Dardick Tround Ammunition
I have two new boxes of this ammo. It is polymer-cased in .38 Special. The cross section is not round-it is triangular with rounded corners. I understand there was a handgun made in the '60's which required this ammo. Does it have any value, to a user or collector? Thanks for your comments.
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Probably ought to ask Iconoclast for a $ amount, but the Dardick is rather rare. The cases were reloadable and were made in 22 and 38 caliber. Do you have the "clip" they came in by any chance? That'd be worth something too. The clip assy held 15/20 trounds if I remember correctly. I have a catalog listing for the gun if you need specific info.[;)]
Love them Beavers
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I believe your off date wise, to the best of my recollection the Dardick came and went, circa late 1950's. Doubt if they ever saw the 60's.
As were talking 40 plus years, I'm sure your "two new boxes" of ammo would have collectors interest. The best way to find their true value is to put them on the Auction.0 -
My old boss had several of these Dardick Pistols (the Model 1100 and 1500-in different calibers and barrel lengths). If I remeber correctly production on these pistols started in about 1958 and ended in around 1962 and the price back then was an outragous $100- about the price of a Colt Python! I have NEVER seen a full box of Dardick Trounds for sale, but the last time I saw individual Trounds they were selling for around $10 each. I had a chance to fire a Dardick 1500 nearly 25 years ago (one tround only) and found the grip to be too large, the grip angle poor and most of the pistol's weight was above the hand- not a comfortable combination. I have heard that the chamberless design and three stage cycle of the Dardick pistol allowed for very high rates of fire. I'd love to have the bucks for enough Dardick ammunition to find this out for myself! Your boxes of Dardick ammunition have both value and tremendous collector interest.
Mark T. Christian0 -
The History is showing "Super Guns" as I type this. The firearm you mentioned was shown and the ammo was said to be worth $50.00/round. If that is true, you are holding on to a small fortune......
Guns only have two enemies: Rust and Liberals....0 -
herk, it depends mightily on the color of the plastic. If they are the standard very pale green, the EX to mint boxes will bring $35 - $50 each. If it is another color, we need to talk!!!!!!! Polymer, huh? Methinks I'm talking to a chemist or someone in the plastics / rubber industry.
Mark, if someone was *getting* $10 a round for these (any bloody fool can put a price tag on something, as we know only too well looking at some Auction listings! [:D]), either they were something else or I want to have a table at that show!!!!
William81, either the History Channel was given the wrong info, they are something different, or no one in the hobby is valuing them properly. Sold as onesies, you might get $3 a round for them. If I could, I'd be a mighty happy camper.
The pale green .38 Tround is the absolute most common variety of these. And there were a *lot* of varieties, at least 40 counting the different colors of plastic . . . including .22, 9mm, .45, .50 and others even more obscure. Many, especially the .50 and really weird ones were military trial items.0 -
I had a Dardick 1500 in .38 a few years back. I HAD to shoot it. I mean how many can say they've shot one? Anyway, I tried five trounds of the light green .38. three went pop-splat, most of the powder did not burn. One did not do anything. And the fifth fired as I was expecting. The case that fired normally split on one side. I assume the plastic cases had deteriorated some and allowed air in. Many unfired trounds I see are already cracked. The magazine was built into the Dardick. You loaded it through a gate on the side. The plastic trounds would hang up when the action was operated. Had to stop between each shot and push the tround into the chamber by hand. Neat design, but a little too early for the ammunition. Could probably be done today, but why? Just to be different, I suppose. Now I'm waiting for a deal on a Gyrojet Pistol with some rocket ammo to shoot...... 0 -
I'll trade you for a dozen 8-track cassettes, 4 rolls of 828 film, and a hula hoop. [:D] 0 -
neatguns, there have been several forays into plastic cased ammo since the Tround, many of them contract experiments for the military, most notably the Frankford Arsenal 'folded ammo' 5.56 design of the early 1970s. That was the one which came closest to fruition, but none lived up to expectations . . . well, call it "hopes." The one successful design was the short-lived Wanda all plastic shotshell. But the rims tended to break off, they couldn't be reloaded, the cost saving wasn't all that great (at the time one could still buy still cheaper imported paper shells from various sources) and they didn't last long in the market. 0 -
Additional info. addressing the comments made on my two boxes of Dardick Tround 38 ammo: one box has light green cases-with what appear to be a "production code" stamp on one box flap; the other has off-white cases and lacks the code stamping. It sounds like an auction is the most definitive way to find out what they are worth.
My thanks to all of you who offered helpful opinions and useful information. laminwoodman@hotmail.com0 -
Not to beat a dead horse Icon, but H&K made a bullpup G3 rifle that fired caseless ammo without a hiccup. Still in use I think.
If you know it all; you must have been listening.WEAR EAR PROTECTION!0 -
gentlemen, a quick check of the current NUMRICH ARMS catalog, or a foray into there web sight will end this dispute post haste. they stock and sell DARDICK TROUND ammunition in at least 2 varieties. you can even by full boxes, or parts for some of the guns.
while a rare original mint example might be of some value to a collector, or a DARDICK afficionado, single original common examples or modern production pieces do not command much of a price.
if you realy want to know, please avail yourself of the NUMRICH ARMS information. best regards, mike.
PS: tround ammo was not plastic ammo, it simply was a plastic sheath wich encased commercial ammo and allowed it to function and feed with the unusual DARDICK design. you simply take a .38 special and pop it into the tround sleeve. its that simple.
also, even DAISY made a gun that used caseless ammo. trounds are not caseless.
What other dungeon is so dark as ones own heart, what jailer so inexorable as ones own mind.0 -
quote:Originally posted by Iconoclast
neatguns, there have been several forays into plastic cased ammo since the Tround, many of them contract experiments for the military, most notably the Frankford Arsenal 'folded ammo' 5.56 design of the early 1970s. That was the one which came closest to fruition, but none lived up to expectations . . . well, call it "hopes." The one successful design was the short-lived Wanda all plastic shotshell. But the rims tended to break off, they couldn't be reloaded, the cost saving wasn't all that great (at the time one could still buy still cheaper imported paper shells from various sources) and they didn't last long in the market.
Why do you say they couldn't be reloaded? Not only could they be but you didn't even need any tools or press to do it. (All you needed was a way to remove & insert the primers).
I reloaded them several times & probably still have some of the plastic over shot caps left.0
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