Old shotgun shell help, please

[DrDetector]

Hunted around the yard of my girlfriend's mom's house today and found some wheats, some junk, and this partial shotgun shell. I hadn't found one like it before and was hoping for some help with a date range it was used and maybe who manufactured it. Here's the pic:

It says "NO. 12" across the top, "Made in U.S.A." in the middle, the "U.S." and "DEFIANCE" across the bottom. I thought maybe there was a manufacturing facility in Defiance, Ohio but then again it could be a pro-arms saying or something. Any help?

 

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[Charlie P. (NY)]

U.S. Cartridge Co. Defiance. Possibly 1920's or thereabouts.

http://www.ngpc.state.ne.us/nebland/articles/history/shotshells.asp

United States Cartridge Company

The United State Cartridge Company was incorporated in 1868 in Lowell, Massachusetts, by a group of investors including Benjamin F. Butler, a lawyer, entrepreneur and brigadier-general in the Union Army during the Civil War. His military record was checkered, as was his tenure as a U.S. Congressman, but he was an extraordinary money maker. By the early 1870s he had complete control of U.S. Cartridge Company.

Although U.S. Cartridge never attained the stature of Peters or Union Metallic Cartridge, it suffered a similar fate. The National Lead Company purchased half interest in the U.S. Cartridge Company in 1910 and the remaining half from the Butler family in 1919. National Lead became a subsidiary of Winchester in 1926, but Winchester-Western apparently did not take full control of U.S. Cartridge until the mid-1930s.

While U.S. Cartridge did not develop an extensive a line of shotshells, it had an army of loyal sportsmen. During the 1910s, U.S. Cartridge's advertising writers frequently referred to the company's ammunition simply as "the black shells" and many hunters, especially waterfowlers, would shoot no others. At that time, Romax, Climax and Ajax lines were all made with black paper hulls. By the 1920s, "black shells" ceased to appear in U.S. Cartridge advertising. Ajax Heavies, introduced in 1923, and Climax Heavies, introduced in 1927, were sold as "long-range loads." In the 1920s Defiance and Climax Heavies shotshells were made with red paper. Ajax shotshells were the highest grade U.S. Cartridge shotshell with a one-inch brass base and available in either dense or bulk smokeless powder. It was promoted as: "Especially designed

Shotshells were sold under the U.S. Cartridge Company name from 1879 until 1931. Their Ajax Heavies loads were marketed as long-range shotshells and were popular with waterfowl hunters.
for long-range work on ducks, geese and brant. Packed with the power of the thunderbolt, and lightning-fast" for "bringing down high-fliers." Climax shotshells had half-inch brass and were loaded with "most popular smokeless powders," either dense or bulk, and billed as: "Long the favorite of the shooter who likes to specify a particular powder. Comes in all standard powders and loads. Close-shooting, hard-hitting, game-getting…a high-grade, all-around shell that gives the shooter a choice of standard powders." Defiance was an inexpensive alternative: "A shell that gives a whale of a lot of shooting for little money. Loaded with No. 2 smokeless powder. Supplied in a variety of loads covering all shooting needs, a quality shell at a low price." Romax was U.S. Cartridge's black powder line with 5/16-inch brass.

Advertising in national outdoor magazines is a good, but imperfect, measure of when shotshell brands and lines were manufactured. Companies often continued to manufacture some lines because there was a large enough following among sportsmen to make it profitable, but they often did not advertise them extensively, if at all. The U.S. Cartridge Company name on shotshell boxes seemed to have vanished in outdoor magazine advertising after 1931, the same year Western bought Winchester, which owned U.S. Cartridge. In 1940 U.S. Cartridge won a substantial federal government contract to build and operate the St. Louis Ordinance Plant to make and store munitions during World War II.

Early U.S. Cartridge shotshell boxes featured a cut-away cartridge for illustration. Most had no more than a few words describing the contents and identifying the company. A small but ornate "US Ammunition" crest that appeared on some early boxes was later enlarged to cover most of the orange-colored box face. Ajax Heavies featured three Canada geese flying through a storm with lightning bolds, Climax Heavies had the bust of a happy hunter, Defiance loads had a pointing setter and the Defiance Trap Loads box showed a moving blue rock and shooters in the background

 

[River Rat]

Nice find! I love finding old shotgun brass. Charlie provided a great site...Thanks! Here's the one I use...http://members.shaw.ca/cartridge-corner/shotgun.htm

RR

 

[DrDetector]

Thanks a lot for the help ID'ing that shell!

 

[Gribnitz]

Wish they dropped coins as often as they dropped shotgun brass. If i had saved all mine, I could pay off my house with the scrap by now

 

[Mifarmer]

While searching the web to id a head stamp I found I came across this post and I found the same one, I don't know why but I always keep my head stamps, I believe this may be one of my oldest yet, anyone else have this sickness as well?

 

[mick56]

I have a bowl full of them. I tumble them with a load of pennies to clean them up.

 

[Icewing]

I have a quart jar about 2/3 full, I like finding the odd sizes like the 28 gauge.
Some day I'll glue a bunch into a shadow box and hang em up.

 

[HuntinDog]

Here's a great reference.
Headstamp Database

 

[eyemustdigtreasure]

Shotgun
THE CARTRIDGE COLLECTOR

 

[sutphin]

THEY ARE A NUISANCE BUT ARE STILL NEAT TO FIND.....