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Home of the Old Ammo Guy's Virtual
Cartridge Trading Table Featuring a wide range of antique, obsolete, and modern ammunition for collectors Picture Page April 2007 A box of 1951 Frankford Arsenal dotted headstamps..
My process for sectioning a cartridge puts self-preservation as the foremost objective, if I have any doubts about whether or not the cartridge is safe to fool with, it doesn't get fooled with. First, I put a hole in the side of the case with a slow turning drill, and empty out the powder. The case is slipped into a tight-fitting hole in a block of wood, which is held in a vice. The sectioning of the case is done with a fine-toothed jewelers saw. Once the saw has cut through the top of the primer cup, I put a few drops of penetrating oil on the primer to kill it, and then finish cutting the case.
. . . An unusual Winchester .32-40 box...... Here's an interesting box of .32-40 high velocity cartridges made by the Winchester Repeating Arms Company around 1910 or shortly thereafter. Winchester began loading high velocity ammunition in 1903, and first offered .32-40 high velocity cartridges in 1905. Two patent dates appear on the front label of this box. The one on the upper left, Dec. 14, 1886, refers to Winchester's first metal jacketed bullet construction. The second patent, June 28, 1910, which has been added to the label just under the bullet of the cartridge illustration, refers to Winchester's change to a non-mercuric priming mixture.
. . . . . .
. . . An interesting box of 45 ACP cartridges, or not.... .
. . . . . . . .
I'm not sure how unusual the cartridges in this Winchester contract box are,
but I was surprised to find that they have a commercial headstamp (W.R.A.
.45 A.C.) rather than the usual military style headstamp with the 2 digit
date. The box was sealed when I got it, so there's no question that the
cartridges are original to the box. Unfortunately, I have nothing that
provides the dates associated with the various maker's lot numbers, . . . . . . . . . . |
This
box of Frankford Arsenal .30-06 cartridges was sealed when I bought it,
along with an assortment of other military and commercial boxes. I had no
interest in this box initially, but had to buy the entire group in order to
get four of the boxes that I wanted. Shortly after getting the boxes home, I
peeked under the end of the top and found that the cartridges are dated 1951
and have a dot in the headstamp at 9 and 3 o'clock. In addition, the primers
are a dull silver color, indicating that they are probably zinc coated. In
their efforts during the 1940s and early 1950s to produce a non-corrosive
primer, one of the priming compounds used at the Frankford Arsenal contained
red phosphorus, which tended to react with the brass primer cup as well as
the powder in the cartridge case. According to the book .30-06 by
Chris Punnett, two of the steps experimented with to prevent these problems
was plating the primer cup with zinc and inserting a thin
plastic
disc in the bottom of the primer pocket. The presence of the zinc plated
primers on these cartridges led me to contemplate the purpose of the
special headstamp; since the zinc plating was obvious, could the two dots
have been intended to indicate the presence of the plastic disc? I soon
found myself unable to resist the urge to section one of the cartridges. 
As
can be seen here, my efforts were rewarded with the plastic disc that I had
hoped for. I don't know if the disc was originally the brown color that it
appears to be here, or if it absorbed the color of the oil I used to kill
the primer, as it appears the priming compound may have. I can't say whether
the dots in the headstamp are there to indicate the presence of the disc, or
perhaps some change in the manufacturing process of the cartridge case. 
but I would guess this box
dates from sometime in the 1930s.