Surplus Army M19A1 7.62X51mm NATO M80 (.30 cal) Ammo Cans SOLD

7.62X51 ammo cans in very good condition

7.62X51 ammo cans in very good condition

These are surplus ammo cans straight from the White Sands Missile Range here in New Mexico.  From the designation on the can, you can see that these cans originally contained standard M80 ball cartridges in M13 linked belts.  The can would have contained two 100-round belts in cartons inside of the can.

Model M19A1
Dimensions: 10″ x 6.5″ x 3.5″
Steel ammunition chest
Rubber seal
Lay flat carrying handle
Hinged lid
Latch closure (can be locked with additional parts)

These cans are in very good condition and the seals on them are in excellent condition.  The ammo in these cans would have been recently shot such that the cans are still in near mint condition. These can be used for ammo storage or any other items you wish to store in an air, humidity, and water-tight manner. You can depend on the can and seal to last many years.

The cans are available for sale at our store in Rio Rancho and for those on the south end of town, in Belen. They are reasonably priced at $10.00 each, tax included.

These cans are generally known as .30 cal cans as they were originally designed to hold belts of .30 caliber machine gun bullets.

The 7.62X51mm NATO round was developed in the 1950s for the M14 rifle and the M60 machine gun.  Since these cartridges were on linked belts that means they were intended for machine gun use, not rifle use.  Very few of these are used in rifles any longer as the M14 rifle was superseded by the M16 which used the 5.56X45 NATO round.  However the 7.62mm round known in the civilian world as the .308 Winchester is still used in sniper rifles and for other special purposes in addition to machine gun use.

It was discovered in Vietnam that the M14 rifle was too long and heavy for jungle warfare and the size and weight of the cartridges limited the number of rounds that could be carried.  The commies had the same issue with their AK-47 ammo but they never wised up and still carry the bigger, heavier cartridges.  This chart helps show the comparison in what a soldier could carry:

Rifle Cartridge Cartridge weight Weight of loaded magazine 10 kg (22#) ammo load
M14 7.62×51mm 393 grains (25.5 g) 20 rds @ 0.68 kg 14 mags / 280 rds
M16 5.56×45mm 183 grains (11.9 g) 20 rds @ 0.3 kg 33 mags / 660 rds
AK-47 7.62×39mm 281 grains (18.2 g) 30 rds @ 1.2 kg* 8 mags / 240 rds

(*AK-47 magazines are much heavier than M14 and M16 magazines)

The 7.62X51mm cartridge remained the main machine gun round well in to the 1990s but for light machine gun use, has been replaced by the 5.56X45 NATO round in widespread use of the M249 SAW.  The 7.62 is still used in the M60E4, the M240 and by the Germans in their HK21 and MG3.

We just got in some 40mm cans into stock at our Belen location.  They are selling for $20 each

262232

1918

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