Why 5 Rounds?

Early manufacturer's for Colt's cap and ball revolvers often packaged ammo in packs of 6 rounds.

http://firearmshistory.blogspot.com/2015/12/early-cartridge-technologies-skin.html

http://www.gunauction.com/buy/9569886

Cartridges for Colt's revolving rifle in .56 were packaged in 5s...

http://www.icollector.com/Rare-orig...ber-model-1855-root-revolving-rifle_i17737489

As cartridges became self-contained, manufacturers seemed to adopt the 50-round box for handguns and 20-round box for rifles fairly early on.

Although, shown here (http://cartridgecollectors.org/?page=introduction-to-22-box-collecting) is what may be a pre-Civil War box of .22 Shorts, quantity 100.

Why those numbers were adopted, I don't know.

As Jim points out, the military often packaged ammunition in different quantities.

This page (http://www.oldammo.com/boxes.htm) shows some interesting variations in military packaging, including 5-round and 40-round boxes.

The true odd man out in the US military loads were the 24-round boxes of .45 ACP ammo in half-moon clips for the Model of 1917 Colt and S&W revolvers. https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/68/b3/7c/68b37c1126ad71a9fae9b4f4f356b738.jpg
 
The British military also had some rather interesting packaging habits.

48-round boxes of unclipped .303 British... Possibly a hold over from Lewis gun days -- 47 rounds in the pan and one in the action...

They also had boxes of 9mm in 32 and 64 rounds. More obvious because the Sten gun magazine held 32 rounds.

The Germans packaged 9mm in boxes of 16. The Luger and Walther held 8 rounds, and the MP40 held 32 rounds.

What I'd really be interested in knowing is how the Russians packaged 7.62x25 intended for the PPSh and PPD submachine guns, the ones with the 71-round magazines...
 
Here's another one, .303 British, packed in boxes of 48.

OK, its English, and they have odd systems. 48 is 4 dozen, which would make perfect sense for a 6 shot revolver, but for a 10 shot rifle or 30 shot BREN gun, 48 seems an odd number to choose.
 
"...The Colt SAA was THE handgun..." Partly, but it's mostly because bullseye target shooting has a max score of 30 for a half match. Three X 5 is 30. Easier to score.
.303 British packed in boxes of 48 isn't about BREN or Lewis gun mags. Or Lee-Enfields. It's about original Lee-Metford 8 round mags. Brits wouldn't spend money on a new box when they thought the troopies would just waste the ammo anyway.
Most of the whole thing has to do with packaging. Ammo boxes are wood, not steel, and have to fit and stack nicely into or onto the ship/mule/bearer. 26 boxes of 48 fits nicely.
 
Sorta reminds me of the age-old question of why Hot Dogs and Hot Dog Buns are sold in different quantities.
 
Sorta reminds me of the age-old question of why Hot Dogs and Hot Dog Buns are sold in different quantities.
Click to expand...

Jeez! That is so when you grill them you have one to munch on and one to drop to the dog.

As to the 50 round boxes, why do you think the number would be based on six round revolvers?
 
60 rounds in a box would make a lot more sense. Evenly divisible by 5 or by 6 (or by 10 or 12). They would probably sell more of it too.
 
Except that the Lee Met ford went out in the 1890s and the British were still packaging in 48 round boxes after World War II, and clipped rifle ammo was available not long after 1900.

methinks the later boxers were for something else.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk
 
Just a note to say I checked and at least around here, both hot dogs and hot dog buns come in packages of 8. A few meat companies pack the small hot dogs in packages of 10, but they are the exception.

Hamburger buns come in packages of 8.

Jim
 
Have to make my original post clearer. I was more interested in only when I go to my range to practice, I'll go through 100-200 rounds of 38spec+Ps & 357mags
switching from a LCR357 to my SP101 finally my GP100. Since they are all 357mags, I can quickly load and reload. I can fire 357's all day with the GP.(6)
Also can fire 357's in my SP101(5) (it's a real challenge) but mostly 38 sp.P+ & 38 specP+in the LCR(5).

If Hornady or Remington or Speer, etc. had boxes of 30 or 60 or 240, I wouldn't hesitate in buying them. If enough members or enough people started requesting the addition of multiples of 6, they would do it. " Money talks and nobody walks".
IMHO, I think that most everyone here can do math in multiples of 6 just as easily as 5's. Again though if enough people asked for the ammo mfgs.to add a line of ammo in multiples of 6 it would happen.
Forgot to add that the Hot Dog/Bun analogy was a great choice.
 
Since I reload all my range ammo, dump it in a box or bag and "count" by weight, the box size of the High Priced Spread is not a factor in my shooting.
 
Doc, you just asked one of the classic marketing questions of all time. Now ask yourself why there are 12 hotdogs in a package, but only 8 hot buns in a package. The only officers I remember who carried five shot revolvers were working in plain clothes, or were carrying these as a back up.
 
I solved the problem easily. I only load five rounds. Doesn't matter what the capacity is. I load five, shoot five. Nice and even.
 
I dump boxes of ammo into a plastic jar with a screw on cover. When it's about half full, I buy more ammo. I dump it into a separate, similar container. The counting of so many rounds is just too danged hard for this old coot. The containers are about two quart sizes.
 
Not that I'm claiming any connection but 50 is 7 seven-round magazines (1911 original) plus one in the chamber.:)

Many 22 semi's have 10 round magazines, no problem with 50 round boxes.
 
If enough members or enough people started requesting the addition of multiples of 6, they would do it. " Money talks and nobody walks".
Click to expand...

If enough members or enough people started requesting the addition of multiples of 11.25 (I would figure the case as .25, the primer as .25, the powder as .25, and the bullet as .25 for when your multiples don't come out to whole numbers) they would do it. As you say, money talks.

Unfortunately for you, it appears that there are not enough people interested in multiples of 6 or multiples of 11.25 to make it worth anyone's investment.
 
If you want multiples of six, send me the two extra rounds. Forty-eight for you, two for me. No need to wait for the manufacturers to regroup.
 
Your right in today's world we need to cater to all the mamby pamby winey butt crybabies all revolver ammo should be packaged in 840 round boxes that way no matter if you have a 5,6,7 or 8 shot revolver it'll come out even.

come on man!!!
 
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