French Ammo
 

I pick up this French Ammo the other day and perhaps Mauro or someone can enlighten me.

It has 7.65, but wasnâ??t sure if this is WWI or WWII 30 cal Luger ammo or not. Might be .32 cal stuff

I didnâ??t want to open the box to view the head stamp, because itâ??s still sealed in the original wax paper


Thanks

Jim

.........

James,

Indeed, could be the french 7,65 long cartridge. Their own invention, based on a slightly lengthened 7,65 browning (.32 acp) round. It is identical in dimensions to the .30 pedersen, but it's not the same cartridge.
The round was developend around 1925 and was in use in France until the end of WW2. Your box probably dates from around 1935-1945. Judging from the lotnumber I'd say 1940.

If you measure the global height of the box you can compare it agains the OAL of the 7,65 long rounds, which is some 30.2 / 30.5 mm (1.189 - 1.194 inches). They are just about as long as a normal 9x19 para round.

Shown are some examples of French 7,65 long cartridges, in brass and laquered steel (WW2).

Gerbin,
I opened the box and found there are (4) smaller boxes with (25) in each box
The overall size is .0969 in. and .0332 around.
I believe the date is 1940 based on the head stamp.

Is there any collector value to these cartridges, or are they still fairly common ?

Thanks for your response

Jim

Jim,

They are not that common, so there certainly is a collector value. I got a couple of rounds with a collection of 9x19 and 7.65 para rounds I took over early this year and I also had to do some research to find out what they were exactly.

You may want to do a price check on the IAA cartridge collectors forum.