Value of WW2 ammo? Collectable?

[Buckshot]

...........Or is this stuff just shooting ammo? I may have the possibility of getting 5 bandoliers of original WW2 M1 Garand ammo, with clips, carboards, safety pins, all headstamped DEN 42. Two of the bandoliers have small printed paper inserts that say if the user has any problems with the ammo to report it to their ordnance officer and the slips are stamped (with what looks like rubber stamps) with their lot numbers.

................Buckshot

[nicholst55]

I would think that with it being in the original packaging, with all the neat little extras, that this ammo would definitely have some collector's value. I have no idea how much value, but I', sure you could get a ballpark figure by doing a thorough web search.

Normally when you find ammo in the bandoleers, all the extras like the safety advisory are long gone.

[Blammer]

bang, bang, bang, bang.... until all gone.

[oldUSMCsgt]

Den 42 is pretty common, even still in the box. If you shoot it up, keep in mind that it is highly corrosive (corrosive primers), so give your bore a good scrubbing soon after shooting.

[Bloodman14]

Find WW2 re-enactor, I'm sure he'll snap it up!

[deltaenterprizes]

I know an ammo collector and will consult him for you. PM sent.

[nighthunter]

Buckshot ... there might be colector interest with the original packaging. Just like so much other stuff that has survived but with the original box and all that it came in the price goes up. I have some original military 30-06 dated 1941 in the original 20 round packaging and the boxes are printed in red with " RED LABEL SYNCHRONIZED GUNS R. A. F. " and "CAL .300 CARTRIDGE, BALL Remington Arms Company, Inc. Bridgeport, CONN. ". A while back a guy offered me $20 per box for it. I held on to it.

Nighthunter

[frankenfab]

bang, bang, bang, bang.... until all gone.

[smilie=l:

That's what I have done with most of the box of 30-06 incendiary I bought at a gun show!

[Ohio Rusty]

I have also wondered about unusual WWII ammo. I have some .32 acp rounds that have no makers marks or rim stamps whatsoever. The rounds belonged to my father in law. He was issued a .32 while he was in Europe, and some of the men in their division were responsible for asassinations of german officers. He had told me that if the shells had been marked, the germans could then point their finger as the groups that did their 'duty' by the stamps on the brass. My Father in law brought .32 rounds back with him, and he has them stored away until he gave them to me a few years ago and related the story behind them.
I don't know if the ammo had any value ...I do wish he would have also kept the pistol he used.
Ohio Rusty ><>

[gnoahhh]

Almost 70 year old M2 Ball ammo in the original clips, etc.? Too valuable to just shoot away, at about a buck a round, including clips. Besides, DEN 42 M2 Ball wasn't the most accurate stuff around, to put it mildly. Then you have the PIA of scrubbing the bore (including removal of copper fouling that traps the chlorate salts under it leading to a fuzzy bore 6 months later), then primer pocket crimp removal if you want to reload the brass.

We shot the hell out of that stuff back in the 60's when it was about $8/100 rounds. It's why a lot of guys never got around to reloading .30/06's. Used to just leave the brass lay, and figure on scrubbing the bore every few days for a while afterward. I shudder to think about how much Frankford Arsenal and Lake City Match ammo we breezed through back then too, mainly to get the high quality brass (some of which I'm still using).

[fatelk]

I have a few bandoleers too, wondered what to do with it.

It's too plentiful to be real valuable. They made billions and billions of rounds of the stuff and a lot of old-timers still have truckloads of it in their basements.

On the other hand, they're not making it anymore either. I made the decision to just put mine in an ammo can and save it for posterity. It's bound to be more collectible someday, and if I ever get desperate for ammo I can always shoot it.:)

Added: I reread your OP, and see that you are contemplating buying some, and wondering about the actual value of bandoleers in pristine condition, in which case my comments are not helpful. Sorry.