Mystery cartridge case

KY DAN said:

A friend brought me in a metal detecting find and I am at a loss for what it even is.

The case was cut in half before I "saw" it lolView attachment 1170226

The priming system seems complex and a .500 bullet almost fill the half moon radius of the case.

What's your thoughts expert's of THR?

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Take a look at the 50-70 internally primed cartridges on this page:


I do not think yours is a a Martin's bar primed, but there were other types of internally primed cartridges. Specifically the Benet primed. http://cartridgecollectors.org/?page=glossary What exact type yours is, lets see who finds out that information.


More Benet primed 50-70 case pictures:

The only thing I can think of is that it might be the primer (?) or the cartridge that ignites the main charge on a separate loaded artillery piece. What appears to be a primer looks like it used to sit higher in its separate chamber, but how it was ignited mystifies me. The base of the cartridge looks like something whacked it hard enough to cause an indentation. I suppose that might have caused the primer to drop down and ignite but it would take a very soft primer cup.

Somebody here will identify it.

A good question is where was this found? Old army camp, or middle of nowhere?

I'll second artillery primer. The IOWA Class 16's used a primer that was an exact duplicate of a 45-70 case, just dual primed. Electric AND percussion. In a pinch 45-70 "line throwing" blanks could be used.

Yes, it is an artillery primer. The reason for the internal primer is to prevent primer blow out.

KY DAN said:

I was told it was found in Hopkins county Kentucky where a fort may have been at some time

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Hopkins County is 60 miles north of Fort Campbell, which had Armored in WW2.

This is a list of existing KY Historic Forts


However, there were lots of WW2 era Army bases that don't pop up on internet searches, unless you actually know the name of the Base. I know of a couple within an hour of me. These bases existed during WW2, then the war went away, and the land was eventually sold to well connected political elites/realtors who had enough money to buy the land at give away prices.

The South had a lot of these bases, because land was cheap, the people were poor and could not afford lawyers to sue for the unfair compensation they received. I book I read had an oral history of the land grab that created the nuclear facility at Oak Ridge Tennessee. Government Appraisers came to the farm, handed the farmer the amount the Government would pay, based on the Appraiser's estimate, and was told to get off the land in two weeks. The account I read claimed "the estimate was less than the price I paid for the barn!" Protests to local Government had no affect, probably because local officials had relatives in construction, etc, and a base was going to bring a lot of money in to the area.

Derelict bases did not last long after WW2, unless a base managed to keep an activity, it disappeared.

Lordsburg Historical marker near the Highway, but not near the Camp.





Historical marker is about 10 miles from the WW2 Eagle, locals told me this was made by Italian POW's. I assume an administrative complex used to be nearby.




I was told lots of buildings used to be North, South, East, West of where this picture was taken.

It looks like the "firing pin" is included in the cartridge, but not in the gun. Therefore the "striker" in the gun would be more like a flat punch. Having to distribute the force over a wider area, it would have needed a much stronger spring.

This design would have been comparatively too expensive for general use. Therefore a highly specialized item.

Looks to me like the head of the cartridge is maybe threaded? Then the head contains the firing pin, so a percussiomfaced hammer drived the head to fire the Boxer primer. Maybe a cartridge to be used in a modified cap-and-ball rifle? Unscrew the head, place a primer in the recess, and carefully replace the head.

My guess, anyway.

Bob Wright

AlexanderA said:

It looks like the "firing pin" is included in the cartridge, but not in the gun. Therefore the "striker" in the gun would be more like a flat punch. Having to distribute the force over a wider area, it would have needed a much stronger spring.

This design would have been comparatively too expensive for general use. Therefore a highly specialized item.

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There is at least one of those things made for every 155mm of larger artillery projectile made.

As a rookie collector I find this very interesting. I do have a fired line throwing case in my collection.