British .38 ammo box

[mrclark303]

Hi all,

I wouldn't imagine this box is a rare item for one moment, but I came across this today, oddly I can't find anything on Google, perhaps it's my poor searching!

How common were the 180 round wooden boxes?

Information

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[Flying10uk]

Does it or would it have had wooden dividers like the .303 wooden ammo box did?

[browningautorifle]

That's a reusable container. At the time they would be issued and returned. After the war they may have outlived their usefulness.

[bombdoc]

Radway Green used to pack small arms ammunition in all sorts of strange numbers.. .303 came in boxes of 32! Revolver ammunition used to be packed in multiples of six, and if you do the maths, 150 is 30x6. It was probably 15 packets of 12 rounds.

Pistol ammunition is a PITA to manage. It has a very low turnover in action.. most of the time on operations, you are simply issuing an individual with their personal issue, and then taking it back at the end of their tour, or exchanging it at set time intervals. Actual operational use is usually very low..

UK had to dig out a load of .380 revolver ammunition in the 70s because of the Troubles in Ireland. The standard issue pistol, usually only for officers, was the 9mm Inglis Browning. Ireland suddenly created a demand for more pistols to arm guards and sentrys. The war reserve stock was all .380 Enfield revolvers of WW2 vintage (bad copies of Webleys).. cue lots of negligent discharges as a result of the combination of bored squaddies and pistols. I would not be surprised if that box came from that period as 63 seems a late work date for .380 and would be some of the last made for war reserve stock.

They were replaced fairly quickly by a new buy of FN Brownings..

[Flying10uk]

and then taking it back at the end of their tour, or exchanging it at set time intervals. Actual operational use is usually very low..

If say a few rounds had been fired, of pistol ammunition, on an operational tour, how would the individual be expected to account for it? Would his word be good enough or what was the procedure, please?

[browningautorifle]

If say a few rounds had been fired

With us, accidental discharges or neglect or "Loss" are all unacceptable excuses. All are met with charges. However when overseas doing Peacekeeping ammo flowed a bit easier than some were aware. One man said if we ever came under fire in camp, he was grabbing a rifle and jumping into the local "Honey pot"*, there were countless crates of SA ammo in there. The Snr NCOs would dump their excess ammo in there rather than have an overage to account for, it should never have been there...

* The honey pot was where the toilets emptied, the honey wagon(pump truck) would come around thrice weekly to drain it.

Revolver ammunition used to be packed in multiples of six, and if you do the maths, 150 is 30x6. It was probably 15 packets of 12 rounds.

Question on that, it was told that the officers during the Korean war campaigns were issued eighteen rounds each. Six in the revolver, six in the compass/ammo pouch and six back with the QM. They had to be accounted for as an officer wasn't supposed to be shooting, he was supposed to be leading. I can testify to that train of thought as it was still what they professed to us in the '70s for NCOs. Anyway...multiples of six...I guess it would work out the same.

[Daan Kemp]

Good mentality for officers that. You can't lead properly of you're shooting, except of course, when the alternative is to die.

Pistol ammo = SMG, seems to be a dying breed in combat.

[mrclark303]

Thanks for the info guys, it's a really neat little ammo box, still surprised I can't find pics of any other examples!

[bombdoc]

Good mentality for officers that. You can't lead properly of you're shooting, except of course, when the alternative is to die.

Pistol ammo = SMG, seems to be a dying breed in combat.

Not in this case.. .380 is a rimmed round, and was not used in SMGs (to my knowledge..!) only Revolvers.

[bombdoc]

It would depend on the tempo of operations..

If it was mainly peacekeeping, any rounds expended would have to be accounted for in the operations log. Pistol ammunition would not normally be expended unless there was a self defence incident. There would be a periodic turnover of ready use stock and a background training use if action levels were low, but ammunition for this was kept strictly separate. You need to be aware that these days ALL engagements are liable to be scrutinised and challenged, and unless you have got your ammunition ducks in a row, you can end up in deep do do..

I had a particularly noisy exchange with a quartermaster who put in a demand for 300 rds of 9mm "operational stock usage". He got a bit shirty when I insisted on seeing the op reports showing where his unit had had a pistol duel with the Taliban! He knew and I knew that it was cavalry officers shooting rabbits, but it was his job to manage such silliness from his training stock and not claim it was operational...!

---------- Post added at 12:35 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:26 AM ----------

Thanks for the info guys, it's a really neat little ammo box, still surprised I can't find pics of any other examples!

They were pretty much obsolete by the 70s, so the boxes would have either been burned or "recycled" internally and then burned. I have a similar box that contained airburst gas bombs which were used for chemical training during WW2. It belonged to my Father who had been the Gas Officer with the local Home Guard (.. he was an industrial pharmacist!). It served to hold boot cleaning brushes in its post war role, and still does to this day...!