Old .30 Carbine ammo in crate..value?

[ElKabong]

A crate of old .30 Carbine ammo walked into the gun store yesterday.
1200 rounds, looks like Lake City manufacture.
Headstamps marked LC 52....1952 would be my guess .

Two cans of 600 and one was already open.
It's on 10 round clips and packaged in 120 round bandoliers.
120 rounds per can appear to be tracers (they're the ones in the pic).


Any idea on value?
Collectable or just shoot it up?












ElKabong

 

[Ian]

Something like 18 or 20 cents per round? New Wolf is 20c/rd and new brass-cased Aguila is 23c/rd at AIM, and 1952 US surplus would probably be at or slightly below those. I think.

 

[ArfinGreebly]

Shootin' Ammo

You looking to shoot it or sell it?

If yer sellin' it, that could be interestin'.

 

[ElKabong]

Nothing to shoot it in...probably gonna sell.
I assume this is non-corrosive...?

ElKabong

 

[ArfinGreebly]

Non-Corrosive

All .30 Carbine ammo is non-corrosive.

It's actually in the original spec.

 

[dogrunner]

ALL carbine ammo is NOT non-corrosive!!

U.S. stuff mfg'd for the military is, but not all thats on the market is U.S..

Back in the late '60's I acquired a substantial amount of French .30 with the headstamp "VE".......I almost ruined a mint M/A1 with that stuff.....Of the various reason I heard for that type of priming the likley most probable was that the French had difficulty assuring ammo longivity in tropical climates....I dunno, but I do know that stuff would turn a bbl a sickening ochre color in jig time!

 

[dogrunner]

U.S. military .30c is NC....but not all .30c is

Be extremely cautious of foreign .30c.....I nearly ruined a minty M/A1 back in the 60's with a lot of French stuff headstamped "VE".......stuff would turn a bbl into a filthy red mine shaft appearance is very short order.....

 

[ArfinGreebly]

The Ammo Spec

Okay, let me amend that:

All .30 Carbine ammo that's MADE TO SPEC is non-corrosive.

Lake City is made to spec.

 

[musher]

Something like 18 or 20 cents per round? New Wolf is 20c/rd and new brass-cased Aguila is 23c/rd at AIM, and 1952 US surplus would probably be at or slightly below those. I think.

I'd place USGI surplus (in the bandoleers and w tracers no less) above either of those examples.

 

[ScottsGT]

OK, I'll be first in line here. How much for a 600 rd. can so I can have some fun at the range!??!

 

[fatelk]

I would think they would be worth quite a bit more than Wolf, for sure. Those stripper clips alone are worth at least 50 cents each, then you have the bandoleers and the tracers (30 carbine tracers are not cheap, from what I've seen). Then you also have the top-quality reloadable brass after you've shot it.
While I would love to buy it from you cheap, I think it would go for more than I could afford on an auction site. That's not to say it's super rare or particularly collectible, just that demand for M1 carbine stuff is high right now, as are prices.

 

[Gifted]

Ask at least 200 for the full can, probably more. I'm tempted to send you a check for 250 plus shipping, and I'll have some SHTF cache.

 

[M2 Carbine]

I'd say about $14/50 or about $336/1,200.
I'm not sure the tracers will work but the ammo will still shoot.

At todays price even once fired Carbine brass is bringing close to $100/1,000.


Personally I wouldn't buy it because I load Carbine much cheaper but it would be a good buy for someone that doesn't reload.

 

[silverlance]

im so poor that i reload for my m1 carbine using a lee loader.. one round at a time..

 

[NC-Mike]

Cheaper Than Dirt sells it for about 40.00 a bando.

A shop near me has some korean surplus and he's asking 36.00 a bando.

 

[Nhsport]

Seems to me I have a foggy recolection of some china made 30carbine ammo that was more or less conterfit down to the headstamp!
Or maybe it was just a rumor . Anyone else?

 

[fatelk]

Counterfeit Chinese LC52 carbine ammo

Yes, true. I have seen it. The headstamp is LC52, but it is berdan primed. It threw me for a loop when I first encountered and tried to resize some of the brass, then I read about it sometime later.

I think it's pretty safe to say that the OP's ammo is the real thing, though.

 

[Roccobro]

Is it for sale or not?

I'm down for the opened (or sealed) can.

Justin

EDIT: Nevermind. Ad is up for $300 onthe sealed can. I watched a can for sale a month back on AR15.com for $250 sit for over 2 months before it sold for an undisclosed amount. I guess I'll have to stick with Wolf.