Anybody seen this?

[Bodyman]

From the Poughkeepsie branch office.

Ammo box of random dated 30-06, some AP, with lots of '43 dates and various clips of WWII and later (60 bucks with the can!);




Some nice early clips;



But I have never seen '40 dated ammo, has anyone?



Found a round on gunbroker that says it is '53 era and a 'secret' manufacture to give aid to anti-communist insurgents and other allies, ...

.

.



You got me, ...

[IndianaRR]

Can't say that I have or have seen any '40 dated ammo, but it would make a nice display with my '40 rifle.

on a side note, at the range last Thursday, I was gifted 5 BRW en blocs by the RO. Some guy had a bandolier of HXP out there and apparently didn't want most of the clips or any of the brass. The all have a new home.

[Bodyman]

Found this;

https://m14forum.com/ammunition/125882-help-id-c-n-9-40-headstamp.html

"Chris Punnett's .30-06 is a comprehensive work on this cartridge and the following is from that book.

"Lake City was involved in the production of clandestine M2 Alternate ball rounds that used fake headstamps. They have a brass primer, red primer annulus and are headstamped C/N/. A fake date of 1940 was chosen deliberately though actual production was completed in 1953. Lot numbers were from C/N/1/40 to C/N/9/40. The rounds were ordered in case of a future requirement rather than for a specific campaign.""

And;

"Clandestine ammo. Had nothing to do with Bay of Pigs. That's an Urban Myth.

AN was assigned to Twin Cities, BN to St louis, and CN to Lake City. 250 million rounds were manufactured. Security classification was removed in 1962, so the cartridges are fairly common. No particular collecting premium. Much of it was sent to Central and South America, and the Far East for regular military use."

Kinda cool.

Still haven't seen a 1940 dated round though, ...

[RDS]

The ammo in question was first offered for commercial sale by Interarmco in 1963. It was sold by such retailers as Montgomery Ward. Guns & Ammo magazine had articles in the Q&A section on this ammo in following issues 2-1963, 11-1963, 12-1963 and 4-1964. American Rifleman did articles on this ammo in 1-1991 and 3-1997 in Q&A section. Basically sterile ammo made by US arsenals in 1953 and is noncorrosive as confirmed by H.P. White Labs. On a side note the owner of Interarmco (INTERARMS) was owned by Sam Cummings a former CIA agent. Interarmco imported thousands of weapons and tons of ammo from countries that the CIA helped upgrade from bolt action weapons to modern semi auto and full auto weapons. A win win for CIA, Sam Cummings and gun collectors.

[Bodyman]

Go figure, a Sam Cummings connection. New collectors don't believe you when you tell the stories about him, but honestly, you can't make it up, ...

Here is his obituary from 1998;

https://www.nytimes.com/1998/05/05/w...and-scale.html

[RCS]

Photo shows a 20 rd box of Winchester-Western 6,5 Carcano as purchased by the US Army for CIA for ill-fated operations in Albania 1954. Ammo was placed in storage and after 1962 released on the US surplus market. Lee Oswald also purchased this white box 6,5mm from Klein's in Chicago and it was found with his rifle. Different lot number from box in photo but close

[RDS]

Robert Thank you for this bit of history that I never heard of before. It answered the question for me as to the ammo Oswald used. I just took it for granite that Oswald used Italian surplus. I can only speculate that the Winchester ammo was more accurate than Italian surplus.

[RCS]

Rich, There are some collectors who have put together the look a like Oswald Carcano with the cheap scope and mount as offered at the time. They even use a belt as a sling and a white box of 6,5 cartridges.

Milt Klein really felt bad over the Oswald mail order Carcano and not long after liquidated the retail stores and mail order business. He did keep the Gun Digest for some years afterward. I knew him
personally