Timeline on Shotgun Ammo Developement

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

Recently I have been going through my references and noting the dates of key developements in shotguns and their ammo.  I will begin with ammunition. I'll start a separate thread on shotguns.

Shotgun ammo in many ways developed in lock-step with rifle and pistol ammo, but there are certain factors affecting shotgun ammo differently. Specifically the size of the bore pretty well necessitates a composite case construction, and less importantly the requirement for wads and cushions in the load column.  Remember, plastic was not yet invented and drawing brass was in its infancy.

Breach loading and cartridge construction have been around for Centuries but the 19th Century saw many industrial improvements that started making modern cartridges possible. There was better machining tolerences, percussion cap technology, and the gradual improvement in case making materials.

For the period that western action shooting covers, I will start with the pinfire cartridge in 1836 when M. Lefaucheux developed the pinfire cartridge and the break-open double to fire it. I'll spend a bit more time here as Lefaucheux was about twenty years ahead of his time.  From time to time his gun was improved with better locking systems, and is essentially reproduced by the widely available Husqvarna underlever shotguns made in Sweden from 1877 until 1956. (In Sweden, sportsmen & collectors are limited in the number of firearms they own, so the older ones are flogged off to North America.)

In the 1850's in America, several designs of breachloading arms were developed with "transitional technology" generally the priming was separate from the cartidge itself. The best example is the Sharps percussion breachloading shotgun of 1853.  It could be loaded with separate components, but was generally sold with a kit whereby a hunter could roll his own cartridges at home the night before.  Commonly available percussion caps would set off the charge.  Until the ammunition industry caught up, this was a practical system.
The first Parker in 1868, an underlever design still used Maynard style outside primed ammunitiion.

1852; The Lancaster cartridge in England had many of the bassics found in more modern shells.  It had a wrapped paper body and a copper reinforce at the base, but it had an imperfect priming system.

1855; Pottet in France patented a cartridge having most of the elements of modern cartridges.

1861; Daw introduced the Pottet design to England.  Later, Ely broke the patent as Pottet's original patent in France had been allowed to lapse. This same design was manufactured in America by Leet very soon afterwards (1864). So, Pards, shotgun ammo quite like we know today was available in America in the 1860s.  Whether it was common in the West is another question as I don't have access to any catalogues or shipping documents from that early.

1864; Draper & Co. manufactured a shotshell patented by W.H. Wills on 29 Nov 1864. It was made of three finely machined elements, brass body, hardened steel pistol nipple and brass head that screwed into the base of the body. It must have been very expensive to produce, and I am not sure how widely used it became. See  the post below by Major 2.

1872; First mass produced shotgun shells.

1873; Maynard produced a brass shotshell made of several components with a Berdan primer.

1877; Winchester produced both brass and paper shotshells.  Loaded ammo was not available until 1886.  Remington was making drawn brass shotshells in the 1870's.

I have some photocopied pages from the 1897 Sears Roebuck Co. catalogue.  In 1897 pinfire empty paper shot gun shells were available. (They can still be obtained in France!) Sears also sold double barrel muzzle loaders, and converted Springfield 1853 percussion muskets! In 1897!?

[River City John]

Great info, Sir Charles!
Thanks for taking the time to post for all.

RCJ

[Tascosa Joe]

Very enlightening.  Thanks for the post.

[Professor Marvel]

Thank you Sir Charles, this helps me considerably in narrowing down a suitable pre 1870 cartridge shotgun

yhs
prf marvel

[minerotago]

Many years ago I got an 'awful old shotgun' and was told that it had been used in the early 1870s. It was a side by side hammer gun of course and the fore end was held on by a wedge exactly the same as the foer end of the old muzzle loader shotguns.
Now the interesting point about this gun is that it came with some of its original cartridge cases - some of these cases were brass UMC and Winchester but the others were more interesting . They were  cases were made of brass as well but had percussion cap nipples on the back of them! In actual fact they would have been VERY handy as they could be easily reloaded in the field by measuring in powder from a flask, a wad and shot then an over shot wad which could be held in place. It was just as easy to put anew percussion cap ont he nipple of the brass cartridge as it was to put a percussion cap on the nipple of any percussion firearm.
These cartridges were identified by the markings on the back - Drapers Patent 1869.

Interesting enough the whole outfit also came with a "Star Crimper for brass shells which was marked 'Kynochs Patent'

[Major 2]

I'll offer this to the discussion ....it in dissenting order from 1950-70   back to 1870-80's

http://www.cartridge-corner.com/shotgun.htm


and this to illustrate  Minerotago's post

DRAPER CARTRIDGE - Actually a misnomer, these are really Wills Patent (#45,292 of 11-29-1864). A screw-off base reveals a percussion nipple. Several dozen variations are known in various calibers, lengths and base styles. A few (rare) rifle rounds are
also known. The bases are marked "Patented  Nov. 29, 1864 F.D. & Co .

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

Major2;  Thank you for pointing out the "cartridge corner" site. Actual sample of cartridges and their time frames add considerably to this timeline. Specifically, I can now add the date 1864 to my entry for Leet's cartridges. As an aside; I went to page 2 of the link and found the name "H. Short & Sons, Victoria BC". I'll have to look further, as this is my town.

Minerotago; I did have the information on the W.H. Wills/Draper cartridge, but omitted it from my timeline as David Butler (The American Shotgun) felt that it was too expensive to manufacture for mass distribution.  I should reconsider and insert the information in my original post, as it appears that it did have some play at the time.

The time period for the mass transition to the modern cartridge in America still remains within the dates 1873 to 1877. Earlier periods saw a tentative introduction, which I suggest would be confined to the eastern elite with cash to spend.

Follow-up on H. Short; I found a 1901 Canadian Census entry showing that Henry Short, born march 27,1844 in Ireland immigrated to Canada in 1862 and is shown as a gunmaker in Victoria BC. He dies on March 9, 1902 leaving a widow, Alice, and a daughter and two sons, one of which is also listed as a gunmaker. Shells headstamped by his firm were likely ordered from a major ammunition firm.