Benet-primed cartridge

[Eleven Cents]

Dug this today. Basically a surface find, as it was only half buried. I think it's a Benet-primed .50-70 Government. These were standard Army issue from 1866-73. After the introduction of .45-70, existing supplies of .50-70 were used by Army units on the Western frontier. So this was very likely fired and discarded by a soldier in the 1870s.

Found in a Tucson city park. (And no, not Fort Lowell.) The parks aren't hunted out!

 

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[DigginNorthernVa]

Nice piece of history.

 

[azdave]

Over the last year I have found literally a bucket full of 50-70's.... mostly from a mid 1880's mill site in Pinal County/ north of the Tortolita Mtn's.... but also from various locations along the Gila.
A thing to remember about the distribution/locations for the 50 Govt cartridge finds is that MANY of those converted rifles were then sold to civilians as surplus and also issued out to both individuals and town "militia's" to combat Indian depredations in Az.... so it was in use long after the 45-70 took over and isn't necessarily always an army connection.
I was lucky enough to get a few unfired "drops" down in a canyon between the Santa Rita's and Empire Mtn's.... with them was an un-fired 45 Schofield round with a Frankford Arsenal Sept. 84' headstamp... that made my MONTH.
It's great to see that a piece of history can still pop out of the ground in a growing city... excellent find!

 

[dirtlooter]

very cool

 

[Eleven Cents]

MANY of those converted rifles were then sold to civilians as surplus and also issued out to both individuals and town "militia's" to combat Indian depredations in Az.... so it was in use long after the 45-70 took over and isn't necessarily always an army connection.

I wondered about that. After all, you can still buy .50-70 ammo. But from what I read on cartridge collector forums, the Benet primers were only used by the military. And the one I found has no headstamp at all, which is another early Frankford Arsenal feature. Initially they had no headstamp. Early attempts at headstamping ended up being a significant fraction of the cost of a cartridge, so they dropped it again until sometime in the 1870s.

 

[azdave]

The Benet primed 50 Govt cartridges... as well as anything headstamped Frankford Arsenal (FA) for that matter... may have started out as "military contract/issue," but I suspect great numbers ended up in civilian hands -- at least in AZ.
I believe a lot of arms and ammunition was distributed by the military from the 1860's to the 80's because of the overplayed "Apache threat." Take the Globe Rangers and Globe Home Guard for example. the Rangers were a group of locals that were suppose to respond to remote ranches and mining camps whenever the Chiricahua's supposedly "went off the res." The Home Guard was suppose to stay and protect the town. They had their own armory full of military hand-me-downs. Tombstone had similar groups as well as Tonto Basin area.
Once the Springfield 1873 Trapdoor came out in force, I believe a great number of the older conversion 50 cals ended up in civilian hands. The government ammo would as well.
This isn't to say that your particular casing wasn't fired and dropped by a soldier... it sure could have been. It's just to point out that probably an overwhelming number of cartridges found -- whether a common military caliber or not -- were actually from civilians.
I specifically try and hunt down early military encampment areas here in AZ. Unless I start popping out things like General Service Buttons or Rosettes that help tie it to military... I figure it's civilian.
Great find no matter what!

 

[Professor of Engineering]

Very nice find!