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Originally Posted by Gatorade
**snip**
How different is the ammo procurement for the US that we don't have crates of Cold Era .223 and .308? I guess we do see .45ACP and 30-06 but that is mostly WWII production, right?
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The Russians are a strange group. When Germany invaded, they Soviet army was not really ready for that kind of war. Between 1941 and 1945, 1 in 8 Russians were killed. 85% - 90% of the males born in 1923 died between 1941 and 1943.
As a result, they have a very different view on surplus... Obsolete equipment was set aside for category C or D units. Categories A and B are main line and reserve units, C and D are essentially civilian groups as a last ditch defense - the stereotypical "Old men and Kids" units.
During my last trip to Russia in the early 2000s, they still had warehouses full of T-34 tanks - just in case they needed them again.
We tend to be quicker to sell stuff off as surplus, but we generally use a "first in-first out" process where the oldest stuff gets used first.
Plus we fire hundreds of thousands of rounds each year for training purposes. which consumes a lot of the old stuff.
That said, from time to time, they find a warehouse WWII - Vietnam era spam cans full of ammunition. 30-06 ammo was produced up to the late 60s - early 1970s. 45 ACP was produced until the late 80s - early 90s. The 1911 had been retired in 1986 - 1987, but there were still quite a few M3 submachine guns in service in the armored divisions.