BOX MAGAZINES CONT.
World War II Production
On January 31, 1942 a contract was signed by Auto Ordnance and the U.S. Government for the manufacture of 3,030,000 twenty-round magazines, at a cost of 32 cents each on P.O. # 1268. During this and several follow on productions of magazines, there are at least five different variations of magazines.

The first of these to be discussed has the following on the magazine face:

AUTO ORDNANCE CORP. 
BRIDGEPORT, CONNECTICUT 
REG. IN U.S. PAT. OFF.

On the inside of the backstrap is the MSCO markings.

The second version has the same face markings as the first, but the die is wearing out. The information on the letter P in the word corp. and the UT in the word Connecticut is very faint or nonexistent. The MSCO on the backstrap has been replaced by USCO (United Specialty Company).Mitchel Stamping (MSCO) has now become a division of USCO.

The next version has the same markings on the body face, but there is no MSCO or USCO markings on the inside of the backstrap. However, on the outside of the backstrap there is a circle mark near the bottom.