Need .30-06 Headstamp ID
I've got about 130 rounds of what appears to be M-2 .30-06 ammo in 5 round strippers put up in 60 round bandoliers that were in my father's "junk box" when he died. I assume it's corrosive primed and still shootable, it looks as nice as the '80's Greek ammo and BETTER than the LC 68 CMP ammo I've got. Don't know if I should shoot it for practice and reload the cases or offer it to collectors.
Markings are: C N and 9 40
Markings are: C N and 9 40
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here you go
lake city http://cartridgecollectors.org/headstampcodes.htm0 -
quote:Originally posted by moonshine
here you go
lake city http://cartridgecollectors.org/headstampcodes.htm
Yes, I've now found the "C N" Lake City referance a couple of places. Also claims to it was loaded in the 50's, not the 40's and for the CIA?! It's supposed to exist in "A N" and "B N" versions as well. I really wonder who it was loaded for if Lake City was doing it but not using their standard code.
I have not found any picture of this headstamp on the internet, or any picture of a US military headstamp with the four radial lines separating the characters.
I'm still wondering if I should shoot it, or save it for collectors too.0 -
I'd say from the color of the brass, it's China North. 0 -
quote:Originally posted by dcs shooters
I'd say from the color of the brass, it's China North.
My dad had this stuff before Nixon went to China. And he was Navy, not a ground pounder so I don't think he would have picked it up off a battlefield. The ammo is loaded with ball powder, BTW.
"CN Unknown US Military, may be CIA manufactured"
http://www.pieppiep.nl/forum/archive/index.php/t-5186.html
That raises more questions to me than it answers.0 -
I have gone thru almost 400 pages of headstamps and this ammo, I can not find. I think you are on to something about the CIA. I have found
references to the fact that the US and China was supplying ammo that was marked so it could not be traced back to original country. All you need to do is find a ninety year old retired CIA agent that was stationed in indo=china.....bob0 -
quote:Originally posted by babun
I have gone thru almost 400 pages of headstamps and this ammo, I can not find. I think you are on to something about the CIA.
From an email senty by John at oldguns.net
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If you are referring to the AN/BN/CN rounds they were NOT made specifically for the Bay of Pigs. Manufacture of all three major variants occurred in 1953, well before the Bay of Pigs. They were intended for clandestine use and some were used during the failed Cuban invasion in 1961
AN - made by Twin Cities Arsenal (It changed its name from Twin Cities Ordnance Plant to Twin Cities Arsenal when it reopened in 1950)
BN - made by St. Louis Ordnance Plant
CN - made by Lake City Ordnance Plant
The 1940 "dates" on these rounds are, of course, fake.
AN "lots" 1/40 through 9/40
BN "lots" 1/40 through 5/40
CN "lots" 1/40 through 9/40
Chris Punnett
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Your .30-06 ammunition with /B/N/4/40 headstamp was made at St. Louis Ordnance Plant in 1953, in lot numbers one through four (an unfinished case exists with "5" also, but no loaded ammunition has been observed with that lot number). It was a contract for the U.S. Government, for ammunition for use in whatever convert operations they chose to use it in. It was not made specifically for the "Bay of Pigs" fiasco.
Similar rounds were made by Twin Cities (AN) and Lake City (CN).
These rounds are, like all ammunition, collectible, but are not rare. I have a full bandoleet of the St. Louis ammunition, lot 2, that I simply have not gotten around to firing yet. It is packed in a standard olive-drab 6six-pocket U.S. bandoleer, each pocket holding two, five-shot Springfield-type steel clips, with end tabs, nestled in a carboard pocket within the pocket of the bandoleer intself. Standard U.S. packaging, although the use of Springfield clips in a 1953 contract is interesting of itself, and I have no information as to why that particular arrangement was done.
The bandoleer has no markings other than a stampled representation of the cartridge's headstamp on it.
The ammunition is Ball M2 Alternate, which differs from Ball M2 in having a GMCS bullet jacket, rather than a GM jacket. Bullet weight is 150 grains.
The primer is non-corrosive.
Hope this helps.
Reference: ".30-06", by Chris Punnett, page 312. (This is one of the "must have books" for anyone interested in U.S. military ammunition).0
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