Here is yet another in my series of wartime SAA questions. Britain and the Commonwealth made God knows how many rounds of SAA during the war, and much of this ammo was rendered surplus to requirements after 1945. The old World at War showed a rather startling clip of ammo being dumped at sea after the end of the war. Much was shot off in the postwar years but small lots of wartime ammunition still show up for sale on various websites. Some of this stuff remained in military inventories until at least the 1980s but does anyone know how much surplus ammo was released to the civilian market for sale in the immediate postwar years, say 1945-1955? I am particularly interested in finding out whether any British military ammo could have been imported into the United States during those years. Thanks a lot to anyone who knows.
I recall in the 1960s some of the US Gun Magazines carrying ads for .303 ammo etc, also for firearms of most British & European wartime era manufacture. One of the main players was Sam Cummings firm Interarms see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Cummings
Huge amounts must have been sold / given to friendly government's after the war so the route it found itself on the civilian market could be tortuous. Obviously as you mention we dumped thousands of ton's of ammunition of all types into the North Sea for about 20 years. Just one example is when they declared large calibre tube AA artillery obsolete overnight in the 1950's. When you consider how many rounds they must have had in war reserve stocks for the 3.7" and other anti-aircraft guns you can see the size of the problem. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/tons-of-arms-dumped-at-sea-1601949.html
I know a lot of surplus stuff came here in the 60s; it was widely advertised and much of it sold through the mail, including the Carcano 91/38 which killed Kennedy. Unfortunately the 60s is late for what I am writing, I am trying to learn what the story was on surplus during the 50s. But thanks for the link.
A million tons is a lot of ammo. Dumped at sea, burned, buried, you name it. Small arms taken to smelters by the railway hopper car load. The goal was to get rid of the stuff as fast as possible, as cheaply as possible. It had already been paid for and industry benefits from new orders whereas only the Exchequer benefits from selling off surplus.
In 1987, whilst based in Gibraltar, I came across a perfectly stored Bangalore Torpedo with a 1937 date stamp on the box. Stored in the Fossway Magazine, I suspect that it is probably still there now! FdeP
The disposal of stores is an interesting art with some counter-intuitive elements. Production/purchasing is based on perceived future requirement. It is then stockpiled and issued according to requirement. If the requirement changes, it is often new stuff off the production line which is sold rather than items already in store. Hence surplus ammo may have been produced in reaction to an emergency (e.g. Korean War.) however sold to the surplus market 'as new' when troops years later are still using wartime dated ammo. If the ammo is stored close to its shelf life it may be issued for training, if past it's theoretical shelf life it should be disposed of according to its risk. I knew a former Ordnance Officer who was at the Anglesey ordnance disposal depot at the time of the Falklands War. After they stopped dumping in the Irish Sea there was a huge backlog of ammunition for destruction by incineration He was the one who knew where the ammunition for the .50in M2 MGs was. The paperwork showed it as having already been destroyed. It was rapidly recovered sent for cleaning and testing then issued. Incidentally these were weapons and ammunition stored from the late 1940's/early 1950s. The guns were bought new in reaction to the perceived 'Sturmovik' threat from analysis of WW2 Soviet tactics - hence all the circular hatches designed into British Post War truck cabs. I have yet to find any reference to them being fitted or trained on.
I was told by an ex-MOD ammunition Purchasers who retired about 10 years ago that they still had war-time examples of these in storage at Kineton. A lot of the ammunition in storage after the war dated back as far as WW1 and was potentially dangerous to even try to take apart. When they closed down Monkton Farleigh Ammunition Depot not far from me they spent a year burning off all the cordite in a valley at the back of the site. According to books it is feet deep with all the discarded packaging. The MOD is aware of lots of sites in the UK where potentially ammunition including chemical is buried.
To get back to your original question, I would recommend TTH that you ask your question on the American Gun Boards Forum as they are the experts on the subject and will know the source of their ammunition. There were loads of WW1 dated cloth bandoliers on the market during the 1990's all of which had been refilled at least once if not twice up to WW2 and date stamped accordingly. These were coming from states with the ammo being used there. The Gun Boards members will be able to up date you on the source but I would be very surprised if much ammunition comes directly from the UK Government.
