“There are always two sides to every coin. While the very nature of surplus was ammo that was simply dumped on the market, as collectors bought it up, shot it off and wanted more, surplus ammo has become less common. Despite the moniker of “surplus,” it isn’t always readily available. Finally its generally cheaper than new production ammo,” says Dustin of. “Generally it has these characteristics: it is foreign, it is military de-commissioned, it was produced many years ago – at least 10-25, sometimes much older – and it should come in air and water tight packaging, its markings are typically in a foreign language – unless British of course – and the markings should be in metric units. International surplus ammo, say some experts can be identified from a number of key distinctive aspects. Today surplus ammo comes in many shapes, sizes and calibers, but yet there remains a disagreement among shooters as to what is rightfully classified as “surplus.” Even those in the business have very distinct opinions – and some of it differs from the aforementioned American surplus. “I like to see how the weapon-ammunition combination performs using the ammunition intended for the weapon.” Rarely do you find case lots of commercial ammunition offered.” The other benefit says Wozny is that the ammo often fits like a glove with the firearms it was built for. “For me the biggest benefit to surplus ammunition was the ability to buy it in bulk. This price is why shooters and collectors such as Doug Wozny love the surplus ammo. You could buy a wooden crate with two sealed metal cases filled with the 7.62 ammo for $40 or $50.” “You aren’t seeing the massive import of ammo like we saw from a few years ago. While this ammo is still available the amounts are drying up says Summerhill. With the end of the Cold War in 1990, the surplus ammo market was flooded with previously difficult to find Soviet calibers, notably 7.62x54r and 7.62x39r.

“The Japanese surplus ammo was dumped in the Pacific at the end of the war, and even today much of the Japanese ammo you’ll find isn’t original from the war.” Surplus Polish 7.62x54R Ammunition Pic: “German ammo in the 1950s and the 1960s was extremely common,” says Summerhill, noting that oddly Japanese ammo was not. But after World War II an interesting thing happened, captured German small arms were sold to the active shooters – and later collectors – market, along with the ammo. The military would gear up for a conflict, fight the war, come home and sell of the surplus ordinance. This process has been repeated with military rifles numerous times. “Old ammo was just no longer of use, and it was sold off.”

“Ammo was dumped as it was deemed obsolete,” says advanced gun collector Rob Summerhill of the forum. Army and other military forces adopted new rifles and small arms, the old equipment was sold off, and with the adoption of the traditional bullet that we know today, the same thing happened with ammunition. This was likely the first cartridge surplus “milsurp” on the U.S. in the early 1870s, and used until the 1890s. One early example of this says Clinton was the 45-70 government, which was adopted by the U.S. Sometimes a round (as well as rifle) would pass down to second line troops before it entered the civilian market.” “Each time a rifle or round became the new performance ‘champ,” many issue weapons and their cartridges were sold off as obsolete. “Surplus ammo surely came early, as modern cartridge firearms evolved very rapidly in the late 1800s,” says Chris Clinton, who previously ran the old surplus ammo business Cannon and Cartridge.

And while those prices may look like bargains by today’s standards, these were hardly bargain basement prices. This in turn led to the original surplus market, which spawned mail order catalogs such as the famous Bannerman’s catalog, where all sorts of used as well as un-issued equipment could be purchased.

Following the American Civil War there was simply more equipment than the vastly reduced U.S. To understand surplus ammunition, at least from an American perspective, requires a basic understanding of the nature of surplus equipment.

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