🔎 UNIDENTIFIED Need help Identifying these Items.

tinner

Jr. Member
Sep 29, 2021
51
75
north west U.S.
Detector(s) used
Garrett 400
Equinox 800
Hello everyone, I found a couple Items of interest today. One is a .44 cal shell casing and I'm wondering if anyone has an Idea of how old? I'm thinking early 1900's.
The other I have no idea. it is not magnetic, fairly heavy but not lead. The inside piece appears to have sharpened edges on the leading edge and is not attached to the outside piece which is crimped around it. I found it about 4" deep with my equinox 800. Any thoughts will help.
Thanks!!!
 

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AU Seeker

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Oct 14, 2007
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Can you post a clearer photo of the cartridge head stamp, I can't read it when it is enlarged, or at the very least post what is says in it's entirety.
It appears to read UMC(?) last letter is not clear .44 ......, the rest is not clear enough to read.

That being said if it does read UMC that would be "Union Metallic Cartridge Company" which would date it somewhere between 1867 and 1911 after which UMC merged with Remington and the head stamp changed to Rem-UMC.

That's the closest it can be dated without knowing the rest of what's on the head stamp.
 

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tinner

tinner

Jr. Member
Sep 29, 2021
51
75
north west U.S.
Detector(s) used
Garrett 400
Equinox 800
Can you post a clearer photo of the cartridge head stamp, I can't read it when it is enlarged, or at the very least post what is says in it's entirety.
It appears to read UMC(?) last letter is not clear .44 ......, the rest is not clear enough to read.

That being said if it does read UMC that would be "Union Metallic Cartridge Company" which would date it somewhere between 1867 and 1911 after which UMC merged with Remington and the head stamp changed to Rem-UMC.

That's the closest it can be dated without knowing the rest of what's on the head stamp.
Thanks for letting me know, that's pretty dang old!! it does say UMC.44 CFW.
 

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AU Seeker

Bronze Member
Oct 14, 2007
1,327
982
South Carolina
Detector(s) used
E-Track, MXT, CZ6A
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Thanks for letting me know, that's pretty dang old!! it does say UMC.44 CFW.
That's what I thought the head stamp says but I didn't want to speculate.

It narrows down the date a little bit but I still need to research more if I'm going to find a more accurate date, but it seems it was made sometime between the late 1870s and 1911, but I believe it was made before 1885 and was most likely a black powder cartridge, I think this because I have seen UMC .44-40 head stamps that is stated to be from around the 1885 to 1898 time period and the UMC.44 CFW was earlier than this head stamp.

There's some speculation on what the CFW stands for, some say it's "Center Fire Winchester", but other says it's "Center Fire Western" which makes more sense, when UMC started making the .44-40 black powder cartridge (the 40 is for how many grains of powder was in the cartridge)for the Winchester model 1866 rifle it was during a time when cartridge company didn't want to put other companies names on their products so that why they used the CFW stamp.

Also later around 1875 many firearm companies started producing handguns/"six shooters" cambered in this same caliber, so your cartridge could been fired in a rifle or a six shooter.

This caliber was the one that made the Winchester model 1873 rifle become known as "The gun that won the west".

A little reading on this caliber with a little UMC history of this cartridge.


 

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tinner

tinner

Jr. Member
Sep 29, 2021
51
75
north west U.S.
Detector(s) used
Garrett 400
Equinox 800
That's what I thought the head stamp says but I didn't want to speculate.

It narrows down the date a little bit but I still need to research more if I'm going to find a more accurate date, but it seems it was made sometime between the late 1870s and 1911, but I believe it was made before 1885 and was most likely a black powder cartridge, I think this because I have seen UMC .44-40 head stamps that is stated to be from around the 1885 to 1898 time period and the UMC.44 CFW was earlier than this head stamp.

There's some speculation on what the CFW stands for, some say it's "Center Fire Winchester", but other says it's "Center Fire Western" which makes more sense, when UMC started making the .44-40 black powder cartridge (the 40 is for how many grains of powder was in the cartridge)for the Winchester model 1866 rifle it was during a time when cartridge company didn't want to put other companies names on their products so that why they used the CFW stamp.

Also later around 1875 many firearm companies started producing handguns/"six shooters" cambered in this same caliber, so your cartridge could been fired in a rifle or a six shooter.

This caliber was the one that made the Winchester model 1873 rifle become known as "The gun that won the west".

A little reading on this caliber with a little UMC history of this cartridge.


Thanks amazing!! Here's a Picture of the side of the casing. The end of it has deteriorated over time so it's hard to tell exactly how long it is. I found it in the ground about 9" deep. Thanks for your Help.
 

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