Recently was advised to metal detect at a WW2 prisoner of war camp in south Australia.
I found two 12 gauge shot shells and was wondering if they suit the time period. The camp was most active in 1944.
The headstamp is “Winchester 12 GA Australia”
Cheers Hamish
Hamish, not my field, however Winchester didn’t start manufacture in Australia until 1967. I believe they traded as Winchester-Western at first, but am not sure if that was used as a headstamp on 12 gauge shells.
Cheers for the reply johnkindred, was unsure of any dates of manufacturing of Winchester in Australia so your knowledge is appreciated.
Although the shotgun shells are not WW2 dated I found a small handful of 1943-1944 9mm as well as a 1941 .45acp so I was still in some luck!
Appear to be plastic hulls. Have to be early 60’s At the earliest.
Freddo55
What headstamps are on the 9mm. and the .45acp
I’m interested in Australian SAA, but the .45 dated 1941 should not be locally made. We didn’t start manufacture of the .45 until the end of 1942.
The headstamp on the .45 is “WCC 41” which refers to the western cartridge company 1941, American manufactured.
But the 9mm team “MH 43 9mm”, which I believe it “Melbourne, Footscray 1943
I have attached some images of my finds below
Nice photos, thanks. Makes identification much easier.
The .45 is as you say, Western Cartridge Company.
The 9mm on the other hand is from Small Arms Ammunition Factory No. 3 at Hendon in South Australia, made in 1943 as you say. As far as I can gather MH only made 9mm in that one year.
This was one of the WW2 factories which was closed down at the end of the war.
Wow, interesting information on the 9mm. Did not know that.
While I have someone whose interested in south Australian ammunition I may aswell share some of my other interesting finds.
I was advised to look at an old gun range on the coast of South Australia (port Macdonnell to be specific) and have found a wide range of unique shells and bullets (and many other bits and pieces) most of the gun ranges stuff is dated anywhere between the late 40s to the early 60s.
So here’s a picture of my collection of bullets I have found.
There are also still a few shells which I am unsure of, I believe the smaller ones are 27 caliber and the larger is 30. One of the smaller has the headstamp “SI” (which is a proud headstamp, but very light) but the other 2 blank. They are all rimfire. I will attack an individual pic below. Any idea or opinions are appreciated. 
I have both 43 and MH 44 9MM headstamps so made at least for two years. Ron.
Ron,
Thanks for those dates. Any chance of headstamp photos?
