Praxis: Repacking 5.56 NATO reloads in military packaging -- bandoleers and stripper clips.

GI in Vietnam carrying extra ammunition in 7 pocket bandoleer.

Long-time readers will recall that I'm a big fan of having your ammunition combat packed and ready to go. Some friends are currently reloading a mess of 5.56 NATO and I thought I would give a quick tutorial on how to duplicate USGI military packaging.

There are two types of surplus bandoleers available, the Vietnam standard 7 pocket type shown above and the current 4-pocket bandoleer. The 7-pocket holds two ten-round stripper clips per pocket for a total of 140 rounds per. The 4-pocket holds three ten-round strippers per pocket for a total of 120 rounds per bandoleer. Once the ammo in each bandoleer is loaded into magazines, the loaded magazines can be reinserted into the bandoleer. In Vietnam that meant the twenty round standard magazine. The current 4-pocket bandoleer will hold four thirty round magazines once the string is pulled out of the bottom of the bando.

Current issue 4-pocket bandoleer.

The magazines are loaded by placing a stripper clip guide on the back of the magazine and inserting the stripper clip as below:

You will want to put at least one stripper clip guide in each bandoleer. The guides look like this:

The thing to remember when storing ammunition for later use is that you may be handing it out -- in a hurry -- to others who need it. In this the bandoleer system is designed from long experience to perfection. Break open the crate, pop open the can, grab one bandoleer (or two) and hand it out to the rifleman and so on down the line. A bandoleer can be slung, tossed, stuffed in a butt pack as a reserve, all with a minimum of trouble.

The 7-pocket bandoleer.

Something else to keep in mind when repacking ammo for future use in uncertain situations: keep the reloads clean of oily fingerprints that might lead to corrosion and reduce your forensic signature at the same time -- Use rubber gloves to load the ammo and fill the stripper clips. Remember, as I said, you can never predict where and when and in what situation it might be used, or how long it will be stored before hand.

Filling the stripper clips also allows you one last visual inspection of the rounds. As you refill the strippers, pay particular attention to the primer seating. There might be a crushed or reversed primer that made it past your production checks. Also inspect the stripper clip itself. If there is any rist or corrosion on it, discard it and use another. The same goes for the little retention tits at the ends of the brass tension strip. If they are missing, discard it and get another. Make sure that the ammo slides freely onto the clip and up the channel. If it is tough to load or the clip is obviously dented or bound, discard it. Remember that whoever uses it will likely need it in a hurry and won't have time to screw around. Nor will he or she want to be dropping loose rounds like Hansel and Gretel's bread crumbs.

4-pocket bandoleer repack kit, showing the removable string which opens up the pockets to accept loaded 30-round magazines.

You can buy bandoleer repack kits in both 4-pocket and 7-pocket flavors, but you can often find the bandoleers and the stripper clips in bulk for even cheaper. What generally is lacking is the cardboard sleeves that keep the ammo from rattling in the bando. Sleeves can be improvised by merely foraging in range trash cans for empty ammunition cartons of suitable size and then trimming off one end with a sharp carton knife, as in the picture below.

Improvised packing sleeve next to a standard GI cardboard sleeve.

Once you have six 7-pocket bandoleers reloaded, it is time to repack a USGI standard M2A1 "fifty cal" ammunition can. Fold the bandoleer up, one section on the next, and wrap the carry strap around the package you create. Take it and arrange your first layer with four of them in the bottom of the can like so:

Then take the last two and place them on top thusly:

Make sure that there are no straps or cloth corners of the bandoleers to interfere with the closing and sealing of the lid. Dog down the lid and clearly mark the can on at least one side and the top with what sort of ammunition is within. A plain black magic marker is perfectly fine as long as it is visible. Indicate the caliber, the type of projectile and number of rounds. I add some notation about the packaging within as well, with "B/SC" standing for "bandoleers & stripper clips" or "BXD" standing for "boxed." Yes, bandoleers are perfectly suitable for carrying boxed ammunition as well, even if you have no stripper clips or are using the bando to carry other types of ammunition. For example, the 7-pocket bandoleer makes an excellent carrier for 5 round 12 Gauge boxes of slugs or buckshot. And, of course, you can carry small twenty round boxes of 5.56 NATO in each pocket. The 4-pocket bandoleers can accommodate the small 40 round boxes of 5.56. I also use either type of bandoleer to carry 7.62x39 ammunition on SKS stripper clips, again using improvised sleeves to keep them from rattling.

The key utilities of bandoleers and stripper clips are, as I said, speed, ease and surety of reloading magazines, carrying the magazines themselves once loaded, and expedited distribution of ammunition when you need to put it into somebody's hands in a hell of a hurry. That is worth the extra hassle and expense.

Expend the time and effort now, when you can afford it, against the day when you won't want to be wasting either because you're out of time and the evil bad guys are at the door.