U.M.C. .44-40 Casing

[Old Pueblo]

Hello, found this UMC .44-40 casing on an Arizona ranch. Does anybody know when it dates to? I know this size of bullet was first introduced in 1873, according to what I read on wikipedia, and the Remington and UMC eventually merged. I know its old, and I am mainly interested in knowing when UMC or other ammo manufacturers began using headstamps on their ammunition. But any info on this casing in particular would also be appreciated. Thanks

 

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[taz42o]

Not sure about very first use of a headstamp but winchester was close to first in about 1886.

 

[Old Pueblo]

Thank you

 

[BosnMate]

Frankford Arsenal was head stamping cartridges in March of 1877.

 

[ecmo]

I am not very good at internet research so can only say what I roughly remember reading in paper print.

When Winchester first introduced calibers like the .44-40, .38-40 (a necked down .44-40) and .32-20 They would caliber stamp their barrels.44 WCF, .38WCF and .32 WCF. Than in the late 1880's and/or early 1890's Marlin began manufacturing rifles in these calibers and stamped their guns .44-40, .38-.40, .32-20 etc. so not to use any Winchester logo on their guns. WCF stands for Winchester center fire. So not to cause confusion the ammo makers started marking boxes and cases using the dash desiginations. Couldn't tell you exact years on this. So I have only narrowed down your wonderment by 15 years or so, lol.

Don

 

[pistol-pete]

Can only tell you that UMC & Rem merged in 1912. After that marked REM UMC

 

[Old Pueblo]

Great to know. Do you know when ammo makers were producing center fire ammo without headstamps? Obviousy they were doing this before the 1870s and 1880s, but how long afterward? Thanks again

 

[Old Pueblo]

Thank you

 

[SavvyJack]

Hello, found this UMC .44-40 casing on an Arizona ranch. Does anybody know when it dates to? I know this size of bullet was first introduced in 1873, according to what I read on wikipedia, and the Remington and UMC eventually merged. I know its old, and I am mainly interested in knowing when UMC or other ammo manufacturers began using headstamps on their ammunition. But any info on this casing in particular would also be appreciated. Thanks


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Hello Old Pueblo
The one thing I never did get too deep in was the Marlin side of the 44-40 cartridges. UMC worked closely with Marlin and between 1886 and 1904 the UMC .44 WCF cartridge would carry a heavier 217 gr. bullet at 1,190 f.p.s. while Winchester still offered the 200gr at a slightly faster 1,245 f.p.s. (less than was offered in 1873 @ 1,325fps) By 1894 UMC designated the cartridge as a 44-40 for Marlin and by 1900 it was refereed as a 44-40 by Winchester as well and printed on their cartridge boxes at a later date.

As to the age of your example;
It looks like the case in canulared indicating smokeless powder was used, that an along with the 44-40 designation, certainly not before 1894 and not after 1912 (I think) when Remington took over and began headstamping with REM-UMC.

Also, Winchester did not headstamp their cartridge cases when first manufactured. I have just shy of 50 unheadstamped cases that I use to pressure testing black powder loads with a strain guage.

If you are interested in the History of the 44-40, check out this page. It has tons of historic information to include the prototype cartridge information.

https://sites.google.com/view/44winchester/

Here is a photo of my unheadstamped cases