Original material COPYRIGHTED 1993 by:
Court Information Services Co., Inc. Weapons Research Division
340 Brooks Missoula, Montana, USA 59801-5017 406-721-0232 FAX
406-549-6082
US MILITARY HEADSTAMPS
Military ammunition in the US is tracked so carefully, that
it is only a matter of size that prevents the government from
slapping a serial number on every round. Ammunition is identified
by a lot number that tells where it was made and which batch it
came from. This lot number is placed on every packing container
that ammo is put in. From the Conex container that ships it, to
the crate that it is transported in, to the stenciled waterproof
can that holds the cardboard boxes or cloth bandoleers that are
also stamped with the lot number. It all boils down to the
cartridge, specifically, the cartridge case and its
identification.
There are times, for whatever reason, when it is useful to
know the source of a particular cartridge. All US military
ammunition (excluding commercially manufactured ammunition
purchased for Federal use) is headstamped with the year of
manufacture and the factory where it was made. Sometimes this is
a government arsenal like Frankford or what is called a GOCO
(Government Owned, Contractor Operated) plant. WCC is commonly
encountered on .45, 9mm and .38 Special ammo, but some such as RA
41 Z 300 can be confusing (WCC of course is Western; RA 41 Z 300
is Remington Arms .30-'06 manufactured in 1941 as part of a
British contract. The Z is actually a sideways N indicating the
round was loaded with nitrocellulose rather than cordite).
Aside from ammunition for our own military, this country
manufactured and distributed millions of rounds in 'non-US'
military calibers. RA 41 Z 300 is a good example of foreign
ammunition made under the direction of the US military. Some
other examples would be 8mm Mauser, 9mm Luger, 7.62mmR 'Russian',
.455 Webley, 7.62x39mm, etc. This ammunition can usually be
identified by the headstamp, although sometimes the case may have
been marked with a headstamp indicating 'unknown' manufacture or
be in an alphabet other than our own: hence, we do not recognize
it. After all, very few of us would recognize the WCC mark if it
was in Cyrillic or Chinese! The alternate way of identification,
unfortunately, involves a bit of destructive examination. If you
have a foreign round but its boxer primed, the odds are good (not
great, but good) that it was made in the US.
Sometimes it can be quite fascinating to find that a company
that has nothing to do with firearms or ammo, once made
ammunition. Just as we get a kick out of Smith-Corona
Springfields or Rockola carbines, equally amusing is Chrysler .45
ammo.
Occasionally, brass relating to a military ammunition
experimental project slips out the door and causes problems. Some
years ago the government was working on a program called SCAMP.
The SCAMP project was meant to produce vast volumes of ammo in a
very short time. It didn't work because the process for making the brass case
is already done at the best speed. They found that
by trying to accelerate brass production, they were producing
brass that would not stand up to the pressures of firing. This
SCAMP brass was sold for scrap, and eventually worked its way
into the reloading food chain. How do you identify this brass? It
carried a unique headstamp xxxxxxxxxxxx
FA 57 MATCH is another example of a headstamp saving us from
grief. FA 57 MATCH ammo was made by a new process that reduced
the number of drawing steps from 4 to 2. A result was the
casehead was unusually soft. The pressures of firing would cause
the primer pocket to expand and make it difficult to reload
safely. For this reason FA 57 MATCH cases should not be reloaded.
SCAMP and the FA 57 MATCH are rare occurrences of headstamp
ID preventing serious problems. Generally, we are curious about a
headstamp because we found an unfamiliar one. I've gathered some
US military headstamps below. Some are quite common and some are
severely rare.
There are several other sources, many quite obscure, who normally
would not have made ammunition, if not for the immediate need at
the time. When WW2 rolled around, the US had enough sources for
ammunition. During WW1 seemingly anyone who could draw brass got
into the act, hence some truly very odd headstamps from that era.
Certain specialty ammo was procured through 'non traditional'
manufacturers and, given the nature of the groups needing such
ammo, the identification will not come to light any time in the
near future.
AN Twin Cities Ordnance Plant, Minneapolis, Minn - See Note #1
AO Allegany Ordnance Plant
BN St. Louis Ordnance Plant, St. Louis, MO - See Note #1
CN Lake City Ordnance Plant, Independence, MO - See Note #1
DAL Dominion Arsenal, Lindsay, Ontario, Canada - Under contract
to US during WW1
DAQ Dominion Arsenal, Canada - Under contract to US (usually
.50BMG)
DEN Denver Ordnance Plant, Denver,CO
DM Des Moines Ordnance Plant, Des Moines, 10
EC Evansville Ordnance Plant, Evansville, Indiana
(The Chrysler operated Evansville Ordnance Plant consisted of 2
factories on opposite sides of Evansville. The main Plant coded
its ammunition as indicated, but the other factory, the former
Sunbeam Electric plant, made only .45 auto cases, first in
brass, and then later in steel (I have samples dated 1943 in
steel). Their cases were headstamped EC S and were trucked across
town for loading at the EC plant).
EC S Evansville Ordnance Plant - Sunbeam Electric, Evansville,
Indiana (See EC)
EW Eau Claire Ordnance Plant, Eau Claire, Wisc
FA (the classic) Frankford Arsenal, Philidelphia, PA
FC Federal Cartridge Co.
FCC Federal Cartridge Co.
KS Allegany Ordnance Plant, operated by Kellystone Tire Co.,
Cumberland, Maryland
LC Lake City Ordnance Plant, Independence, MO LM Lowell Ordnance Plant, Ma
ss.
M Milwaukee Ordnance Plant, Wisconsin
NC National Brass & Copper Tube Co., Hastings, NY
PC Peters Cartridge Co., Ohio
PCC Peters Cartridge Co., Ohio
PC 1940 Peters Cartridge Co., Ohio for British Contract
RA Remington Arms Company, Bridgeport, Conn
RA H Remington Arms Company, Hoboken, New Jersey
REM Remington Arms Company, Bridgeport, Conn
SL St. Louis Ordnance Plant, St. Louis, MO
TW Twin Cities Ordnance Plant, Minneapolis, Minn
UT Utah Ordnance Plant, Salt Lake City, UT
U Utah Ordnance Plant, Salt Lake City, UT
W Western Cartridge Company, East Alton, Ill.
VC Verdun Arsenal, Canada - Under contract to US
WC Western Cartridge Company, East Alton, Ill.
WCC Western Cartridge Company, East Alton, Ill.
WRA Winchester Repeating Arms Co., New Haven, Conn
WSL 30 Winchester Repeating Arms Co., New Haven, Conn (.30
carbine)
(Somewhat rare, this was the unofficial name of the .30 carbine
round. Winchester made up the original military test ammo and
headstamped it after their line of autoloading rifles, thus WSL
.30)
<Oriental> Western Cartridge Company, East Alton, 111. - 8mm
Mauser only
(Believe it or not, as part of the US effort to arm ANYBODY who
was fighting the Germans or Japanese, WCC in 1942-1944 produced
7.92x57mm ammo for the Chinese. This ammo is identified by the
FMJ spitzer bullet and Boxer primer. The headstamp contains 3
elements. 9 o'clock position is 2 chinese characters stacked over
each other. Top charachter looks like a capital L with a small
horizontal bar through it, not unlike a letter L over stamped
with a letter T . 6 o'clock position is year; either 42, 43 or
44. 3 o'clock position has another chinese character. 12 o'clock
position is empty.)
<blank> Lake City Ordnance Plant, Independence, MO - 7.62x39mm
only
(The Lake City Ordnance Plant produced 'sterile' (unmarked) M43
7.62x39mm ammo for use by American personnel and Allies during
the Viet Nam War. This ammo differed from the usual military
brass in this caliber during that period, as it was Boxer primed.
Until about 7-10 years ago, this ammo was the only source of
reloadable AK/SKS ammo in the US. See note on 'sterile ammo').
Aside from the usual headtsamp with the manufacturers code and
year, we sometimes come across cases that have additional
markings.........
MATCH Assorted Arsenals
This is found on militray brass used in making ammunition for
competitive shooting events. Match ammo is loaded to a higher
standard and tends to shoot better than standard ammo. A somewhat
more ominous note is that the MATCH ammo, because of its accuracy, is frequent
ly used in sniper rifles.
N M Assorted Arsenals
NM stand for National Match and is on lots of ammunition made for
use at the annual Camp Perry meets. Same as MATCH.
-R Frankford Arsenal, Philidelphia, PA
This is usually found on .30-'06 ammo loaded with wooden
bullets and BOXER primed cases. The headstamp will read FA 22-R.
This is often mistaken for a blank round. It is, in fact, a lot
of 35,000 rounds made for training troops in using the French
Viven-Bessiere (VB) rifle grenade. The VB grenade was fired from
a cup launcher that fitted onto the barrel of a M1903
Springfield. It had a hole bored through it that lined up with
the rifle bore. The idea was that a round fired would have the
bullet pass harmlessly through the grenades bore and the gases
behind the bullet would launch the grenade. The wooden bullets
were for use on short grenade ranges where ball ammo dropping
from the skies would bother the neighbors. The bullet, by the
way, is described as CAL. .30, V.B. GRENADE PRACTICE CARTRIDGE,
MODEL 1921'. The R indicated that the casehead had undergone a
special annealing process to make it harder than standard Service
ammo.
FA 30 R Frankford Arsenal, Philidelphia, PA
This is the exception to the rule about primers. In the 1930Os,
tests were being done at Frankford Arsenal to find a non
corrosive primer that was suitable for machinegun use. Part of
the development included a small lot of BERDAN primed cases with
specially annealed caseheads that would ease extraction. The
caseheads were stamped with a letter R to indicate that the
casehead had undergone a special annealing process to make it
harder than standard Service ammo.This round, because of the
headstamp, could easily be mistaken for a VB launching round. A
quick check of the primer would set things straight.
VB Frankford Arsenal, Philidelphia, PA
Example: FA 22 VB. Same as -R
US FA 1906-56 with two <ordnance logos>
Frankford Arsenal, Philidelphia, PA
In 1956, Frankford Arsenal produced a very limited run of dummy
ammo commemorating the 50th anniversary of the .30-'06 cartridge.
This commemorative dummy ammo had a chromium plated case and
unique headstamp. It is a rarely encountered headstamp.
Note #1 - Welcome to the world of deniability. In this case,
millions of rounds of .30-'06 military ammo was produced in 1953
that was headstamped AN,BN or CN followed by 40 and a single
digit and possesed a red laquer seal around the primer. Although
there is no official description of this ammo (it is labelled
'unknown' in the declassified Small-Caliber Ammunition
Identification Guide (U) Volume 1 (DST-1160G-514-81-Vol1) and
other government sources) collectors speculate that the ammo was made by the a
rsenals listed and was for clandestine operations.
Given the time period (Korea/Communism) and the weapons (M1
Garand, BAR, M1919) and the fact that the US did run some ops in
the SE Asian quarter during the Cold War as well as equipping
lots of 'friendlies' to work behind the lines........
'Sterile ammo'. The words conjure up images of secret policeman
investigating an assination and puzzling over the only evidence,
an unidentifiable cartridge case. No doubt, sterile ammo may be
used for that, although any police/intelligence unit worth the
name is going to be able to figure out the origin of ammunition;
its just a matter of time and resources, and thats the real point
behind sterile ammo. Maybe the KGB will know where it came from,
but some newspaper reporter or travelling congressman won't. Some
of the more mundane uses for sterile ammo are: avoiding sanctions
against shipping arms to a country, avoiding political policy
that prevents helping insurgents (US aid to contras for example),
concealing the amount of involvement in another country, etc.
One may notice that on military cases from before WW1, the month
as well as year and maker were stamped on the case. 4 10 FA would
mean April 1910 Frankford Arsenal. In June 1917, all producers
were ordered to stop stamping the month. The manufacturers had
dies on hand through the latter part of 1917, and it wasn't until
1918 that ammunition started to appear without the month
stamping.
Occasionally a .30-06 case turns up that seems to be
blackened and no amount of cleaning will make it shine. The
reason is simple. It was made blackened. Before tracer ammo was
identified by bullet tip color, it was identified by having a
blackened case. This applied to US Model 1917, 1923 and 1924
tracer ammo. This practice of blackening the case was
discontinued in 1930.
Up until WW1 shooting clubs could return their fired brass
to be reloaded at a government arsenal. Reloaded brass was marked
with a line across the headstamp to indicate that the brass had
been reloaded (reloaded brass was not considered fit for certain
services like aircraft machineguns, and had to be identified in
some way). The practice of reloading shooting club ammunition was
discontinued around WW1.
In 1943, as production was getting into full swing, all
energies were devoted towards war production. Rather than take
the time and material to make new headstamp dies for 1944, most
makers simply ground the number 3 off the old dies. SL 43 went on
to become SL 4 (indicating 1944).
There are several other sources, many quite obscure, who
normally would not have made ammunition, if not for the immediate
need at the time. When WW2 rolled around, the US had enough
sources for ammunition. During WW1 seemingly anyone who could
draw brass got into the act, hence some truly very odd headstamps
from that era. Certain specialty ammo was procured through 'non
traditional' manufacturers and, given the nature of the groups
needing such ammo, the identification will not come to light any
time in the near future. If you have an unusual military headstamp that you ne
ed identified, feel free to send me e-mail.
THIS IS NOT A FINISHED PIECE NY ANY MEANS. ACTUALLY, THIS IS A
DRAFT. I STILL HAVE SEVERAL SOURCES TO CHECK OUT AND SEVERAL
PIECES THAT NEED TO BE IDENTIFIED. I WILL DROP THE UPDATED COPY
OFF IN A COUPLE MONTHS, WHEN ITS WORTH ADDING TO. IN THE MEANTIME,
THIS COPY IS CURRENT THROUGH 8 APRIL 93.
RM VIVAS
Original material by:
Court Information Services Co., Inc. Weapons Research Division
340 Brooks Missoula, Montana, USA 59801-5017 406-721-0232 FAX
406-549-6082
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