EC 42 Steel Cased Ammo

[w10085]

I have 42 rounds of kinda dirty EC Steel cased ammo as shown. Does it have any collector value or should I clean it up and shoot it (and clean the gun well after)? Thoughts?

[raymeketa]

Evansville Ordnance Plant manufactured about 3 billion .45 cartridges during WW II, most of which were steel cased. So, it will probably be collectable in another 75 years or so. Corroded, as are yours, detract from any collectability. Cleaning them won't change that.

So, shoot 'em.

[JBinIll]

+1 Collectible ammunition most times is valued on the condition of the box.Corroded ammunition unless of an extremely rare type has very little value other than salvage or shoot ability.I would not shoot corroded ammunition in any firearm I own.

[gfguns]

I believe it is collectible and it's story is an important part of WWII history even though it is common and inexpensive. It should be easy for you to find a full box in mint condition for about $35.00 if you shoot these.

Chrysler's Evansville, Indiana Assembly Plant



In 1932, during the depths of the Great Depression, Chrysler closed the Evansville Dodge truck assembly plant. As the economy began to improve in the mid-1930s, vehicle sales increased.

Reopening the Evansville plant
Chrysler saw an opportunity with Evansville, since it was on the Ohio River. The company could keep transportation costs at a minimum by shipping autos on barges to markets in the Gulf states and out West.

Chrysler renovated and expanded the Evansville operations; in 1935 the original Dodge truck assembly plant location was reopened, and a body panel stamping plant was also opened nearby. The two plants would now build Plymouth cars starting with the 1936 models.


The plant openings were a real boost for the Evansville economy. As the nation recovered from the Depression, Chrysler increased output. Along with Plymouth, Dodge cars were also assembled at Evansville in 1937 and 1938. The assembly plant served the community during the 1937 flood by providing shelter to displaced people.

By the late 1930s, the two plants supported about 3,000 local jobs and produced as many as 300 cars per day. Plymouth car production continued on at the Evansville plant until the onset of World War II. The plant had built more than 300,000 vehicles by then, but things were about to change.

Shortly after the declaration of war, automobile production stopped. The Army Ordinance Department asked Chrysler if the Evansville plant could produce vast amounts of .45 automatic ammunition to supply the war effort. Chrysler President Kaufman Keller replied that they could.

Keller’s confidence in the Evansville plant’s abilities paid off. Between 1942 and 1944, the Evansville Ordinance Plant produced more than 3.26 billion cartridges – about 96% of all the .45 automatic ammunition produced for all the armed forces. In addition to the ammunition, the Evansville Ordinance Plant rebuilt 1,600 Sherman tanks and 4,000 military trucks.


Plymouth car production resumed after WWII. However, the Evansville plant was not finished with military contracts. In the early 1950s, during the Korean War, the plant retooled and dedicated about a third of its space and manpower to building 60-foot aluminum hulls for UF-1 Grumman Albatross air-sea rescue planes for the Navy and Coast Guard.

Post war at the Evansville Plymouth plant
By the mid-1950s, the two Evansville plants were running at their peak. There were 7,000 employees building upwards of 400 Plymouth cars per day. The One-Millionth Plymouth made in Evansville rolled off of the assembly line in March 1953. The plant hosted community open house days to promote the new model year cars being built in Evansville.



I have 42 rounds of kinda dirty EC Steel cased ammo as shown. Does it have any collector value or should I clean it up and shoot it (and clean the gun well after)? Thoughts?

[John R.]

I had like maybe a zillion rds of EC4.My Thompsons just ate it all up and LOVED it steel cases and all.

Thompsons are dead easy to flush with boiling water too.The feed ramp must be an inch wide and you can just pour the water in from the kettle spout.

I was told NOT to fire steel case ammo in my pistols though.

JR

[Emri]

I was told NOT to fire steel case ammo in my pistols though.

I would not recommend it also. Unless you have one of those HighPoint pieces of junk. Especially if it is corroded. The corrosion I see is indicitave of poor storage and you don't know what is inside the cases.

FWIW,

Emri

[Tuna]

The EC ammo was first made with the help of Sunbeam and brass cased ammo was what the plant first made with a head stamp of EC S. Later they switched to steel case and the rarer steel case has the ECS head stamp but that was switched to EC. The steel case was made for emergency use and for training state side saving brass cases for combat. EC later also made 30 carbine in steel case as there was though to be a brass shortage at the time. The vast majority of this ammo was stock piled for emergency use packed in spam cans which was developed at EC. The plant also repacked many millions of rounds of carbine and .45 made by other ammo makers for long term storage and for ease of movement of the ammo. Quite an operation and American ingenuity at it's best.

[raymeketa]

Sunbeam only made cases. They did not load any ammunition. The cases were sent to Evansville where they were loaded. AFAIK, all of Sunbeam's cases are headstamped ECS. When the two Ordnance Plants were shut down in 1944 it was estimated that enough .45 ammunition was in stock to sustain the war effort through 1950.

Got bullets!
http://i59.tinypic.com/f21ldj.jpg

[George in NH]

I will offer this; while shooting the above ammo with fine results, my pistol would not fire. Did a tap/rack and no bang. Unloaded and found a semi circle sliver of the primer cup jammed into the firing pin hole in the slide thus "freezing" the firing pin just inside the hole in the slide. Picked out the sliver and all was fine again. The case mouths did show some of the corrosion seen in the above pic but not as much in the pic. I believe that the bullet became "soldered" to the case neck and only released the bullet under higher than normal pressure. I inspected some fired cases and some had flattened primer cups. George in NH :)

[John R.]

Sunbeam only made cases. They did not load any ammunition. The cases were sent to Evansville where they were loaded. AFAIK, all of Sunbeam's cases are headstamped ECS. When the two Ordnance Plants were shut down in 1944 it was estimated that enough .45 ammunition was in stock to sustain the war effort through 1950.

Got bullets!
http://i59.tinypic.com/f21ldj.jpg

Oh but to have about five yards of the first row.

A few new M1928A1 barrels and a strap wrench might be a good plan too!

JR

[joem]

Oh but to have about five yards of the first row.

A few new M1928A1 barrels and a strap wrench might be a good plan too!

JR

You and me both!

[CPC]

What.. am I the only one who has a basement like this. Great thread thanks for the posting and sharing your insights. ok... so I only have 1/2 crate of .45 but it is a start....