Ornate Shooting Trophy

[Bruce Day]

Interesting ornate trophy. Also, the Field and Stream page mentions the use of smokeless powder in 1892. There is a popular misconception that pre 1900 guns were for use with blackpowder only. We regularly get questions here concerning whether they can use smokeless powder with their early guns. Smokeless powder became commonly used in the 1890's, this F & S mention being only another verification of such use.

It would be interesting to find this trophy now.

[OH Osthaus]

wow - that one is not off the shelf

[Researcher]

Great trophy. Thanks for posting.

I've been speaking out against the old "black powder only" myths for some time.

[Autumn Daze]

Is it true that in that era the powder would have been "Bulk Smokeless" and loaded by volume the same as black powder?

[J.B. Books]

Originally Posted by Dave Suponski

Is it true that in that era the powder would have been "Bulk Smokeless" and loaded by volume the same as black powder?

Dave I believe the answer is yes and no depending on when the "Non Bulk" nitro powders came out. Some were existence by 1911 as seen below. Since most shotgun powders were bulk but a few were not by 1911, no wonder some guys most likely overloaded their guns using bulk measures with non bulk powders and with possibly catastrophic results. Looks to be a darn confusing time to be a shotshell reloader and a time with much less communication of information than is available today in addition to greater illiteracy.

""Infallible Smokeless Powder".....21 grains of "Infallible" Powder equaled 3 drams, 24 and 25 grain loads were recommended for field and trapshooting." Made by Laflin & Rand, then Dupont, then Hercules, then Alliant and now ATK. (Powder is now called Unique).

""Ballistite Smokeless Shotgun Powder" - "Whereas one avoirdupois pound of black powder will load 85 "three dram loads", 4f oz. of Ballistite smokeless will also load 85 shells with "24 grain loads, i.e. 24 grains is equal to a '3 dram load" of black powder"

""Dupont Smokeless" A bulk shotgun powder. "The recommended load for 12-gauge guns are 2f to 3j drams by measure, put in the shell with 25-30lb pressure and 1^ to 1^ oz of shot."

""Hazard Shotgun Smokeless", whose manufacture has now been discontinued is a small brick red grain bulk nitrocellulose powder."

""E.C. Improved Shotgun Smokeless" is an orange colored bulk nitrocellulose powder...."

""New Schultze" is a hard grain smokeless bulk shotgun powder.." Made by Dupont

""Empire Smokeless Shotgun Powder" is a dark grey granular bulk... In 12-gauge guns the loads run from 2-2 to 3j drams."

""King's Semi Smokeless Powder".....it is a bulk powder, the best results obtained by an ordinary primer such as used for starting black powder"

All information taken from Edward Wordens book "Nitrocellulose Industry" dated 1911

[J.B. Books]

Oddly enough it appears that "Infallible Smokeless Powder" was later renamed "Unique" and was introduced to the market in 1898 along with some other Powders one of them being Bullseye.

"Page from a 1996 Reloader’s Guide, immediately after Hercules sold their smokeless powder business to Alliant.

The Infallible/Unique powder in this jar was actually manufactured at Laflin & Rand’s Pomton Lakes (Haskell, New Jersey) plant about 25 miles northeast of Kenvil, New Jersey. The jar still exists in 2007 and was moved to Alliant’s New River plant in Radford, Virginia. Originally, there were two of these jars, but one of them has not been seen in many years. The label on the front reads, “ Unique Smokeless Powder This powder was placed in water on

June 26, 1899.
Renewed: August 13, 1917
August 6, 1981 ”

If you read the article below it is fasinating, they have taken the powder from 1899, dried it out, loaded it and obtained excellent results.

http://www.castpics.net/subsite2/Gen...-Smokeless.pdf

[Autumn Daze]

Thanks Pete for the lesson. Printed and saved....

[J.B. Books]

Dave I think it is proof that non bulk nitro powders were developed and used at a time when composite barrels were the norm and black steel in it's infancy, very late 1890's. If non bulk and bulk shotgun powder were being sold concurrently and they were, then I could see some blowups occuring from using the old tried and true powder dipper with non-bulk powder. Shell development changed again in the early 20's with the advent of the Super-X heavier loadings. So the real crux of the matter is that if your dam or twist Parker is in good sound condition and you load your shells to pressures and velocities for that time period you don't have anything to fear. One could in theory load paper cases using Unique powder with nitro cards and filler wads and have a pretty true to period shell.

Interestingly enough Unique is a double based powder (vs single based like SR7625 and SR4756).

"Unique (introduced 1900, still produced today), initially produced by Laflin & Rand, absorbed by Du Pont in 1902, given to Hercules in the 1914 anti-trust settlement. By Sharpe's words: one of the best of the entire Hercules line for mid-range use in the military rifle family or the so-called Sporting Rifle type such as 30/30, 3855 etc... one of the most useful and flexible powder a reloader can have available. A disc powder (.060" diam x .005" thick). RQ is 300. "

http://www.gmdr.com/lever/pistolpowi.htm

[David Hamilton]

I don't suppose that that trophy could be tracked down? It is quite unique and should be found in some collection. David

[Researcher]

I don't have much in the way of ammunition catalogues for the 1890s, but my 1893 Chas. J. Godfrey catalogue offers UMC shells factory loaded with Schultze, E.C. and a powder refered to as S.S. All were bulk. According to Stadt, Winchester provided smokeless powder shotshells to "selected" shooters in 1893 and began offering them to the general public in 1894. My 1894 Chas. J. Godfrey catalogue agrees, as it offeres both UMC and Winchester nitro powder shells, with the Winchesters offered with Schultze, E.C., S.S. and American Wood. By my 1895 Chas. J. Godfrey catalogue DuPont Bulk has joined the offerings. By my September 1897 Chas. J. Godfrey catalogue, dense smokeless powders, Walsrode and Gold Dust are being offered in UMC "Acme" shells.

My earliest ammo company catalogue is a 1903 UMC, and by that time the dense smokeless powders being offered were Laflin & Rand Infallible, Shotgun Rifleite, Walsrode and Ballistite. In that 1903 catalogue, pink Nitro Club shells were loaded with medium charges of bulk smokeless powder; yellow Nitro Club shells were loaded with medium charges of dense smokeless powders; salmon colored Arrow shells and green Trap shells were loaded with bulk smokeless powders and maroon Arrow shells were loaded with dense smokeless powders. By that catalogue, the maroon UMC Acme shell was being offered as a primed empty for loading with dense smokeless powders, the equivalent of the maroon Arrow loaded shell. The UMC Expert was the primed empty equivalent of the green Trap loaded shell, and the salmon color UMC Magic was the primed empty equivalent of the salmon color Arrow loaded shell. Similarly the pink UMC Challenge and the yellow UMC Monarch were the primed empty equivalents of the loaded Nitro Clubs.