OK, you old gun experts.......

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jnyork
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OK, you old gun experts.......

Post by jnyork »

I recently scored a neat old book, "Old Gun Catalogs, Volume 1" by L.C. Satterlee. This is a very nice 1940 hardback publication, printed by subscription, quite rare , I was very pleased to obtain this book. Nabbed it off fleabay at a very low "buy it now" price. It contains reprints of 10 old gun catalogs from the 1864-1880 period, along with commentary and communications of the era, fascinating reading. Even has some original foldouts, the book appears as if nobody ever read it. There are paperback reprints of these books available from the 1960's and 1970's, but this one is original.

So, here's the question: In describing self-contained ammunition, most of these catalogs list the cartridges as 44-100, 38-100, 32-100 etc, even the .22 rimfire ammo is listed as 22-100. Ads for rifles, Winchester 1873 for instance, say they are available in calibers 44-100, etc. I have never seen this before. In only one or two places are they referred to as .44-40 and so forth. Has anyone ever run into this before, what's the story here does anyone know?

Thanks.
Bruce Scott
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Re: OK, you old gun experts.......

Post by Bruce Scott »

In post # 12 in the discussion at the link it was posited that it indicated bullet diameter, eg, 38/100 inch.
https://thefiringline.com/forums/showth ... p?t=499119

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JerryB
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Re: OK, you old gun experts.......

Post by JerryB »

Sounds logical to me.
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Griff
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Re: OK, you old gun experts.......

Post by Griff »

JerryB wrote: Thu Mar 23, 2017 9:57 pmSounds logical to me.
+1. And who wants to argue with logic! :roll: :P
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Buck Elliott
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Re: OK, you old gun experts.......

Post by Buck Elliott »

For you kids, too young to remember what fractions are...
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Pisgah
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Re: OK, you old gun experts.......

Post by Pisgah »

That was before the Decimal Emplacement Act of 1889 and the Fractional Notation Standardization Act of '92...
:)
44shooter
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Re: OK, you old gun experts.......

Post by 44shooter »

While researching and restoring my dads old Iver Johnson champion, I've seen references to a 44/100 chambering. I thought it was some sort of proprietary small gauge shotshell.

Now that I know it's just a 44 WCF, I want a barrel for it. (This one is 12 ga)
Pete44ru
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Re: OK, you old gun experts.......

Post by Pete44ru »

.

AFAIK, the various "-100" series of cartridges (.22-100, .32-100, .38-100, .44-100) were all designations for RF cartridges.

It was only when CF cartridges evolved that the loading/powder charge figures were add to the caliber designation (.25-20, .32-20, .38-40, .44-40, .45-70, etc).


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marlinman93
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Re: OK, you old gun experts.......

Post by marlinman93 »

What they are referring to was ".44/100" of an inch. Not to be mistaken for the common amount of black powder we usually relate to the 2nd half of a hyphenated cartridge.

But don't confuse this marking system with the actual .44-100 Ballard cartridge used in the #7 Long Range Creedmoor rifles! Those cartridges did indeed have 100 grains of black powder. They also oddly weren't a .44 caliber bullet! The bores were for paper patched bullets so they have a groove diameter of .452" which when patched makes the smaller diameter bullet fit the bore.
My .44-100 for my #7 Ballard. Paper patch, and grease groove. Case is 3.25" long!
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jdad
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Re: OK, you old gun experts.......

Post by jdad »

.....and you'll find old Stevens rifle's with "22-9 1/2" instead of 22 WRF. Stevens didn't want to advertise for Winchester. 9-1/2 grains of black powder was the original loading. :wink:
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jnyork
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Re: OK, you old gun experts.......

Post by jnyork »

Thanks, everyone, you guys are great, I am considerably more educated now. :D
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