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Picture Page

March 2005

A group of .44-77 Sharps/Remington Cartridges........
  
Here is a group of .44-77 cartridges for various Sharps Sporting rifles and the  Remington No. 3 and Hepburn rifles. These use a  2 1/4" case introduced by Sharps, and an assortment of sizes and shapes of paper patched bullets. The standard powder charge was 77 grains, but by reducing the depth that the bullet was seated in the case, a charge as high as 90 grains could be used. The first two cartridges were made by E. Remington & Sons, the first having a rounded, unheadstamped head, and the second with a stepped head bearing one of several variations of the company headstamps. This second cartridge is probably one of the 90 grain loads. The third cartridge was made by the Union Metallic Cartridge Company. Its folded, stepped head and large Berdan primer will also be found on the cartridges made by (or for) the Sharps Rifle Co and on early Winchester cartridges. The fourth cartridge closely resembles the one by UMC, but was made by Winchester, which used the Berdan primer during the mid-1870s. The last two cartridges are also by Winchester, the first having the early, small headstamp, and the second having an unusual thick, square edge rim with a larger headstamp.    

The .442 centerfire revolver cartridge........
 

Here is an assortment of .442 revolver cartridges, manufactured in England and Europe. Developed in the late 1860s for the Tranter revolver, it was soon chambered in Webley and Enfield revolvers. This is essentially the same cartridge that was manufactured in the United States beginning about 1875 as the .44 Webley. The cartridges in the picture include: an early two-piece case by Eley Brothers, London, with the separate rim attached to the body of the case by the rivet-like primer; a later production Eley example; two by Kynoch, including a green plaid shot load; a German example by R.W.S. of Nuremberg; and one made for the Liege, Belgium gun dealer V. Francotte-May & Company by an unknown maker. 

An uncommon .22 short rimfire box.....
 

Even with one end flap missing, edges split and flaked, and those not quite transparent pieces of tape across one end of the top label and down the remaining end flap, I believe this battered United States Cartridge Company smokeless .22 short rimfire box is still a keeper. The box dates from 5 or so years either side of 1910, during the company's US in a circle trade mark period. As indicated in various locations, the cartridges in the box were intended for 'gallery' or 'target' use, and were loaded with a 'special' bullet with 'no grease'. As the box is empty, I haven't a clue what made the bullets so special, but I suspect they may have been smooth belted bullets rather than the grooved bullets that are typically found .22 rimfires. If anyone knows anything about the US Cartridge Company's special .22 bullets that would have been in this box, I'd appreciate being enlightened. 

A U.S. Cartridge Company primer tin......

I collect primarily single cartridges and boxes, but I also pick up a primer tin now and then when I find one I don't already have or am not familiar with. Typically, the tins I run across are products of Winchester or UMC; rarely do I see one made by the United States Cartridge Company, such as this New No. 1 primer tin. In fact, I have around 50 primer tins in the collection, and this is the only one I have by this company. The tin is empty, so I haven't any idea if the New No. 1 was a Farrington primer, which was patented in 1872 and  used by U.S.C. Co. for many years, or perhaps a later style primer. That this tin is marked 'Adapted to Winchester Rifle & Heavy Pistol Cartridges' might lead one to suspect that it may have actually been made by Winchester sometime after 1926, the year that company purchased U.S.C. Co., and continued producing their line of ammunition under the U.S.C. Co. name. However, this is not likely the case, because the Winchester-made ammunition used a New York address instead of Lowell, Mass.