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THE CARTRIDGE COLLECTOR'S EXCHANGE |
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Home of the Old Ammo Guy's Virtual
Cartridge Trading Table
Picture Page November 2017 Please note: Unless otherwise indicated, the pictures on this web site are my property, and should not be used by anyone without crediting the source. A look at those elusive early uncrimped S&W cartridges The February 1879 dated illustration shown below is from inside the top of an early S&W Baby Russian revolver box; it shows the early style cartridge case and bullet designed by D. B. Wesson. He believed that the crimp reduced accuracy and resulted in cartridge cases that could not be reloaded. As a result, the early S&W cartridges had the bullet fit tightly in the mouth of the uncrimped case. Obviously, the statement that crimped cartridges "will not make accurate shooting nor can they be reloaded" was soon proven to be incorrect, as cartridge boxes of the various Smith & Wesson cartridges produced in the early 1880s contain cartridges with ccase mouth crimps and bear the 'Smith & Wesson signed statements recommending the use of the cartridges in their firearms. It is pobable that the bullets in these uncrimped cases had a tendency to loosen and unseat from the cases due to recoil.
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The January 23, 1882 dated .32 Smith & Wesson information card below is from Union Metallic Cartridge Company records; it shows a grooved elongated bullet in what appears to be an uncrimped case. This cartridge is of the folded-case-type like those usually found in the early UMC boxes that have a S&W New Model 1 1/2 single action revolver pictured on the label. Unfortunately, none of my boxes of this type contain uncrimped cartridges; all have an almost imperceptible mouth crimp, but a mouth crimp nonetheless.
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The only example of an uncrimped S&W cartridge that I have been able to find in my own collection is the .38 S&W below, shown with it's box. This box by the US Cartridge Company is considered to be the first commercially produced box of .38 S&W cartridges, and probably dates from when the Baby Russian revolver illustrated on it's label was introduced in 1876. These early USC Co cartridges are quite rare; I am aware of only one of these boxes in existence. . . .
Note the rounded head and flat-nosed bullet with it's exposed groove at the case mouth; the high-copper content case has a Farrington primer. . . Sources: The February 1879 warning with the illustration of the early uncrimped S&W cartridge; U. S. Cartridges and Their Revolvers, Charles R. Suydam, Bienfield Publishing, 1977. The UMC factory drawings anf dimensions; The Gun Report, November 1990, Page 41, World-Wide Gun Report, Inc, 110 S College Ave, Aledo, IL 60231.
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