United ammo box help id

[Turhan98]

Hello everyone,

I bought this ammo box and i found "UNITED" & "NLCO" stamps. Please can you tell whats the mean this stamps and determine manufacture country ? Thanks

[Richard2]

I believe the ammo can and markings are American. The first line indicates the number of cartridges. In the second line, Cal 30 means 30-06. Linked means they were linked together in a belt for use in a machine gun. Ball M2 is the standard military load with a 150 grain FMJ bullet. The last line is the lot number. TW in the lot number indicates that it was manufactured at Twin Cities arsenal.

Although it is marked Ball M2, every 5th round in a machine gun belt would usually be a tracer.

The united stamp stands for the United Ammunition Container Company in Milan Tennessee.

[Turhan98]

Thank you for informations sir, May I ask how can i learn manufacture year or what is your guess?

[Richard2]

United Ammunition Containers Co. was established in 1961, so that would be the earliest possible date. About 1967 the machinguns were converted from Cal 30 (30-06) to 7.62 NATO (308 win). I do not know how long it took to phase out the remaining Cal 30 machineguns, but I would guess it must have been finished by the 1974-1975 reduction in force. That was when the last Cal 30 Garand rifles in National Gaurd units were replaced with 5.56 M16A1 rifles. My guess of a date would be Vietnam Era, 1961 - 1973.