42 Caliber ?

[Greybeard]

The Wife and I had a "range date" tonight and she started picking up brass and placing in applicable bins while I was finishing off a box of ammo. We had only been shooting .38s and 9mm, but she was doing a better-than-average job of housekeeping when she asked "Where to I put 42 caliber?"

I responded "You must being reading the headstamp wrong, it's probably 45".

She argued, "No is says 'WCC' at the top and '42' at the bottom."

I took the brass into the office, thinking it was .45 ACP and put the headstamp under good light and the old magnifying glass. Sure enough, The Wife was right. (Again, )

Can anyone out there enlighten me?

 

[Jim Watson]

1942
As in WW II surplus.
.45 ACP, that is.
The Army knows what caliber their guns are, they want to keep track of the age of ammo in inventory.

 

[Greybeard]

I'll buy that explanation. Thanks. Will pass along to The Wife. Can't have her convinced she's always right, can we?

 

[clubsoda22]

tell her to make you dinner while you're at it.

 

[Standing Wolf]

Oh, give it another two weeks or so, and I'm sure some self-appointed genius will come up with a .42 caliber round—bullet diameter of .427, of course!—and within another two weeks, some other self-appointed genius will have necked it down to .355 or .357 and slapped a brand name on it.

 

[C.R.Sam]

Real close to already been done.
Bullet dia of 10.4mm Italian is .422.

Sam

 

[Mike Irwin]

I believe that stands for Western Cartridge Company, 1942.