thank you 30-30.

 

[chief38]

Your post made me chuckle! I started collecting old ammo about 12 years ago and every once in a while I'd run into an Old Timer at the Range who was just about to shoot a 60 or 70 year old box in pristine condition. I would routinely offer to replace his ammo with factory fresh and they would always be willing to do it. After a while I actually had guys calling me to let me know they would either exchange their ammo with me, or just out and out sell it. I bought most of it for less than it would have cost me to buy fresh ammo at the Gun Shop.

Now I have a sizable collection that has taken over a very large closet. I used to display it in my Gun Room (on a shelf) but now it has just grown too large for that. Once in a Blue Moon, I will take a vintage gun such as a Colt Model M pocket model built in 1915 and shoot it with a box of the old ammo - just feels right. It gives me great pleasure knowing that the old gun is shooting ammo from same era, and besides, my collection has grown to the point that I need to cull it down once in a while.

I inherited a pristine CASE of Remington 38 Special "Police Cartridges" that came packed 2,000 rounds (50 boxes) to the case. The case was still Factory sealed and I offered it for sale for what I thought was a very reasonable price of $1000.00. You can't even but new ammo in that configuration for that price today, so I figured even if someone just wanted it to shoot it would be a good bargain! Guess what..........after posting it for am month and no bidders, I said the heck with it and broke opened the carton and started shooting it. I saved a few boxes, but I have enjoyed shooting the old ammo out of my pre- 1920's Hand Ejector. Still works great! I also love the looks I get at the Range when someone sees the boxes. They routinely ask me if Remington has changed their boxes........

Chief38

 

[ralph7]

i don't think i would shoot any of it.
i have a small amount of old ammo and they just don't make that stuff in those cool boxes anymore.
i think that 5 or 10 years down the road one might be kicking themselves for shooting what ultimately will become somewhat pricey.
remember people used to alter military rifles (krags) and pistols, (1911s) because they were everywhere.
one day the old ammo will be all gone, except for those that collected it.

 

[bigmoose]

lead .357 magnum

Don't shoot those Remington .357 magnum lead rounds unless you want to foul up your bore with lead. If they are anything like the Western rounds I fired a few days ago, they are not worth the effort it takes to clean the bore. The .357 pushes the bullet way too fast, you need a jacketed round. See my recent thread in the ammo section.

 

[dacoontz]

Thanks for the added opinions. I am inclined to simply hold onto the stuff. I have a small collection of ammo (as you can see) so it's not taking up too much room just yet.

Big moose, thanks for the added advice on the 357 ammo. It is actually the only box there that doesn't have any ammo with it. I just wanted to throw it in for the picture. Are you seeing the same kinds of lead fouling results with other calibers? Can the 44 mag high velocity type rounds give the same results?

 

[perrazi]

dacoontz- loading jets really isn't difficult. the number of reloadings per case is directly related to how hot you load them. i use hs-6 for my normal play load at the starting amount. it is available on the hodgdon website. i do use a magnum primer also.it is plenty fast to use at 100yds. the best part is the cases last for a good long time. you will have a loose primer pocket before anyting else. then you can use a couple more times if you use cci primers. your new boxes of 50 cases i might not use,but anything fired is fair game. make sure you size them down far enough so they don't have to be pushed into the cylinder. enjoy your jet. they are a hoot.

 

[bigmoose]

dacoontz,

I do not have any experience with the .44 mag. I would suspect that any non jacketed lead bullet in a high performance cartridge like the .357 or .44 at velocities greater than 1000 fps (my Western rounds were listed on the box at 1415 fps!) are going to leave a lot of lead fouling. I really am still learning about a lot of this stuff, so others are much more qualified to address these types of questions.

Here is a pic of the .357 ammo (heavy fouling) and some of my mild .38 wadcutter handloads (no fouling).

 

[markeb]

I have one and a half boxes of the Remington green and white box in 38 Special that was given to me by my neighbor when I bought his service gun, a S&W M15. He was a State Police Officer in the late 60's thru early 70's. Five rounds at the front of the box are what he called wadcutters, that have about a quarter of an inch flat bullet. He told me not to practice with these, use for self- defense. I don't plan on shooting any but plan to keep as a neat old box of ammo.

 

[336A]

Before my father passed I got quite a few boxes of .22 mag in the old yellow boxes as well as some in .357 mag. I also have a box of the old Norma .357 mag ammo that has the wood grain on the sides. The box says 158gr JSP but they look like the old Speer half jacketed SWC style bullets.

 

[rburg]

Well, yer a breakin' my heart with all that good as gold ole ammo! It belongs in some fools collection (like mine). There are actually old fools (like me) who seek it all out.

Back in the fall of 2008 when the ammo scare started, some body realized it was a good time to dump their old and unsalable ammo. So they brought a couple of dozen wood boxes with all sorts of ammo. Best part was it was priced fairly. My gunshow partner Joe found the table first. So he did what he always does, looted it. But he already had so much he couldn't carry it. When I saw it I trailed him back to the tables. Then I bought up all the moldy old ammo (it wasn't moldy).

For those of us who own odd calibers that aren't normally stocked in gun shops, it was a gold mine. I ended up with so much it took a couple of trips out to the jeep. Even old Charlie Sherrill made a few comments that I should leave a little for the other guys! My response was "why?" And I've been known ever since as an ammo hoarder.

But then I've got 15 boxes of .30 Luger ammo! Bet Y'all don't!

 

[mike from st pete]

Condition is everything. If the boxes are in near perfect condition, then maybe sealing up an example or two is a good idea. If the boxes are partially full, dog eared, or stained. Shoot it.