99 year old 45 ACP brass

[Eddie17]

Picking up brass on the range yesterday, cleaning today and noticed some head stamps I hadn't seen before. Are these really from 1917, 1918, 1929?
Any one interested in them?

[EMC45]

Yup, they are really that old. Someone shot up some money right there.

[blackbike]

Those would go good with my WW1, 1918, 1911 45acp.
What you gotta have for them?
Thanks, bb

[Skunk1]

Yes, that old. I have 3 loaded rounds on a half moon clip with 1914 headstamp

[ReloaderFred]

Those probably came out of 20 round brown paperboard boxes, and had the load listed on the box. I've got a couple of the boxes full of original ammo around here somewhere.

Hope this helps.

Fred

[ZmanWakeForest]

Yup, they are really that old. Someone shot up some money right there.

Agreed...why would someone do that? Very nice find for you though!

[Omega]

Are a few of those split?

[DxieLandMan]

I've never seen any before although I have some .45 from WWII and .30-06 with a headstamp of 17. Great find!

[bscapt]

found a box of WWII 45 acp at an estate sale...shot one and it went "bang" amazing after all these years...

[frkelly74]

years ago, I found a couple of 18 dated 45 rounds that someone had attempted to fire but they didn't go off. They have cupro-nickle jacketed bullets.

[beagle]

Probably corrosive as all get out. We had about three twenty round boxes back in the early 60s. 1917 headstamp. All fired great in a M1917 Colt but they were corrosive. Clean them good or they will corrode as an afterthought./beagle

[StuBach]

Repeat of what Beagle said. My dad had a can of WWI ammo he opened up a few years ago to shoot (sealed can, not sure why he opened it) and fired about 30-40 of them through his Clark 1911. Cleaned it using Hoppes afterwards.

Went back about a month later and found his bore covered in a thin layer of rust.

Clean in a warm water bath is what I read they used to do way back but some of the older guys might be able to speak to that better.

[bendad97]

My Father-In-Law is retired Army, and 80 years old. He's been cleaning out lately, and handed me a box of .45 ACP Ammo. It was all FA42 Headstamps, so no particular collector value. Loaded it up and guess what? EVERY ROUND FIRED WITHOUT A HITCH. Makes me sad to think that the manufacturing genius and quality that we once had in this country is gone, and the best that we can do is Chinese swill.


that ain't how we talk around here.

[Got-R-Did]

Yep, corrosive primed, and will grow a nice green fuzz inside your bore and pit it in short order. The old "Windex" cleaning regimen was always called for, but the ideal way to prevent the inevitable rusting is to use lots of warm/hot water and soap to dissolve the salts left behind, not unlike cleaning after black powder. I have shot my share of corrosive WWII M2 Ball in Garands, but religiously field stripped and cleaned everything exposed to the gases, to include the bolt, and oiled them all up before reassembly. I always double checked them after a day or so, just in case I missed anything. The fouling is hygroscopic and will suck the moisture right out the air forming rust that will "take root & grow".
The older 20 rd packages (if in good shape) are indeed collectable, albeit to a small group of people. Having a full box to display with a similar vintage Pistol would be very cool.
When I shot for my MP Company's Combat Pistol Team back in the early 80s (still carried and competed with the M1911A1), some of the practice ammo we were issued was the old steel cased EC ammo made in Evansville Plant (Sunbeam?). I believe there were two plants there and the headstamps were slightly different to identify each plant. This ammo was exceptional and we even used it for some of our Postal Matches in Bullseye. The fouling was minimal, but still deadly to the bore if not cleaned properly.
Got-R-Did.

[garrisonjoe]

The Chrysler Evansville plant "produced 96% of all the .45 auto ammo produced in WW II in US"

http://www.allpar.com/corporate/factories/evansville-plant.html

Lots of it was steel cased - have some of those around. Sunbeam Electrical Plant in Evansville developed the technology to draw the steel cases, and turned them over to Chrysler to complete the loading of 45 auto ammo. Sunbeam may be the "smaller" company you were remembering.

Grew up 40 miles away from there; heard stories of how many locals worked at the war plants and later at Whirlpool plant in Evansville.

More photos:
https://books.google.com/books?id=bfmOtE_KeKoC&pg=PA54&lpg=PA54&dq=evansville+ammunition+plant+WWII&source=bl&ots=_nG18cQyZs&sig=MpeKwmTNix4DHKfwsWb-JzGIkDs&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjqwqSS4M3KAhUL0WMKHVkhBc0Q6AEIMjAD#v=on epage&q=evansville%20ammunition%20plant%20WWII&f=false

Good luck, GJ

[Bazoo]

As to why anyone would fire such ammo; Perhaps the person that fired them doesnt care about the monetary value, but they had some sentimental value. Such as ammo that was received with grandpas old gun or such.

[Windwalker 45acp]

Very nice!
I have a handful from the 40's that I still reload, but as of late when I come across them I have been putting them up.

[bedbugbilly]

Soooooo . . . is this a "discussion" thread about WWI era casings or does the OP want to sell these?

[Got-R-Did]

You are right BedBug; I will refrain from sharing in this section in the future. Did not intend to hijack the thread. Should I delete my entry?

GarrisonJoe; excellent links, Many Thanks!
Got-R-Did.

[Char-Gar]

When I first got into the 1911 pistols (1961), there was scads of surplus WWII and earlier ammo about and I fired many thousands of rounds of the stuff without a hitch.

I would remove the barrel, put it in boiling soapy water on the stove. Remove it with tongs and run hot tap water down the barrel and let it air dry. It would dry almost instantly if I blew through the barrel.

A brushing with any bore cleaner followed by a few patches and the job was done. Never a spec of rust in the Remington-Rand 1911A1 barrel!

[jonp]

ok, after the great banter has anyone seen a price posted for these?

[JSnover]

I understand saving vintage ammunition but is anyone sure these are once-fired cases? Maybe the split necks are why the previous owner decided to stop reloading them and left them on the ground.

[1_Ogre]

Lots of interest but no price listed. Are they for sale or for discussion?

[Eddie17]

Have responded to a couple a pm's on cases and will be keeping the rest for now.
And in response to split cases, yes their were 3 cases that split. I picked these up as I had never seen a split 45 case and wanted to take a closer look at them. Was not able to read the head stamps at the range. With better light and my glasses noticed the head stamps.

[blackbike]

Thanks for sharing that with us Ed.
Neat find.

BB

[JohnFreeman]

Looks like all shot with the same gun, slightly offset firing pin.

[funnyjim014]

I have seen plenty of split 45s lol. The stuff in circulation has been loaded so many times the rims are rounded but still function. Most from the60s but nothing that old. Nice find

[No_1]

Started as a FS thread but became a great discussion thread about brass so it was moved here.