Lake City Steel Cased M1 Carbine Ammo?

[TexasCheesehead]

I found a .50 caliber ammo box today that had several bandoliers of Caliber 30 Ball M2 Garand ammo. One of the bandoliers wad this stuff in it. It's steel-cased Lake City 30 caliber carbine in the stripper clips. The ammunition is dated 1956.

I wasn't aware that they made steel-cased M1 Carbine ammo then.

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[jimb16]

That's new to me too. I knew Evansville made it but not LC.

[browningautorifle]

That stuff actually looks like the zinc cases we see on the ranges today. Is it possible that this is copied by someone, including the headstamp? It resembles the MFS cases you see around. The clips should be in the same shape the ammo is if it was all left to moulder...

[303tom]

Did you put a magnet to it ?.............

[TexasCheesehead]

Did you put a magnet to it ?.............

Yes I did. Not only are the cases magnetic, the projectiles are too. They might be steel core bullets.

[USGI]

The lot number on that bandoleer is a bit too early for LC 56, so it's doubtful that ammo originally came in it. I think we've had some posts in the past about steel cased LC Carbine ammo that was mainly used for training, practice, etc. in the mid 50's. It's too late to search for them tonight! I agree the cases look odd, unless someone tried to "clean them up" at some point. - Bob

[Skip]

I found this steel case but I can't tell if it was LC or EC. Could they be Proof Loads?

[browningautorifle]

That looks like an EC to me...I thought proof loads used a 150 gr pointed bullet?

[jimb16]

The proof loads did use a 150 gr spitzer bullet. I have a few in my collection.

[USGI]

I believe I was wrong about your LC 56 lot number. I thought the 3rd digit was 0, but it's probably a 9. Here's a picture I had on file, now I just need to find the thread on Milsurps that goes with it! This ammo looks a lot like yours. - Bob