Anyone ever saw factory 38/40 shotshells?

[koger]

A buddy of mine picked up 3 at a flea market, guy told him they were made to hunt small game with same rifle, by the Govt. i never knew of a rifle being adopted by the Govt in this caliber. He is bring them over this weekend for me to look at.

[Outpost75]

U.S. Cartridge Co. made them until about the WW1 period. The US headstamp leads some people to think they were government issue, but that is not the case. US Ctg.Co also produced them in .44-40, .45 Colt and .45-70. The .44-40 shot I broke down contain 1/3 oz. of 7-1/2 shot and a charge of semi-smokeless to attain about 800 fps from a revolver. They will kill rabbits or grouse to about 20 ft. from my Colt New Service. These days I load my own in Starline 5 in 1 Blank cases with 5 grains of Bullseye. I always carry a Speed Strip of them when hunting.

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[Brassmonkey]

I've got a few 44 xl shot cartridges, nicely formed paper capsule sticking up out the shell full of shot.

44 mag I presume?

[Michael J. Spangler]

I had a 44-40 shot cartridge in my hand literally less than 20 minutes ago.

My father had an old H&R 44 Shot double barrel.
Not the XL shot. The old one that was basically a 44-40 brass as long as a loaded cartridge with the same profile as a cartridge loaded with a bullet.

I scored them for him at a junk shop. They didn’t fire so I kept them for fun. One of these days I’ll load some up and hunt bunnies with them in remembrance.

[koger]

The caliber is 38/40

[Michael J. Spangler]

Yes sir. I was just mentioning it in response to the post stating that they were also made in many other cartridges.

[Eddie Southgate]

The only ones I have personally seen used a wood capsule just like some of the old .45 Colt shot loads

[koger]

The guy brought two of them by this evening and we cut one open, it looked like 2FFG black powder, and maybe 6 shot. And it looks like those in the pic above, but it had small primers, not the big ones. I sent TBG some pics, he will post them when his internet comes back up.

[Texas by God]

Here you go.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220826/01d8922bebadfb18919ef3a164a93ec7.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220826/a3c2344f6a78754d9877eda7cc90e079.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220826/51fc8c58345fd945558d3c7cef2d79b1.jpg

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[Mk42gunner]

That's quite a step down from the neck to the "bullet" portion of the case. Probably done to ensure feeding from a magazine tube.

Robert

[Jtarm]

I might have one in my old cartridge collecting. Or I may be thinking of a .44-40.