I am posting to help decide what to do. I purchased this unopened crate, banded, Finn WW2 dated ammo, ( supposed to be VRT 1944 head stamped), 600 rounds of their 200 grain D166 heavy ball ammo. The seller had the sister box and broke it open to sell the 15 round boxes individually. Open and sell it off?....or sit on it for another decade?...I have little experience in the world of cartridge collecting.
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Original, unopened Finn 7.62x 54R crate, 1944? 600 Rounds.
- Thread starter 917601
- Start date
Thank You for a response. I will move on to step two, cut the metal banding, and see what the two 300 round packaging and labeling looks like. I will post picks within hours.
Slick
Well-Known Member
Hopefully adding to this thread, I have a case of Hungarian 7.62X54(R or not) I'd acquired back in the early '90s. Appears to be 1975 vintage. Was in the $40 range, if memory serves. The "good ole days", so I'm reminded. I inquired on the IAA forum about its contents, as I'd not opened it by then, and was provided tons of details, few of which I recall. And was comforted that opening it would not be a sin. So I did. I'll wait 'til 917 (can I call you 917?) is done posting his pics and add my latest to the mix.
A teaser:
The miracle is this crate survived my Class III shooting vs looking at(now) days.
A teaser:
The miracle is this crate survived my Class III shooting vs looking at(now) days.
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Well, here it is.......first picture of what it I have, the last few of what it was supposed to be. The seller promptly ( within hours) refunded my money... and instructed me to not ship the corroded mess back.....I now have an interesting wooden vintage Finnish 7.62 crate.....
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....and after sifting through the mess,( 600 rounds) found one Russian 7.62x54R , head stamped " 3B 31". The Moisin Nagant site says it is Russian factory number xxxxx manufactured 1931....also found three "VPT 33" in good condition, ( one has a triangle before the 33- no idea what that means) ..............four freebies and one wooden crate out of 600...........
Slick
Well-Known Member
Well dang! It sucks that all those were so corroded. Like you say, at least you got a nice crate out of the deal.
Here's my Hungarian batch, which is half the age of yours and spam canned, so they faired much better.
The top
The contents
The bullet
Can opener in situ
Quite a few of these rounds were sent downrange. We had a bunch of crates full. They worked fine, as I recall. Again, not sure how this box made it out alive.
Here's my Hungarian batch, which is half the age of yours and spam canned, so they faired much better.
The top
The contents
The bullet
Can opener in situ
Quite a few of these rounds were sent downrange. We had a bunch of crates full. They worked fine, as I recall. Again, not sure how this box made it out alive.
The 300 round box label says "newly packed". Do I see that all 15 round boxes have label removed? Very strange.
On the other hand 300 round boxes label says they were packed in 1952 - my wild guess is that they packed junk for Interarmco. Normally th Army had a lot of packed WW2 ammo in stock.
Also on label after A 2011 the V means something, possibly quality.
On the other hand 300 round boxes label says they were packed in 1952 - my wild guess is that they packed junk for Interarmco. Normally th Army had a lot of packed WW2 ammo in stock.
Also on label after A 2011 the V means something, possibly quality.
Thank you for the information. I have thrown the batch in my tumbler, I have about 100 or so that cleaned up to a decent appearance without to much discoloration and decent patina. I grouped them and have complete groups of 1933-1940. Not sure if they are worth anything. I do know with all the Moisin Nagants that came here a few years ago, there is a small market for Finnish stripper clipped dated ammo, unfortunately, I do not have any stripper clips....and yes, all the boxes had NO labels.