[Gunnut45/454]

Gentleman
I friend of mine has an old 44-40 round that has a wood bullet seated in it- live round- now I haven't seen it,he' ll show it to me tomorrow. Question is, he's under the impression that this was use for covert assinations or something.
My guess it was used for gallery shooting? What's your take on this?

 

[MikeG]

I have read that wood bullets have been used for training purposes. There is not much information in print.

Don't have any specific information on this application in the .44-40.

Very interesting.

 

[DOK]

I have it on good authority that wood bullets have frequently been used on vampires, and work best with silver tips!

Dan

 

[Contender]

Our man, Kort could shed some light on this.

Are we talking Oak Hollow Points or Ash Spitzers? Probably a RN Locust.

 

[John Kort]

Contender, thank you for the message to this thread. What he most likely has is a shot cartridge. Today we have plastic shot cups like the ones Speer offers, but back around the turn of the century, wood was used to encapsulate the shot.

Winchester's catalog of 1899 shows a number of rimfire and centerfire shot cartridges that use the wooden shot cups as does U.M.C.'s catalog of 1906. Calibers ranged from the .22 W.C.F. up to the .50-110 and .56-50 Spencer. A number of pistol cartridges were also offered in the shot version.

The wooden capsule was loaded to the same overall length as a standard cartridge and the nose was chamfered for easy feeding from the magazine. Fortunately, I have some examples of this in several different calibers in my meager cartridge collection.

History is sure interesting!

John

 

[Contender]

Thank you John,

Now that's fascinating information.

How many of us thought that the shot capsules were a relatively new idea thanks to "modern" materials.

 

[Gunnut45/454]

Mr. Kort
My freind brought the round in today and its definately a shot round-UMC 44-40! So I take it that it dates to atleast the 1906's so, what would be the collector value? I would say it is good shape. He has a few of these but doesn't have the original box.

 

[John Kort]

Gunnut45/454,

My apologies for the delay in responding. The .44-40 shot cartridges with the wood shot container I've purchased cost $2 to $3 each. A full box in the original packaging might be worth $150-$200 and up depending on the manufacturer.

By comparison I've paid $5 to $7 for a similar .45-70 cartridge, $10 for a similar .50-70 shot cartridge and $15-$20 for a .50-110 shot cartridge with the wood shot container. At those prices, I can't afford too many!

Other types of .44-40 shot cartridges were loaded in an extended cartridge case 1.6" long with the shot contained within the case.

Another type was the .44XL which consisted of a standard .44-40 cartridge case with a paper shot container which held almost 1/2 oz. of shot. It was a little over 2" in length and was meant for the Marbles Game Getter single shot.

Oh, what those boys did'nt think of back then!

John

 

[Gunnut45/454]

John
Thanks I'll let him know.

 

[Old Jim]

The US Army in Vietnam loaded 40 MM rounds with wooden bullets. As you may or may not know the track mounted Twin 40MM was used in an antipersonnel role in Vietnam. It fired from a four round clip. Each barrel had a four round clip loaded. When you pulled the trigger it fired alternately left barrel right barrel until it was empty or reloaded. The first round in each barrel was loaded with the wooden bullet. They would drive the track up to the front door of a VC bunker, aim at the door and pull the trigger. It would go KNOCK, KNOCK and Charlie would open the door and say "Yes?"
Hey, come on now. I was there.