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Question on stamping of shell boxes
Unread 03-10-2019, 12:45 PM   #1
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Default Question on stamping of shell boxes

I bought several shell boxes yesterday at a local auction. After I examined them I found two were stamped "U.S. Property" I'm not a collector of shell boxes and know very little about them, but this is the first I have seen of this stamping.

Can anyone tell me what this means? Is it a war year stamp required by the government? Does it help identify the timeframe of manufacture?

Thanks for your help.
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Unread 03-10-2019, 01:04 PM   #2
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I know that Skeet was used as part of military training for hitting a moving target. Might be some surplus ammo....





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Unread 03-10-2019, 02:17 PM   #3
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My pop told me when he was in the service back in the 50’s on each base in the US he was stationed they had a sports thing where you could check out sports equipment to use on the base . And it included rifles and shotguns for shooting and or hunting . He told me when he was stationed in Savanah they had Winchester 21’s , 12’s and 70’s . So “perhaps” these were shells sold to the military for “sporting” use on one of the bases .
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Unread 03-11-2019, 10:01 AM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dean Romig View Post
I know that Skeet was used as part of military training for hitting a moving target. Might be some surplus ammo....





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Number 6s are skeet shot built to government specs.
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Unread 03-11-2019, 10:06 AM   #5
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I’m intrigued by all of this. When did the manufacturers stop making 2 9/16” shells? I assumed sometime around 1930. It might narrow down a date window.
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Unread 03-11-2019, 02:19 PM   #6
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Quote:
I’m intrigued by all of this. When did the manufacturers stop making 2 9/16” shells? I assumed sometime around 1930. It might narrow down a date window.
16-Gauge History lesson --

From the late 1890s until after WW-I, the heaviest 16-gauge loads our North American ammunition companies offered were 2 3/4 drams of bulk smokeless powder or 22 grains of dense smokeless powder such as Infallible or Ballistite, pushing 1 ounce of shot. Those loads could be had in the "standard" 2 9/16 inch case or any of the longer 2 3/4, 2 7/8 or 3-inch cases. In late 1922 or early 1923, Western Cartridge Co. added the 16-gauge to their progressive burning powder, high velocity loads called Super-X, but unlike the 1 1/4 ounce 12-gauge and 1 ounce 20-gauge Super-X loads which were put up in Western's 2 3/4 inch FIELD shells, the 1 1/8 ounce 16-gauge Super-X load was put up in their 2 9/16 inch FIELD shell. When the Lubaloy shot Super-X loads were introduced in July 1929, they were put up in Western's high brass RECORD shell, but the 16-gauge still in a 2 9/16 inch length case.

The 2 3/4 inch 16-gauge shell really began to get some traction when Remington Arms Co., Inc. introduced their Model 11 and "Sportsman" autoloaders in 16-gauge in 1931, chambered for 2 3/4 inch shells. While Remington's regular Nitro Express 16-gauge progressive burning powder load was put up in a 2 9/16 inch hull with a load of 3 drams equiv. pushing 1 1/8 ounce of shot, for their new 16-gauge autoloaders they introduced the slightly faster Auto-Express with a 3 1/4 drams equiv. charge pushing 1 1/8 ounce of shot --

AUTO EXPRESS Introduction.jpeg

16-gauge Auto Express.jpg

I'm thin on Winchester ammo catalogues, but for sure by 1934, they were offering a similar 2 3/4 inch 16-gauge load.

The 2 3/4 inch Magnum shells with 1 1/2 ounce in 12-gauge, 1 1/4 ounce in 16-gauge and 1 1/8 ounce in 20-gauge first appear in the December 15, 1954, Western Cartridge Co. catalogues.

Western Cartridge Co. added a 2 3/4 inch 16-gauge to their Super-X offerings for 1938. From 1938 through 1942 they called this 16-gauge 2 3/4 inch Super-X shell "Magnum", even though it was still a 1 1/8 ounce payload. By Western Cartridge Co.'s March 7, 1946, catalogue the term "Magnum" was gone from this 2 3/4 inch 16-gauge Super-X shell. In Western's January 2, 1947, catalogue, the 2 9/16 inch 16-gauge Super-X shell was gone from both the chilled shot and the Lubaloy offerings, and their only 2 9/16 inch shells being offered were Xpert. This may have been an oversight, as the 2 9/16 inch 16-gauge Super-X shell with chilled shot is back in Western Cartridge Co.'s April 8, 1948, catalogue and price list, and the 2 9/16 inch 16-gauge Super-X loads remained until their last appearance on Western Cartridge Co.'s January 2, 1962, catalogue and price lists, where it is "available until stocks depleted." By Western Cartridge Co.’s January 2, 1963, catalogue and price lists the new Mark 5 was introduced and all the 16-gauge Super-X offerings are 2 3/4 inch. By the January 2, 1964, Western Cartridge Co. catalogue and price list the 16-gauge 2 9/16 inch Xpert shell is gone as well.

Remington Arms Co., Inc. dropped their 2 9/16 inch 16-gauge shells with their switch to plastic hulls which began in 1961. By the 1962 Remington Arms Co., Inc. catalog all the paper 12-, 16- and 20-gauge Remington Express, Magnum, Buckshot and Rifled Slug Loads were marked available subject to stock on hand. By the 1963 catalog the 10-gauge Express and Magnum loads were in plastic, and the Shur Shot 12-, 16- and 20-gauge Field Loads were being put up in plastic.
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Unread 03-11-2019, 02:32 PM   #7
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Incredibly informative! Information like this is well worth the (life!) membership. Thanks again, Dave, for increasing our knowledge (and most assuredly, mine).
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Unread 03-10-2019, 03:41 PM   #8
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Apparently, they used M31 Remingtons also, as I bought a surplus stock from SARCO years ago, still wrapped in vintage newspaper.
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Unread 03-10-2019, 04:59 PM   #9
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That style box came into use just before WW-II. We see quite a few of these U.S. Property boxes come up in Wards Auctions --

https://www.wardscollectibles.com/vi....php?item=1215

https://www.wardscollectibles.com/vi....php?item=1361

https://www.wardscollectibles.com/vi....php?item=1376
With the HELP CONSERVE WILD LIFE -- COOPERATE WITH FARM OWNERS this is a post war box.

https://www.wardscollectibles.com/vi....php?item=1388

https://www.wardscollectibles.com/vi....php?item=1538

https://www.wardscollectibles.com/vi....php?item=1064
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Unread 03-10-2019, 05:09 PM   #10
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Thanks to all for the information. I'm still wondering why the boxes were stamped this way. If this is a pre-WWII stamping, what is the reason? Any thoughts?
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"Doubtless the good Lord could have made a better game bird than bobwhite, and better country to hunt him in...but equally doubtless, he never did." -- Guy de la Valdene (from A Handful of Feathers )

"'I promise you,' he said, 'on my word of honor, I won't die on the opening of the bird season.'" -- Robert Ruark (from The Old Man and the Boy)
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