Need info on old military ammo.

CS8161

A friend of mine has a few boxes of old ammo. Two boxes of steel cased 45acp, a box of 32 French Long and some 5.56 blanks. I would like to know if any of this stuff has any collector value and if so, about how much should I list it for on the auctions? I have never heard of 32 French, it appears to be steel cased as well. Thanks for any information. Here is a link to some photos of the ammo.

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=64457907

1KYDSTR

The Evansville Indiana stuff is around, though not in the quantity it once was, so is a little rare. The 5.56 blamks are pretty run of the mill. The French 32 longue is interesting, although it is Interarms repackaged stuff. If it were in the original military boxes, it would be much more desireable. French 32 is hard to find. Went with the Md. 35S (not too sure on that model #)as I recall. Nothing really scintilating there, but someone with an old French pistol will likely be sorta' excited!

heavyiron

Hi Chris,

Kydstr has given good descriptions of the ammo.

The steel cased 45ACP ammo is from the Evansville Ordnance Plant (Chrysler)in Evansville, IN. Chrysler operated the Evansville Ordnance Plant which consisted of 2 factories on opposite sides of Evansville. The price of these is really dependent upon the condition of the box. If the box is at all damaged or the edges frayed, collectors will not be willing to pay much. The going rate for collectors is something like $20.00 per box. You can check this by going to the Gunbroker home page and performing an advanced search on closed auctions to see the going rate.

The 223 blanks aren't particularly valuable items for collectors since there is plenty of this stuff around. They may go for $5.00 if you can find a buyer.

The best stuff out of the batch is the 32 French Long ammo. This cartridge is also known as the 7.65mm MAS. This cartridge was only loaded in France and Vietnam and is now obsolete. There were a number of French MAS pistols imported into this country years ago and so was surplus ammunition but those supplies have long dried up. I have encountered people who own a MAS pistol searching for ammunition to shoot. If you can connect your auction with one of those people they may be willing to pay a little more. Single specimens for cartridge collectors may go as high as $3.50 per cartridge, which I think is on the high side. The box for these has no collector value whatsoever because they were repackaged by an importer. Your best bet would probably be to try to sell all the cartridges together as a lot and hope someone with a MAS pistol wants some ammo. If sold, they need to be sent to the buyer by UPS. Since I don't have any other information about these, I can't recommend a value.

Regards,

Heavyiron

captkirk3@dslextreme.com

You need to talk to ICONOCLAST down on the WANTED Forums....He's probably got the answer for You....He's also a Collector......

CS8161

Thanks Heavyiron, you have given me a starting point.