List of military headstamps
During World War II the Western Cartridge Company made 7.92mm Mauser ammunition for the Chinese Nationalists.
The Chinese numbers 七 (Qi, or "7") over 九 (Jiǔ, or "9") at the 9 o'clock position represent the bullet's caliber (7.9mm).
The ammunition was bulk-packed in standard 20-round cartons without stripper clips to maximize the amounts delivered and the packaging was marked in the Chinese language.
In 1944 there was a contract to make 30-million modified Springfield-type Mauser-compatible stripper clips which were bulk-packed in ammo cans.
Due to the long transport times, the rough and mountainous terrain, and constantly changing battlelines, the order wasn't completely delivered until 1947.
In 1953, US Army Intelligence ordered 250 million rounds of .30-06 ammunition to be manufactured in large lots under unique arsenal headstamps.
This was divided by radial segment lines, like that of a Square (or Hellenic) Cross, between the portions to look like they were of European manufacture.
During the Vietnam War in the early 1970s (July, 1970 to January, 1972) the Lake City Ordnance Plant (contractor code: LC) and Frankfort Arsenal (contractor code: FA) produced unmarked Boxer-primed 7.62×39mm Blank and Ball cartridges for use by American and Allied personnel.
The ball ammunition allowed reconnaissance and Special Operations units to utilize captured Communist Bloc weapons like the SKS carbine and AKM assault rifle.
Most ball ammunition went to support Marshal Lon Nol's Cambodian Army (1970–1975), which was receiving reconditioned SKS carbines and AK-47s as military aid.
They came in 20-round cartons that were marked with special short lot numbers that lacked the contractor code and date.
The "C"s in "DAC", "DCA", "LAC" and "VC" had a small broadshead arrowhead (/|\) inset to indicate it was Canadian Government Issue property.
At 12 o'clock is the three-letter acronym for Gomhoreyyet Maṣr el-ʿArabeyya (جمهورية مصر العربية, "Arab Republic of Egypt") – which looks like the English letters ERC in cursive from left to right but represent the Egyptian Arabic letters GMA from right to left.
The post-war German government assembled cartridges at the Wehrkreis ("Defense District") arsenals.
Cartridge-loading machines were installed at artillery depots to train technicians in how to operate the machinery in times of emergency.
The German government adopted coded headstamps for military ammunition to keep the identity of their suppliers secret.
The early cartridges were made exclusively by Artillerie Inrichtingen, the Dutch state-run munitions factory, until the early-1980s.
Police and paramilitary forces were armed with Mosin-Nagants (classified Mosin Karabin M91/98/25) and Mannlichers converted to 7.9×57mm Mauser.
Government-run factories that made ammunition for the military (Wytwornia Amunicji) placed the Polish National Eagle stamp instead.
They used a royal crown at the 12 o'clock position for government-manufactured or foreign-contracted ammunition; this was left blank if it was made by a private Swedish contractor.
Ammunition with an E at the 12 o'clock position (which stands for Ersättning, or "Substitute") have a bimetallic cartridge-case (brass-clad steel) due to wartime economy measures during World War II.
The old method was made up of the 1-letter arsenal code (usually preceded by AMF), the lot number and 2-digit year of production, and the day and month of manufacture.
Foreign ammunition producers included Deutschen Waffen- und Munitionsfabrik (DWM) of Germany; Hirtenberger Patronen-, Zündhütchen- und Metallwarenfabrik A.G. (HP) and Keller & Co (KC or K&C) of Austria; Société Française des Munitions (SFM) of France; and Valtion Patruunatehdas (VPT) of Finland.
Most of the ammunition used by the Albanian armed forces was imported from China, as it was better quality and cheaper than domestic production.
VEB stands for Volkseigene Betreib (literally "People's Own Enterprise"), a state-owned or nationalized business.
A new Czech plant was set up around 1947 to 1953 CE with assistance from the Považské Strojárne factory and was named after the contemporary ruler, Emperor Haile Selassie I.
North Korean technical support and labor was used in 2005 to build army barracks at Suiderhof military base, a military school and museum at Okahandja, a new Ministry of Defense headquarters, and an expansion of the munitions plant in Leopard Valley.
The cartridges are made using ammunition equipment sold by Fritz Werner Manufacturing, which is why the headstamp's font and markings look German-made.
From 1912 to 1950 the communist Chinese used the Republican calendar, which numbered the years from the Xinhai Revolution of 1911 rather than the Western Anno Domini / Common Era.
Lon Nol's Khmer Republic received ammunition from its SEATO partners, like the United States and Australia.
