Original 50/70 ammo

[MattN]

I could't wait to shoot my 1868 once I got it a few months ago. Had hopes of shooting it in my local vintage military shoot on Veteran's day. Then I realized I would need to pull a second job to be able to afford it

[Dick Hosmer]

Now I’m going to have to drive to Kansas City to receive the 9 original vintage 50-70 rounds that my buddy wants to give me.
I don’t know what head stamp is on them.

Probably none - headstamping (at Frankford Arsenal) arrived after the .50-70 period. It is somewhat chauvinistic, but I place FA ammo on a collecting tier above the commecial, or contract, stuff. It just so happens that supplies ran low and a batch of .50-70 was needed in September of 1882, so, they ran it off, including use of the current .45-70 bunter - nitpickers will observe that the radius of the stamping is not quite large enough to look "right" on the bigger head.

[carlsr]

I could't wait to shoot my 1868 once I got it a few months ago. Had hopes of shooting it in my local vintage military shoot on Veteran's day. Then I realized I would need to pull a second job to be able to afford it

Your best bet to shoot your rifle is to load your own. Brass has been hard to find but bullets, primers and black powder are easily found. If you already do reloading, loading black powder rounds is relatively easy.

[Texcl2]

Yup, once you collect the brass you are set. The Lee .50/70 government bullet is actually really accurate in my rifles. Put you name on the starline brass back order list on sites like midway. It’ll get put in production eventually.

[BillF]

I never collected much ammo for the Springfield's. A few loose rounds here and there but I do have this interesting 50-70 display that came with a M66/67 Cadet. Middle round is head stamped UMC 50 carb. Right round no head stamp/ copper primer. I do have a very rare pristine unopened box of 45-70 in a Metcalfe block.

[Dick Hosmer]

I believe the only arm having a short chamber, which required the short case, was the 1867 Navy Cadet. The Army Cadet and the carbine had standard chambers which would accept either case, though reduced loads were used in the latter. The 'long-case' .50-55 loading can be recognized by the rounder, shorter bullet. Here is a photo showing a blank, two lengths of the short case, a long carbine/cadet, and a standard .50-70.

l-92787449.jpg (28.47 KiB) Viewed 3436 times

[BillF]

The 1867 Navy Cadet was a rolling block by Remington - correct? Not knowing who made the display I wonder if they knew the difference you pointed out. I had read it somewhere long ago but did not think about it with the display. Is the short round a commercially made one? Seems it would be.

[khannon]

I'm curious: Not that I ever *would* (both from a safety and economy standpoint), but can black powder ammo produced back in the 1870s/1880s even fire now?

[Dick Hosmer]

The 1867 Navy Cadet was a rolling block by Remington - correct? Not knowing who made the display I wonder if they knew the difference you pointed out. I had read it somewhere long ago but did not think about it with the display. Is the short round a commercially made one? Seems it would be.

Remington design, yes, but the arm was made, or at the very least assembled (including barrel) at SA. One of several models of roller made, or altered, there between 1867-1871. The cartridges I showed are Benet inside primed by Frankford Arsenal. AFAIK, no one else loaded that kind of ammo. The brass-cased ones found stamped "50 CARB" are all commercial - FA did not use headstamps (or brass cases) at the time.

[Dick Hosmer]

I'm curious: Not that I ever *would* (both from a safety and economy standpoint), but can black powder ammo produced back in the 1870s/1880s even fire now?

Tom Trevor can expand on this, but the late Paul Parsons (noted SoCal ammo collector) had a large amount (well enough to shoot without remorse) of IP back in the 1960s-70s, and conducted that very test. IIRC, the results had a few misfires and squibs, but the "normal firing level" was at nearly 90%. Now, another 50+ years have passed and I'd expect further degradation, but I sure woudn't stand in front of the muzzle!

Of course with an asking price of almost $20 per round, my Scottish blood would boil first, anyhow . . . . .