Help date these shotgun headstamps

Haha sorry about that. Everyone out there has had picture uploading trouble at least once :)

ForumRunner_20130913_222936.png
 

Upvote 0
Turtlefoot (Doug) will be along....or PM him
 

Upvote 0
I like using this site to help with identification... Shotgun
 

Upvote 0
Turtlefoot can help clarify - i would say they are all early 1900ish .. The U.S. Cartridge Company was in business from 1860s until 1931. The one you dug looks to be one from like 1900-1920s.

The shotgun shell with the UMC * on it is a Union Metallic Cartridge Company - the company was from 1890s-1910 and was bought Remington, so I think the UMC shell dates to the 1890s-1910 or til about 1913. "New Club" was taken out shortly after the buy out.
 

Last edited:
Upvote 0
Great finds! Here is a bit of a rundown

Winchester Ranger
- The tightest date range I can get you for this one is 1925-1937. Research on the primer and on the cannelure might be able to tighten it up a bit.

UMC New Club - This particular variety (Star Type II) will date from approx. 1902-1910. I could be off by a couple of years on the front end of this date range. If my research pans out, and I honestly think it will, the variety of star indicates that this shell was originally sold as a "primed empty".

US Defiance
- I am terrible with dating United States Cartridge headstamps. At this point, I am relying almost entirely on advertisements, box styles and other sources that are not 100% reliable. On top of that, the Defiance line doesn't have much info about it. It has "Made in USA" on it, which will date starting in 1927/32. Unfortunately, I don't know when this shell was taken out of production. I have found references to it as late as 1942.

Great finds!
Doug
 

Upvote 0
Thanks For The Info Turtlefoot. The Time You Took To Write All That Information Is Much Appreciated.
 

Upvote 0
They are my favorite thing to find and, to be honest, with very few exceptions, they are my favorite thing to see posted in people's finds. Your Repeater will date from 1904-1927.

Doug
 

Upvote 0

Top Member Reactions

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top