1800s shotgun cap

[arrowhead82]

1800's shotgun cap

I had been researching a civil war site near a battlefield, and today was finally the day to do it.
I got out there and found the usual. you know, barbed wire, pull tabs, cans. my good finds were a horse shoe nail and a shotgun cap.


the shotgun shell says "U.M.C CO. No 12 new club
after a little bit of research, union metallic cartridges (U.M.C) joined with remington in 1911 and it says U.M.C CO. not REM-U.M.C CO, so it's pre 1911 and the company was founded in 1867 so somewhere in between those dates. too bad its not civil war though
(btw the "new club" line of shells was revolutionary in the industry. it was the very first factory loaded smokeless shell.)

 

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[arrowhead82]

Here's the page i use to id shotgun caps
http://members.shaw.ca/cartridge-corner/shotgun.htm

 

[vpnavy]

Nice find arrowhead.

 

[turtlefoot13]

You do indeed have a nice find. The New Club was made from 1892-1910. Since yours has a star design around the primer, it will be closer to the 1910 side of the date range.

I am not sure of one thing you stated though. The New Club was a black powder shell. The first factory loaded smokeless shell is a bit harder to nail down. Chamberlain Cartridge Company made the first machine loaded shells in 1884. Winchester advertised loaded shells as early as 1887 and UMC as early as 1890. These were all black powder as far as I know though. The UMC Smokeless might be the first smokeless shell. It too was introduced in 1892.

Great find in my opinion!
Doug

 

[mangum]

I've found a lot of these. I like finding them because I know I'm on an old site. Valuable? No. Interesting? Yes! That's a good sign there's other goodies waiting for you! HH!

 

[turtlefoot13]

I've found a lot of these. I like finding them because I know I'm on an old site. Valuable? No. Interesting? Yes! That's a good sign there's other goodies waiting for you! HH!

Shotshell heads are my favorite thing to find. They are my top collectible!

Doug