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Newbie with a question...
Bumped into this Site while searching for some answers on "Spam Cans"...and it appears that jes' maybe, someone here can help me out!
I have a coupla unopened Spam Cans of 30 cal. AP M-2 Ammo, with clips and bandoleers...I am attempting to find a source for manufacture date.
The Lot # on the can is:
SL 9978
And I have found from another source that the "SL" is for St. Louis Missouri...I have also found some differing info as to just possibly when the St. Louis facility turned these cans out.
The cans are in pristine condition, no dents, dings, and if not for a coupla "scrape marks" (maybe from the wooden crate they once were housed in?), one would think they were relatively BRAND SPANKIN' NEW...and surely couldn't pre-date your's truly here---born in '51...and I should look so good with the years!!
Anyways...any help at all will be greatly appreciated...
Jones
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05-30-2010 04:04 PM
# ADS
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Advisory Panel
Friend, I don't know when the St. Louis Ammunition Ordnance Plant closed down, but I DO know that they made an absolute POTFUL of ammo during the Second War and had turned out zillions of rounds before I was born... and I'm a Real Olde Phart now.
They made good ammo, but likely most of it will have the necks starting to harden by now. To make the brass last, best to pull it down and unload, anneal the necks and then load it right back up with the original powder and slugs: nothing wrong with them.
US military ammo up to about 1953 still used the old Frankford Arsenal Number 70 primer (FA-70), which was chlorate-based and thus corrosive. Any US milspec ammo dated 1954 and later can be relied upon to have modern noncorrosive, nonmercuric primers which give you less grief with the rifles and happen to store so very, very well in comparison to the old stuff.
If your Spam cans have been stored okay, this stuff still might make the modern guys sit up and take notice.
Likely SOMEBODY out there will have an idea as to when your particular Lot was made.
Good luck!
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Banned
What is stamped on the rear of the cartridge case, the ammo could have been repacked at a depot. Normally the last two digits would be the year 78 (1978) BUT St Louis Ord Plant switched over to making artillery ammunition so another possibility is a exception number dating to 1952-1953 for AP ammo.
Go with the number on the rear of the cartridge case for dating, ammo cans can have the repack/inspection date on them.
"St. Louis Army Ammunition Plant
The St. Louis Army Ammunition Plant (SLAAP) is located in the northwestern section of St. Louis, Missouri, bordered on the west by Goodfellow Boulevard and on the north and east by Interstate Highway 70. The 21.05 acres now comprising the SLAAP were originally part of the St. Louis Ordnance Plant. In 1944, SLAPP was converted from small arms to 105 mm production."
Federal Facilities Department of Defense Sites - DNR
Problem with 1978 dated ammo, St Louis shut down after the Viet Nam war.
"Living St. Louis: Ammo Plant
Living St. Louis tells the story of a piece of St. Louis and U.S. history as it is torn down. Built in 1941, the St. Louis Ammunition plant was at one time the largest ammunition plant in the U.S., employing not just St. Louis men, but St. Louis women as well during the years of World War II. The plant stopped production after the Vietnam War. The iconic building of the plant, where howitzer shells were once made, was torn down to make room for retail development, and new jobs for the region."
Your Stories: Living St. Louis: Ammo Plant
St. Louis Army Ammunition Plant (SLAAP) / St. Louis Ordnance Plant (SLOP)
A look back • St. Louis factory loaded America's weapons during World War II
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Legacy Member
The first lot of non corrosive AP M2 ammo that the St. Louis plant made was SL-9467 dated 1952. So your spam cans are non corrosive AP made after 1952.
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Thank You to Bruce McAskill For This Useful Post: