Florida-based Royal Tiger Imports just landed a shipment of American-made USGI surplus .45ACP ball ammo that dates back to WWII.
The stuff was apparently produced in 1943 with ECS headstamps, repacked in 1944 in sealed spam cans and wood crates, and sent to Ethiopia as military aid probably in the 1950s as that country was being retrained and equipped for involvement to support the allied forces in Korea at the time.
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“Each crate of ammunition contains 1200 rounds of WWII era .45 ACP. Each crate contains 2 sealed metal tins, each tin contains 12 boxes of ammunition with 50 rounds per box. The ammunition is like new, crate condition is generally good to very good. The crate may have dings, dents, scratches, or small cracks in the wood. Metal tins are sealed from the factory.”
The video:
For fits and sniggles, the ECS headstamp and S Lot numbers mean the ammo was made at the Evansville, Indiana, Ordnance Plant, run by Chrysler, and packed at the Sunbeam electrical domestic goods plant. The repack generally meant they were taken from the standard cardboard packing inside wooden crates, then sealed in spam cans and re-crated. This was typically done for ammo headed to the Pacific and other tropical climes, which probably accounts for why it was sent to the Ethiopians and has survived in such good shape til now.
The bad news is that the 1200-round case runs $1,999.99, the 600-round spam cans $1,099.99, and the individual 50-rounds boxes $109.99, figures that if you do the math run a buck and a half to over two bucks a round. Sure, it is collectible, and probably still shootable, but that’s a serious price there, bubula.
Of course, it is up to you guys to judge if the juice is worth the squeeze. We are just reporting it.