Early 20th Century Powder Question?

[Drew Hause]

American Powder Mills “Dead Shot” Bulk Smokeless was introduced in 1904, and “Dead Shot” ads first appeared in Sporting Life in 1906

Comparative Loads from the Lefever Arms Co. in The Outdoorsman's Handbook, 1920
http://books.google.com/books?id=Lr1...J&pg=PA138&lpg
Bulk DuPont, "Schultze", "E.C.", and Dead Shot are listed as equivalent so I assume that Dead Shot was another 42 grain = 3 Dram

[Mike of the Mountain]

I looked in TPS volume I, I found info on choke boring. The writers say that in the early days of Parker Bros in the black powder days, Parker Bros would hand load the test shells. Moving forward, when the various smokeless powders were introduced, Parker Bros would use factory shells as they were readily available. That said, it is a possibility that DS does indeed stand for Dead Shot. We can certainly say that “DS stands for Dead Shot, DuPont Smokeless or Dense Smokeless.” Too bad we can’t ask a factory employee.

[Drew Hause]

I believe Dave is quite correct regarding 'DS'
A good collection of hang tags have been shown here, and some indicate DuPont Bulk, some only 'Bulk', and on some the powder is not indicated

c. 1924



c. 1928 with DuPont Oval



BTW Dense Smokeless had significantly higher pressures than Bulk; period pressures to which 10% was added for modern transducer numbers
1 1/8 oz. 3 Drams BULK Smokeless was 6000 - 8000 psi.
1 1/8 oz. 3 Dr. Eq. of DENSE Smokeless was 8,500 - 10,000 psi.
1 1/8 oz. 3 1/4 Dr. BULK Smokeless was about 8500 psi.
1 1/8 oz. 3 1/4 Dr. Eq. DENSE Smokeless was 9500 - 10,500 psi.
1 1/4 oz. 3 1/2 Dr. BULK Smokeless was about 11,500 psi
1 1/4 oz. 3 1/2 Dr. Eq. DENSE Smokeless was 12,500 psi

[Researcher]

Just got my new laptop connected to my scanner, so I scanned the page with the powder abbreviations in the 1912 U.S. Cartridge Co. catalog --

1912 Catalog, powder abbreviations.jpeg

[Mike of the Mountain]

Dave, you need to put all your knowledge into book form!