Frankford Arsenal ammo

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BoogieMan

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I didnt get any response on C&R with this question and I dont know how to move a thread so Im posting it here.
I won a Gunbroker auction $20 for 80rnds of PISTOL BALL FRANKFORD ARSENAL .45 M1911 AMMUNITION LOT F. A. 672 & F. A. 11.
Did I get lucky or is there something I dont know about the ammo that other people do? I may shoot up one of the 4 boxes, but mainly bought it to go with my '42 1911.
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Thanks Musher. Corrosive not a huge deal as long as it gets cleaned within a few hours of shooting. In this case its more for the nostalgia.
 
They will not be re loadable unless you get set up for Berdine primers. After shooting them look inside the case and you will see 2 small flash holes.
 
No, that ammo does NOT have Berdan primers, though it has corrosive primers, not the same thing. With very few exceptions, no U.S. military ammo has Berdan primers, only Boxer primers. The boxes shown are 20 round; in that era, pistol ammunition was not issued in 50 round boxes. The cases are brass.

IMHO, all that ammo has collector value (especially lot FA 11) well above the value of shooting ammo.

Jim
 
I don't know what years, but there is FA .45 ACP with an odd diameter primer, .204". Meant to avoid mixup between rifle and pistol primers when they were producing both .45 and .30.

Still Boxer type, though; and at one time the DCM/NRA sold them for reloading.
 
All frankford Arsenal ammunition has some collector's value, as the Arsenal has been shut down many years now.

Check the headstamps.

Bob Wright
 
Corrosive is not a huge deal as long as the pistol(or rifle including the gas system on a semi-auto.) gets flushed with hot tap water first. Then cleaned normally. How long that takes really isn't an issue. Corrosively primer ammo isn't going to cause rusting in a few hours.
 
I am not sure, but I think the top box markings indicate tracer. The bullets should have a red or green tip, but there are some other rare markings.

Jim
 
I have a couple of boxes of those…If I remember the lot was a 700 number and the headstamp date was "32". In my desk drawer at work, have to look tomorrow.

So anyone have an idea of the "going value" per box of the OP's or mine?
 
"They will not be re loadable unless you get set up for Berdine primers. After shooting them look inside the case and you will see 2 small flash holes."


Incorrect. United States military ammunition has NEVER (with a few specialized exceptions) used Berdan primers in small arms ammunition.

Boxer primers were adopted by US arsenals in large part because the military was very interested in taking cases expended in training and reloading them for training as a means of making miniscule defense budgets go farther.
 
Cool, I worked at The Frankford Arsenal in the 1970's. It is closed now however.
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It was a industrial park and charter school for a while after. I think its almost all knocked down now. Such a shame, the fence alone was amazing, not to mention all the old military architecture.

So anyone have an idea of the "going value" per box of the OP's or mine?
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Seeing as I bought 4 boxes for $20 on Gunbroker I would guess thats a fairly accurate value. I was willing to give $50 but no one else bid against me. I thought I would be outbid at a max of $50.
 
As I was working thre they made a dummy 308 round that was nickle plated with the a bite the bullet head stamp & year I have. It even has a little black anodized aluminum holder to hold it upright.. I will post a picture of it. It had an officers club, pool and a great cafeteria. was a beautiful gem of a place. It was in an ugly part of PA however.

You should look on GB some FA on there to see worth, http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=481141824
 
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When the .45 M1911 cartridge was adopted, it was specified to use a slightly smaller primer than that of the .30 rifle cartridge (.2020"-.2025" vs .2092"-.2096" for the rifle round) to avoid mixups. That was not the exception, though, it was the standard.

And I can't find that that was ever changed. Anyone have a WWII or earlier GI case that has not been crimped or reamed, or 45 GI pistol primers from the same era?

(Of course, all the thousands of GI cases we reloaded had the primer pockets reamed "to remove the crimp", so they are now .209+". But what were they originally?)

Jim
 
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