Do I owe my buddy some beers for these? (pics)

[schick]

A good buddy gifted me a bunch of great old ammo. As I own a sporterized No. 4 MK1 and Jungle carbine, I was happy for the ammo. He gifted me 6 or 7 boxes of the following:

Some of the boxes are:

Some are this:

One of the opened boxes has headstamps like this:

A closeup shows it as a "DI" and not a suspected "DA".

My buddy said that some of it (1951 or 1945) stuff is supposedly Boxer, and was taken apart and made into match for the DCRA (or something like that). He said the rest is likely Berdan but should shoot great.

Should I shoot it, or save it? They look nicely annealed, and real clean. I suppose they'd shoot fine.

 

[tacticalfan]

A couple of cases of his favorite beer would definately be appropriate. Nice score!

 

[wickit]

You have to ask! What kind of guy are you? A buddy does you a solid you buy some beer with out thinking.

 

[schick]

I didn't know if it was S H I T ammo or not. I thought I'd ask here.

Of course I would reciprocate anyways, even if it was bad. A gift is a gift, right?

 

[bearhunter]

At close to $50/unopened box, I would say you owe him a bottle of something stronger to go with the beer.

That stuff will only get more valuable as time goes by. Especially the WWII dated stuff. I don't know how many guys at the last gunshow in Vernon were looking for enough of it to fill a few chargers for display.

Less than 5 years ago, it could still be found by the case for $15/box.

At least the North American stuff isn't corrosive.

Maybe offer it up for trades to some of the members here on a one for one basis with commercial loaded soft point hunting ammunition. The milsurp stuff won't have the same point of impact as the new sporting ammunition anyway. So you might as well practise with what you're going to hunt with.

 

[green]

DI 1943 noncorrosive Boxer primed by Defence Industries a CIL run crown corp.
1951 Dominion Arsenal Berdan primed corrosive probably.

 

[Baribal]

Well, they don't sell for that much in the East...
The "Z" means it's Nitrocellulose, not Cordite, so it should be boxer primed.
DI is Defence Industries, Brownsburg Qc.

For the DCRA stuff, if you mean the "banded cases", they have DAC headstamp as follow;

DAC 19 22 VII (1 X Large Green band - purple annulus) used for 1922 Match
DAC 19 22 VII (1 X Large Green band - red annulus) used for 1922 Match
DAC 19 24 VII (6 X Small Purple band - purple annulus) used for 1925 Match
DAC 19 25 VII (6 X Small Green band - purple annulus) used for 1926 Match
DAC 19 26 VII (6 X Small Purple band - purple annulus) used for 1927 Match
DAC 19 27 VII (6 X Small Blue band - purple annulus) used for 1928 Match
DAC 19 28 VII (3 X Red band - purple annulus) used for 1929 Match
DAC 19 28 VII (3 X Small Purple band - purple annulus) used for 1929 Match
DAC 19 29 VII (3 X Green band - purple annulus) used for 1930 Match
DAC 19 31 VII (3 X Blue band - purple annulus) used for 1932 Match
DAC 19 32 VII (4 X Red band - purple annulus) used for 1933 Match
DAC 19 33 VII (4 X Green band - purple annulus) used for 1934 Match
DAC 19 34 VII (4 X Green band - purple annulus) used for 1934 Match
DAC 19 34 VII (4 X Purple band - Black annulus) used for 1935 Match
DAC 35 VII (4 X Blue band - purple annulus) used for 1936 Match
DAC 36 VII (2 X Red band - purple annulus) used for 1937 Match
DAC 37 VII (2 X Green band - purple annulus) used for 1938 Match
DAC 38 VII (2 X Purple band - Blue annulus) used for 1939 Match
DAC 39 VII (2 X Blue band - purple annulus) used for 1940 Match
DAC 44 VII (1 X Purple band - purple annulus)
DAC 44 VII (1X Green band - purple annulus) used for 1945 DCRA Match

 

[bearhunter]

Not being a cartridge collector, I'm not going to comment on value. They go for a $1/round here, when they are so nicely packaged.

The depression era stuff is supposedly quite rare, because of production cut backs to save money.

As for what it goes for back east, you may be correct, but Ill bet it goes for at least $35/box. That isn't just ordinary ammunition either. It's match and from the looks of it, probably a special run with tighter quality controls.

20+ boxes at a minimum of $35 = $700+ in my books. At a gun show, at $35/box, that stuff wouldn't last 1/2 hour on the first morning. I sold 20 canvas pocket belts of Radway Green corrosive, on chargers, at the 2008 Lumby gun show for $45 ea. It lasted all of an hour. It was ordinary ball, MkVII.

I don't know where you live, put it up for sale on the EE for local pick up, unless someone is willing to pay the shipping and you're willing to go through the hassle. You will be pleasantly surprised.

 

[B]

Yes, you do. I am surprised you had to ask. The quality of the ammo is irrelevant.

 

[Baribal]

Bearhunter,

Are talking about my DCRA cartridges? - I just posted the picture so there's no mistaking about the DCRA (Match) stuff...
Nothing to do with service rounds... BTW, DCRA rounds are packaged by 10.

 

[pitdogboy]

Beers for sure!

 

[schick]

Thanks guys.

None of these are in 10 round boxes, so I guess they're not DCRA. I don't know why, but my seemed pretty sure that some of the stuff had been pulled and reloaded as match rounds. Did that even happen?

Some of the boxes are completely void of any markings. They are the same shape, but completley blank.

As well, maybe I'm craxy, but I was thinking about shooting all this stuff. I hadn't even considered selling it. I thought it was worthless.

 

[crazy_fool1]

imho Finding a treasure like that in such mint conditino of that age, it would be a shame to shoot it or sell it right now.... I'd hide it away in a safe deposit box and let it really appreciate in value or hand it off to the grandkids...

 

[bearhunter]

You're right, 10/paper package and 5 packages/box. I've also seen them in 25 packages per carton.

I'm sorry if I got confused, I was under the impression that your friend gave you all of the ammunition on your list.

 

[maple_leaf_eh]

Now, get a good No.4 and clean up at the club's milsurp matches!

 

[schick]

You're right, 10/paper package and 5 packages/box. I've also seen them in 25 packages per carton.

I'm sorry if I got confused, I was under the impression that your friend gave you all of the ammunition on your list.

Ya, he gave me all this ammo. I haven't opened these, so I am unsure about 10 round boxes inside, or black bands on cases, etc.

I think I might keep the sealed boxes for keeps and shoot the 3 or 4 boxes that have already been opened previous to me inheriting them.

 

[bearhunter]

They won't be in 10 round boxes. They will be wrapped in paper, 10 rounds each. Then there will be 5 wrapped packs in each ctn.

 

[schick]

Thanks Bearhunter.

 

[gunn69]

Awsome score. 10 years ago I got a 1500 round crate of mixed 303. most of it was hxp, and several boxes of DI and winchester ball . The DI is very accurate.

 

[sunray]

The best .303 ammo I've ever fired was 1944 vintage DA stuff. Much better than the IVI we got later.
The ammo you have is getting scarce. Starting to become collector grade ammo. Especially sealed boxes of W.W. II vintage ammo. Mind you, 1951 was war time too. Korea.
DI is Defence Industries Montreal, Quebec. That's what the big D.I. on the box means. May or may not be berdan primed.