Steel case WW II era 45 ACP

[gghbi]

I was looking thru my ammo stash and discovered I have some military 45 ACP that is steel cased and much older than I thought.
IMG_0033a.jpg
EC 43 headstamp is from Evansville Indiana.

I have had this for a while and did not realize its was steel and as old as it was. Apparently this plant made a lot of 45 ammo!

https://www.defensemedianetwork.com/...to-cartridges/

[JenniferG]

I'll have to take a look but I'm pretty sure my '43 headstamp cartridges were brass. I'll be surprised if they are steel. I do have steel pennies though so it does make sense.

[Delkal]

I'll have to take a look but I'm pretty sure my '43 headstamp cartridges were brass. I'll be surprised if they are steel. I do have steel pennies though so it does make sense.

AFAIK 30-06 rifle rounds were always brass. I have a number of 06 cases from WW-II and it reloads just fine.

Didn't know that about steel .45 cases but they must have been doing something right. The plant was making 12,500,000 rounds a day and in a little over 2 years the one plant made 3,264,281,914 rounds. During a war with limited labor and resources. We should let the modern ammo companies know about this..........

[Brick]

During WW II .45 ACP was produced with steel cases. Simplest way to check is just touch a magnet to them. you might try offering them to some of the period collectors who might want them to accompany their Union Switch and Signal pistol.

[gghbi]

During WW II .45 ACP was produced with steel cases. Simplest way to check is just touch a magnet to them. you might try offering them to some of the period collectors who might want them to accompany their Union Switch and Signal pistol.

That thought did occur to me , these would go well with a vintage pistol from the same era... If you are said person, just let me know...

[Brick]

That thought did occur to me , these would go well with a vintage pistol from the same era... If you are said person, just let me know...

Sorry, no. I have several 1911 clones all of more modern manufacture and all serious "shooters"!

[JoshIronshaft]

I have a couple 1918 headstamp 45acp rounds.

[oldengineer]

I have an ash tray from that era made from a cut down 1944 Navy 6" shell casing and it's brass. It's about 3" tall weighs 11 pounds, enough to make about 855 45ACP cases. The complete case weighed around 28 pounds or close to 2200 45ACP cases.

[brian]

During WW II .45 ACP was produced with steel cases. Simplest way to check is just touch a magnet to them. you might try offering them to some of the period collectors who might want them to accompany their Union Switch and Signal pistol.

or savage thompson smg

[abner13]

If ya got a magnet handy , you'll find the bullet too is copper-plated STEEL.

I've posted the above article and about USGI steel-cased .45 ACP several times. People dump on Russian ammo for being junk because it's corrosive and steel cased. Over 90% of the .45 ammo produced and used during WWII was steel cased and corrosive primed. Non-corrosive primers didn't see full use till the mid-50's. I've burned up spam-cans full of this stuff in pistols and a friends Thompson. It used to be really , really cheap. As recent as the 90's , I was still buying 900rd repacked tin cans for $100.