Interesting circa 1926 DOD letter

[butlersrangers]

"rcathey" (a fellow KCA member) posted, on Military Surplus Collectors Forums, photos of an interesting collection of American Rifleman 'clips', he acquired on ebay. These were apparently saved by an old time gunsmith and seem to date from the late 1920s and early 1930s.

One item of special interest is a (circa 1926) letter from the Department of Defense Director, related to available .30-40 Ammunition.

Although, regular 220 grain Ball cartridges were no longer available, longer rounds, (with a 172 grain jacketed BT Spitzer projectile), manufactured for the Krag barreled-actions utilized in Sub-caliber artillery devices, were available. They could be used for single round fire or altered to feed through the Krag magazine.

rcathey - Ryan kindly gave permission to re-post this letter here.

[waterman]

In December, 1961, I had just checked into the Naval Ammunition Depot at Lualualei, on Oahu's west side. My first assignment was to participate in the annual inventory. That Krag ammo for sub-caliber devices was still in stock.

[Ned Butts]

I will take three cases please, check is in the mail

[psteinmayer]

Holy Rock-A-Moly... Where can I get some? If only the Ordnance Department understood the needs of the current Krag shooters...

[madsenshooter]

There were several grades of this Pyro DG, including one for the 50BMG. My experiments with WC860 probably isn't a new thing. At some point before next year, those .310 174gr Hornady bullets will get loaded. Likely not to 2000fps.

[Hamish]

Love seeing these bits and pieces come to light!

[alphawhiskey]

If anyone was curious about the math....

[butlersrangers]

Another persuasive argument for 'time travel'?

(The cost of a crate of ammo represents 2 & 1/2 weeks of wages for a 1927 Ford Auto worker and those 'old' dollars were backed with Gold)!

In 1927, 40 Krag rifles @ $1.50 each from the DCM would have cost only $60, (or $22.94 each in today's money).

1927 poses tough choices: Ammo for 4 and 1/4 cents a round or a Glass of Beer for a Nickel with a Free Sandwich, included?

Remember that shipping cost, via time machine, is prohibitively expensive!

[Capt. Frank]

Professor, fire up the "Way Back Machine", 83 cents a box!!

[Culpeper]

Hmmmm. I didn't have any 172s but saw this over on CMP and decided to pick up a few 175s for cheap. The only size I have for Krags are the 220s. Will have to see if 175s will work in one of the rifles.

http://forums.thecmp.org/showthread.php?t=233504