WWII .50 Caliber Round Casing

On the beach of Little Talbot Island, Florida, I was fortunate enough to find an old .50 caliber round casing that was presumably fired during World War II.

Made of brass, these rounds were shot by Browning M2 machine guns, widely used by American bomber and fighter planes in WWII.  The casings are just under 4" long, with the primer end where the head-stamps are located being 0.75" in diameter.

The head-stamp on the one I found is shown here to the left and below.  The markings of the head-stamp code show the letters 'S' and 'L' along the top and the number '43' along the bottom.

The 'S' and 'L' denote that this bullet was made in St. Louis Ordnance Plant in St. Louis, Missouri, by the United States Cartridge Company (a division of Western Cartridge Company).  This company manufactured 6.7 billion of these cartridges for WWII.

The number '43' on the head-stamp denote that this .50 caliber round was produced in the year 1943. Easy.

You can also clearly see a patina on the head-stamp as well as speckling the main body of the casing.