What in the cornbread????

[x101airborne]

Did the US Army use metallic 410 shotshells for in 1953?
I bought a case of Western Cartrige Company 12/53 #6 shot in 2 3/4 length. They are silver in color and seem to be primed with large rifle primers. This is some of the most interesting ammo I have had to purchase in a long time. Anyone have any ideas WHY the Army used 410 shotshells?

[wch]

Could have been for the USAF survival rifle in 22 Hornet upper barrel and .410 lower.

[x101airborne]

Could have been for the USAF survival rifle in 22 Hornet upper barrel and .410 lower.


Maybe, but sent to an ARMY arsenal?

[blpenn66502]

Yep, Army.
From TM 43-0001-27
Use:
Rifle/Shotgun, Caliber .22/.410 Bore, Survival, M6.
The cartridge is intended for use in survival weapons
against small game.
Description:
The cartridge case is all aluminum, and is loaded with
smokeless powder and No. 6 copper-coated lead shot.

[P.K.]

Maybe, but sent to an ARMY arsenal?

1953, only about 6 years after the seperation into the Army and Air Force. Not a long time if you figure the ammount of surplus generated by WWII and the conflict in Korea.

[x101airborne]

Well thanks guys. Guess I never looked into this that much. I am happy to have the ammo though.

[Sweetpea]

x101, any way I could talk you out of one of those fired shells?

Think it would help hold a shelf down nicely.

[Blacksmith]

The CMP has them for sale by the box or by the case.
http://www.thecmp.org/Sales/ammo.htm#Shotgun

[Cactus Farmer]

When I was a jet jockey a fellow hunter in the AF shot them in a Model 42 Winchester. He got as many birds as anyone else did. I tried to size and reuse the hulls. Hard to size........aluminum is sticky........the CMP ammo is the same stuff I'd bet but a bit pricey since the hulls won't reload. I'll keep shooting my AA hulls. Cheap to load and all but indestructible emptys.

[MtGun44]

B-36s were regularly flying over the wilds of Canada on training missions for over the
pole flights to the Soviet Union. In those days survival was necessary because there were
no satellite comm or nav capabilities and finding a downed aircraft with survivors in the
Canadian woods could take a long time, even in summer. I have had one of the modern
repro survival rifle/shotguns - .22LR over .410, had a big lever as a trigger, apparently so
you could shoot with heavy mittens on.

So - they had to have durable, waterproof ammo for these guns. Std shells were paper.

Bill

[Able 5]

And this is why I love this place....knowledge is power!

[x101airborne]

Agreed. And now I know they are not easily reloaded. Since I have about a thousand 2 1/2 inch AA hulls, I doubt i will try.

[Blacksmith]

If you shoot metal shells in the same break open shotgun they should not need resizing. The first shot will fire form to chamber dimensions and when the pressure is gone the brass or aluminum will relax enough to extract. The only reason to neck size a rifle cartridge is to hold the boolit. In a metal shotgun shell the overshot wad which is glued in place serves the same function.

[GOPHER SLAYER]

Many years ago a man showed me some large rimmed cases he said were used to eject a pilot and his seat from jet fighters. They were also aluminum and as well as I can remember they were very long and looked like the 45 basic case. I also can't remember if he had tried reloading the cases or was goning to try. This was in the 1960s and new large cal brass cases were not available. We don't know how lucky we are.