. 50 cal ammo box's

[smuts]

Hi guys, what's the colour of .50 cal ammo box's would they be steel/gun metal or olive drab?

Thanks Andy.

[daz greenwood]

I usually paint mine OD Andy.

[hythe]

Yes, with plenty of chips and scratches.

[Shar2]

Generally OD and battered.

[Howard Moon]

If it was ammunition produced in this country then the boxes would be brown. Just recently we have been buying all our 0.5" from abroad and it comes packed in US style M2 containers which are painted green, each holding 100 rounds. Ammunition containers get treated with reverence when being used for their intended purpose and do not get 'battered' unless you want endless stoppages.

All operational ammunition in 5.56mm and 7.62 mm calibres is produced at Radway Green in the UK and is packed in brown H83 or H84 type containers. For training purposes we do buy some of these calibres from abroad and these also tend to be packed in US style M2 containers painted green. The only time you are likely to see a battered ammunition box is if it is being used for a different purpose.

Regards

Howard the weapons geek

[Phil]

If it was ammunition produced in this country then the boxes would be brown. Just recently we have been buying all our 0.5" from abroad and it comes packed in US style M2 containers which are painted green, each holding 100 rounds. Ammunition containers get treated with reverence when being used for their intended purpose and do not get 'battered' unless you want endless stoppages.

All operational ammunition in 5.56mm and 7.62 mm calibres is produced at Radway Green in the UK and is packed in brown H83 or H84 type containers. For training purposes we do buy some of these calibres from abroad and these also tend to be packed in US style M2 containers painted green. The only time you are likely to see a battered ammunition box is if it is being used for a different purpose.

Regards

Howard the weapons geek

+1 about not being battered.

Also you might consider NATO Green, depending on your time frame.

[DaveJL]

Olive Drab, tamiyas shade is perfect.

Dave

[Murdo]

If it was ammunition produced in this country then the boxes would be brown. Just recently we have been buying all our 0.5" from abroad and it comes packed in US style M2 containers which are painted green, each holding 100 rounds. Ammunition containers get treated with reverence when being used for their intended purpose and do not get 'battered' unless you want endless stoppages.

All operational ammunition in 5.56mm and 7.62 mm calibres is produced at Radway Green in the UK and is packed in brown H83 or H84 type containers. For training purposes we do buy some of these calibres from abroad and these also tend to be packed in US style M2 containers painted green. The only time you are likely to see a battered ammunition box is if it is being used for a different purpose.

Regards

Howard the weapons geek

Yup, wot he said.

Brown boxes (70's, 80's and 90's). Very well treated boxes, might have the odd scratch but not dented. Boxes with explosive thingies in them are generally treated with respect.

We never put ammo through a Gimpy without first opening the boxes and ensuring the ammo was correctly placed in the belt. A dislodged round in "Disintegrating Link" ammo was a guaranteed stoppage and having a stoppage was considered very unprofessional... And potentially deadly.

Any ex ammo boxes used for non ammo purposes were clearly marked as such and generally had been repainted vehicle green (Nato Green is a good colour) or black to avoid any confusion.

[the South African]

Definately some shade of Khaki,Dark Brown and mostly O.D.No dents in the boxes and definately no scratches the coating is hard as nails so much so that you struggle to remove the colour with sand paper.The markings is in yellow on a brown background.The ammo comes in a plastic crate that contains 400 rnds (4x100 rnd crates of steel construct).The belts is made up of either 4 ball 1tracer/2ball 1 AP(armour piercing) 1tracer.The tips of the tracers is red and the AP black.

Ammo gets treated with respect to avaoid damage to the belt links and rounds as these cause stoppages.Explosive ammo gets treated VERY carefully as they can and sometimes Will detonate if incorrectly handled (especially the small red boxes containing C4 dets) Handgrenades comes with dets in box so gets treated especially well.The small C4 dets is capable of taking off your hand to the wrist if mistreated.

Machine gun ammo is not at all volatile but is very heavy so when offloading from trucks it is common for two men to handle one case and as such the boxes doesnt damage much because it does not get dropped.The 12.7mm ammo gets treated well because there is a plethora of uses for them in AFV's especially (a small enough lock and you have a little safe for tools compasses etc.

Hope this helps a bit.

Regards:

Shaun