I happened to stumble upon some really awesome vintage design in the unexpected form of ammunition packaging. Here's a collection we gathered from around the web - we hope you'll find it as a source of inspiration.

What I liked most about some of the older boxes in this collection is  the heavy wordiness evident in most vintage packaging, the classy and ornate fonts and almost feminine detailing. The way the whole design pulls together gives me a truckload of inspiration for my next packaging design project. This stuff would totally inspire me for a single malt or beer label for instance, or maybe a men's body care collection.

Continue reading to see the entire collection of printed vintage ammunition boxes and labels.

The above Winchester package in red/yellow seems to be not quite as old as some of the earlier Winchester packaging.

Above, Peters shotgun shell packaging features a pretty, full-color illustration of a flying mallard duck.

The first Peter's package in this image has an interesting design with an elongated 'P' encircling the shell illustration.

I get the feeling of 'high quality' from the Winchester label above. The little signed note adds to the effect. (Notice the spelling of 'staynless')

Nice branding touch - large 'W' on the side for Winchester, one of the most popular brands of cartridges it seems.

Defiance brand shot-shells - they mean business. Good name.

Gorgeous packaging for Peters Cartridge Co. in illustrated full color. This looks as if it were the cream-of-the-cartridge-crop at the time.

Remington's package above has incredibly sweet detail in the borders (check out those chains) plus the company name (six words long!) along with the full address on the front - lend prestige to the brand. (Unlike the way packaging today often features the company line on the back panel in small letters out of the way.)

Want more vintage ammunition packaging? Here are some resources of auctions and collectors:

Lucy & Lumper

Vintage Shell Boxes