Shotgun headstamps found on my families 20 acres

[JVA5th]

Found all these over the years throughout the property. I figure these can give me an idea of how long there was activity here. The property used to be cotton woods before it was an almond orchard so apparently it was used as a hunting area heavily at one point. I'll list the head stamp names so if the pictures aren't good at least the basic info is there. If any questions or a better picture of any of them let me know and I shall do so.
XTRA RANGE C HIGGINS No 12 x1
SEARS TED WILLIAMS 20 GA x1
NITRO EXPRESS 12 GA x1 16 GA x1
RED HEAD RELIANCE No 16 x1
HAWTHORNE RELIANCE No 16 x1 12 GA x1
AMERICAN EAGLE No 12 x2 No 16 x1
U.M.C.Co. UNION No 12 x1
U.M.C.Co. NITRO CLUB No 12 x1
REM-UMC ARROW No 12 x1
REM-UMC SHURSHOT No 12 x4
REM-UMC NITRO CLUB No 12 x1
PETERS VICTOR 12 x4
PETERS REFEREE No 16 x2
PETERS HV 20 x1
FEDERAL MONARK No 12 x5 16 GA x1 20 GA x1
FEDERAL HI-POWER No 12 x1 No 20 x1
CARLSBAD AMMO CO No 12 x1
W-W AA 12 GA x1
W-W 20 GAUGE x1 12 x1
WESTERN FIELD No 16 x1
WESTERN SUPER-X No 16 x1 No 12 x1 No 20 x1
WINCHESTER SUPER SPEED No 12 x2 No 20 x1
WINCHESTER REPEATER No 12 x2
REVELATION W.A. No 12 x1 No 20 x1 No 16(different primer) x1
REMINGTON EXPRESS 12 GA x2
R P 12 GA x1
1901 REPEATER No 12 x1 No 16 x1

 

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[Jeff H]

Nice! You got a few brands that I have never dug here on the east coast.....and I have dug A LOT OF THEM

 

[JVA5th]

Nice! You got a few brands that I have never dug here on the east coast.....and I have dug A LOT OF THEM

I haven't got out much so decided to get these together as they are all from one property spread out on 20acres. Thought maybe I could learn a bit posting these and I am attempting to be active finding something to post. Not the most exciting of things and I know fairly common to find while metal detecting but it's something. Not too bad for a central California property by what little I know some of these are quite old.

 

[Almy]

Neat and fun to collect! I was once a competitive shotgun shooter, reloader and hunter. I used all these gauges at one time and another. These represent quite a collection, probably from mid to end of the 1900s. Likely upland bird hunting. Would that fit with the type of land you found them on?

 

[JVA5th]

In the central valley in California. Lots of quail and dove, ducks have a season they come through too.

 

[Gravelbar32]

Nice assortment! When I was a kid, I took old wood barrel staves and bored holes in deep enough to flush mount the pieces to display on the wall. Your varied assortment will look good anyway you choose, though. Nice.

 

[JVA5th]

Nice assortment! When I was a kid, I took old wood barrel staves and bored holes in deep enough to flush mount the pieces to display on the wall. Your varied assortment will look good anyway you choose, though. Nice.

I'm thinking of making some sort of art with them. I have a younger brother whom is very talent and could probably make something neat out of them

 

[Older The Better]

It’s been a few years since I’ve done the research but made in USA is a big key to the date, I believe anything with that is likely after 1926 they went mostly to plastic shells sometime around the 60’s, umc co is a newer version of umc stamps before they merged with Remington somewhere in the 19teens if I remember right. Peters ran into the 30’s again if memory serves. The 1901 isn’t strictly from 1901 but ran a few years it’s a Winchester.

I have fun myself looking for rare ones. I didn’t see any particularly old ones or ones I know are rare but you definitely have some I haven’t heard of... thought about getting a drill bit and setting mine into a table then epoxying the top

There was a guy named turtlefoot who knew absolutely everything about headstamps try puttin that name in with your searches that how I learned about most of mine

 

[Jeff H]

There was a guy named turtlefoot who knew absolutely everything about headstamps try puttin that name in with your searches that how I learned about most of mine

Yeah Turtlefoot was the guy. He had quite a headstamp database at one time. About 10 years ago I sent him a box with almost 500 headstamps that I had dug. He let me know there were actually a few he didn't have. Not sure he is doing that anymore.

 

[JVA5th]

I didn't think they were anything exciting but was something to look at. Haven't had much to post lately so wanted to put something out there.

 

[Older The Better]

I like them I know I might be the minority but it’s almost like collecting baseball cards. That and some can be narrowed down to pretty tight ranges and you get an idea of the history of the land

 

[JVA5th]

I like them I know I might be the minority but it’s almost like collecting baseball cards. That and some can be narrowed down to pretty tight ranges and you get an idea of the history of the land

Yeah does help me to know when their was activity on the land. I recently accidently came across a old well while metal detecting. Not like one of the cool looking wells we think of when you say well but a old well a pump would of been on at some point. Apparently it was never capped just buried and my detector picked up the pipe off a faint signal deep down. Ended up digging the pipe and as I'm digging dirt fell into a void. Most of it was filled with dirt so didn't go too deep anymore. Still was semi interesting to come across

 

[Wildcat1750]

It’s been a few years since I’ve done the research but made in USA is a big key to the date, I believe anything with that is likely after 1926 they went mostly to plastic shells sometime around the 60’s, umc co is a newer version of umc stamps before they merged with Remington somewhere in the 19teens if I remember right. Peters ran into the 30’s again if memory serves. The 1901 isn’t strictly from 1901 but ran a few years it’s a Winchester.

I have fun myself looking for rare ones. I didn’t see any particularly old ones or ones I know are rare but you definitely have some I haven’t heard of... thought about getting a drill bit and setting mine into a table then epoxying the top

There was a guy named turtlefoot who knew absolutely everything about headstamps try puttin that name in with your searches that how I learned about most of mine

Yes, that's a blast from the past. Everytime I dig a shotshell headstamp I still think of turtlefoot.
Nice collection, JVA5th. Like you, I collect all of the unique ones. I also keep the junkers in a large plastic jug....someday I'll think of a use for them.
Nick

 

[Digger RJ]

Nice!!! Congrats!!!

 

[JVA5th]

Yes, that's a blast from the past. Everytime I dig a shotshell headstamp I still think of turtlefoot.
Nice collection, JVA5th. Like you, I collect all of the unique ones. I also keep the junkers in a large plastic jug....someday I'll think of a use for them.
Nick

I have hoards of odds and ends I've found. I am bad at figuring out what to throw away and what to keep. Any decent finds are rare for me as I never have permissions and California can be hard to find good spots. Plus I don't drive and have a anxiety disorder which holds me back a lot. The 20 acres my family owns I've metal detected for years. So heavily that my metal detector used to go off constantly and these days I can go a long time without a signal because I cleaned all 20 acres throughly.

 

[HeatherM]

I know this is an older post and you've probably found info on these by now but I found this link very helpful with dating headstamps. Made the "boring" find more interesting to realize some are quite old!
Shotgun

 

[ToddsPoint]

Nice reference. Thanks. Gary

 

[JVA5th]

I know this is an older post and you've probably found info on these by now but I found this link very helpful with dating headstamps. Made the "boring" find more interesting to realize some are quite old!
Shotgun

Thank you yes I've used that before. These are still neat to me because California is a younger state so for California some of mine have decent age.

 

[scruggs]

Nice collection you got going! Good luck in finding many more!

 

[billb]

John That is a beautiful collection ..Keep up the good work I am confident that there is some gold out there also