I must be the only one who collects these things

MuckyBottles

MuckyBottles

Bronze Member
Jun 19, 2013
1,976
1,660
Bone Valley, Florida
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Well, hit the local park "KD" other than finding the ordinary clad mess, 1948 nick, and a thingy (see what is it). I found this beauty, an "American Metallic Co. No. 16 High Base". No to most of you, your probably saying its junk, but there are collectors who like this stuff (me included). While I couldn't find an exact date on it, it ranges from 1890-1911.
UMC Headstamps
no16.jpg
 

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That makes me feel better about myself, because i have a box of dug shell casings. I have a few of those myself. I guess i need to go get em out and research. Thanks for making me interested.
 

I think it's great, has some history to it, the biggest junk to me is twist tops! Man it's like they were two days ago!
 

Being a shooter myself, I have never seen or shot a 16 gauge in my 38 years of existence. The more common head stamps I sell to a guy who takes out the paper wadding and uses the head stamp and the primer for making buttons for clothing, .25 cents a pop.
 

And to think I have just been throwing them away for 35-years.. :thumbsup:
 

MuckyBottles said:
Being a shooter myself, I have never seen or shot a 16 gauge in my 38 years of existence. The more common head stamps I sell to a guy who takes out the paper wadding and uses the head stamp and the primer for making buttons for clothing, .25 cents a pop.
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I didnt even notice that it was a 16 gauge. Ive never heard of one. Thats really freaking cool!
 

I thought the first handful of them I dug was pretty cool. At the time I thought the 10 gauge and the 28 gauge I dug was pretty neat too. But now, after hundreds of them, I can't stand them. I've dug more of them than pop tabs. Every one sings like a coin too. The old picnic woods that I have hammered for years, was also home to a sportsmens club. All the old farm houses have some too. Im also not a fan of 22 LR casings. On a side note, in around ten yrs of hunting I have dug at least 50 rounds of live ammo. I still enjoy digging the older caliber rounds and casings like 32-20 or 45-70, but I wouldn't care if I ever dug another. 243 or. 270.
 

wainzoid said:
I thought the first handful of them I dug was pretty cool. At the time I thought the 10 gauge and the 28 gauge I dug was pretty neat too. But now, after hundreds of them, I can't stand them. I've dug more of them than pop tabs. Every one sings like a coin too. The old picnic woods that I have hammered for years, was also home to a sportsmens club. All the old farm houses have some too. Im also not a fan of 22 LR casings. On a side note, in around ten yrs of hunting I have dug at least 50 rounds of live ammo. I still enjoy digging the older caliber rounds and casings like 32-20 or 45-70, but I wouldn't care if I ever dug another. 243 or. 270.
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I hear ya, initially I thought they were annoying. However, after doing a little research, there is a market for them, especially old shotgun headstamps. So I keep everyone I find.
 

Anything I find that is over 100 years old and I can research the dates they were made, is cool to me 8-)...but it doesn't take much to get me excited...I just went through some of my old shot gun shell brass and they made me smile. :icon_thumleft:
 

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*Note any brass headstamps you find that are just headstamps no casing around it were more than likely the old paper shotgun shells.
 

There are 10 and 28 gauge shells as well.
 

16 gauge is still a very popular bore in trap&skeet and sporting clays. I've heard of guys making rings out of old shotgun brass in much the same manner that coin rings are made. I don't save shotgun brass but I've kept a bunch of .44-40 rimfire Henry casings that I found in a field near me. I also saved a .56 (maybe .54?) Spencer casing that I found in the same field...just because ut's the BIGGEST rimfire casing that I've ever seen!
 

I use them sometimes to date my sites, thrown them all out though, are you really getting 25 cents apiece for them, can I sell some?
 

I can narrow it down a little bit more for you but not much. Here's an excerpt from another site:
MMMUMC was probably the first U.S. company to produce and market all-brass shotshells in about 1868. In 1873, UMC acquired the patent rights to the C.D. Leet Company's paper shotshells and began manufacturing primed but unloaded paper shotshells in 10- and 12-gauge loads. Unloaded eight-, 14-, 16- and 20-gauge shells were added to the line in 1880, and four-gauge in 1883. UMC was probably the first American firm to manufacture paper shotshells in quantity. Some loaded shotshells might have been produced during this period but not on a commercial scale. UMC marketed its first factory-loaded Club shotshells in 1888. From 1891 through 1905, UMC added other lines of shotshells including New Club, Nitro, Smokeless, Lightning, Black-Club, Arrow, Nitro Club, Monarch, Majestic, Acme, Challenge, Expert, High Base, Magic and Primrose Club. Many lines of shotshells were sold both loaded and unloaded.
Here's a link to the site itself if you want to read some more.
Shotgunworld.com ? View topic - The History and Art of Shotshells
 

I shoot a montgomery wards 16ga side-by-side shotgun. I bought it off this lady who also sold me a 12ga pump action with it as well for $300 total. The 16ga was made by Stevens Arms (now owned by Savage) and the 12ga is a remington 10-a from early 1900's. They were both her dads rifles.
 

Photo347.jpgI found this brass shotgun shell and the 2 old bullets on a shipwreck that wrecked off Halifax Nova Scotia in 1915, The shotgun shell has Remington and UMC on it unfortunately the 2 bullet casings cannot be read ...
 

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My dad passed away several years ago and he handed down to me his Belgian made Browning sweet 16 shotgun. He had not hunted with it in over 25 years and although I BEGGED him for it he would not part with it. Now it just means that much more to me. I make jewelry from shotgun hulls so keep me in mind if you're just throwing them away.....LOL
 

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