I went back to WRACo Vol 1 again.  There are line drawings of the 220 grain FMJ bullet seated in a Krag case.  The drawing shows the crimp in the bullet cannelure and the tiny "w" visible just above the cannelure.  The round nose of the bullet does not, to my elderly eyes, quite match the bullet in the photo and I also have very minor doubts about the copper-colored bullet.  I looked at WRACo loaded cartridges in my collection (other calibers) and the "w" is visible.

All the Winchester labels came from the Winchester art department.  There is a product number on each.  My understanding is that the "8-30" on the label is a date showing when that particular label was approved for use by the Winchester bureaucracy.  We can infer that the box went into the Winchester product distribution system after that date.  It may or may not tell us much about the age of the contents.

W R A (no dots) and a 2-digit year code was specified as the headstamp for Winchester cases made for a government contract.  I think it is possible that the WRA 30 cases loaded for a late Navy contract would go into a box like that, especially since Frankford Arsenal was loading Subcaliber cases at the same time.  FA used the M-1 bullets for the .30-06 because they had used up all the Krag and .30-03 bullets in stock and would make no more.

Those boxes of Western Cartridge Company 180 grain boat-tailed bullets are very interesting.  They are from the post WW1 to pre-WW2 period when long range military style shooting was in vogue.  WRACo loaded the same sort of load, but their labels indicate that the loaded cartridge is too long for a Krag magazine and is intended to be single-loaded.  I expect that there were rifles purpose-built, and maybe not Krags, for that cartridge.

There is no "w" visible on any of the 20 cartridges that I can find. Their is consistent tarnishing on both the cases and projectiles. If these are in fact reloads as Paul suggested they were well done, as everything is very uniform, and quite long ago. That is very interesting information about the headstamp! I appreciate you spending the time and effort looking it up! The knowledge and kindness on this forum is absolutely amazing. I'm a student of history and love to revel in its wisdom. I'm only 30 years old (started collecting pretty young lol) and am really trying to keep the traditions of these rifles alive. If these things could only talk and tell us where they've been

I've opened WRACo Vol 1 again.  There were .30-03 military (or at least FMJ) loads without the "w" because the illustration shows a sample with & without.  There was also (missed it before) a separate section on .30 U.S.G. loads, yet another name for the Krag cartridge.  The illustration shows a military cartridge without the "w" but with a CN (cupro-nickle) notation in the description.

The .30 U.S.G. entry notes that Navy contracts for W.R.A.Co. 29 and W.R.A. (with dots) 32 headstamps were for blank cartridges with a cannelure at the neck to hold a tan card wad.

The .30 Army entry indicates that FP (full patch) bullets were loaded and that some of the loads were GM (gilding metal) and that some did not have a "w" and were loaded with flat brass primer.

They manufactured components in lots or batches, with enough for whatever contract they were filling and then had leftovers.  The WRACo type headstamps appeared until the mid-1960s, depending on what was in the component bins.

Jeremy- if most of them could talk, they would tell you that it is pretty boring being in the closet, attic or basement for years.

reincarnated wrote on May 27^th, 2016 at 3:31pm:



Haha, interesting analysis. I've never really thought of it that way. Quite true though. I guess I should have said a "time lapse" of the history of each of these rifles and different pieces of militaria to cut down on some of the more boring parts

An auction on Gunbroker came up with the exact same label as my ammunition. The auction number is 564033933 on gunbroker. The photos seem to confirm that my ammo is original and unmodified as the cartridges look identical. Flat "silver colored" primers and a copper jacket with consistent tarnish on the cases like mine. Anyone gets a chance to look at it I would appreciate your thoughts. Cheers.