Strange .45acp ammo

[351 WINCHESTER]

I was going thru some of my stuff and found a box of M1911 Ball, Olin Mathieson Chemical Corporation Lot WRA 22568. I opened the box to find all the bullets seated too deeply in the cases. A few of the bullets were just a little off, but most were very evident. I inspected each case and all had the same headstamp WRA 54, so I'm confident they are factory.
Since this is not wartime production ammo I thought it unusual that this would get by q/c.

I wonder if these are non corrosive being made in 1954, .45acp? I'm not going to shoot them for fear of high pressure due to the bullets being seated too deeply.

 

[Reloadron]

WINCHESTER REPEATING ARMS COMPANY:
Type: .45 ACP Ball
Lot Number: 22198
Date: November 1951
First SAFE Headstamp: WRA 52

Link for above data.

Should be non corrosive made in 1954. As to the OAL irregularities beats me.

Ron

 

[jakk280rem]

It's entirely possible that at some point in the past 59 years the box may have been dropped or something heavy placed on it or some how had the bullets physically forced into the case. Call it range ammo. I would either pull the components and reload it, or use a kinetic puller to reset the ammo to correct COAL.

I had to do this to a new box or Remington hollow points. Not a single round of ammo shared a COAL. I used a bullet puller and a seating die to set length and a crimp die to crimp. Worked great.

 

[351 WINCHESTER]

The only problem with it being dropped or otherwise "compressed" is that the box does not reflect that. Another mystery waiting to be solved.

I'll probably just leave them the way I found them as they are somewhat unique.

Thanks for your input.