Lance Corporal Ralstan Pusey, 31, from Norfolk – who participated in firing range exercises when based in Germany – was traced after a police swoop on a known armed criminal.
A Kingston-upon-Thames Crown Court jury convicted him possession of prohibited ammunition.
The investigation began when police stopped a vehicle in Luton on November 9, 2016 and seized a loaded handguns and 97 rounds of 9mm Parabellum ammunition.
The driver of the vehicle received six years imprisonment and the Metropolitan Police's Specialist Crime South team probed the source of the rounds.
The bullets were found in two containers, one an iPhone box – these were found within a bag in the vehicle.
Officers made enquiries about the IMEI number on the iPhone box and found it was linked to Pusey, a Lance Corporal with 1st Queen's Dragoon Guards - a cavalry regiment of the British Army.
The ammunition and the boxes were forensically tested and his fingerprints were found on the containers.
Pusey was arrested in April, 2017 and denied handling, stealing, passing on or having any knowledge of the bullets.
Detectives were able to ascertain that the rounds of ammunition recovered came from a batch, which was manufactured in July, 2010 for the British Military.
Detective Constable Leon Ure, said: “This was an unusual case, which opened up as the result of meticulous forensic work.
“Officers were able to narrow down the source of the bullets to the British Army, and a jury was convinced that it was Pusey who had passed the bullets on.
"Possessing ammunition is a very serious offence – criminals intent on using firearms to commit violence on London’s streets provide a black market for ammunition, to be used in shootings linked to gang violence and organised crime."
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