An old 30 W. C. F. bullet

Bill Wynne

Bill Wynne

Active member
There are people on this site who know a little bit about everything gun related so help me on this.

I have come by some very old cartridges marked 30 W. C. F. made by W. R. A. Co. I know this is an old 30-30 name but let me tell you more about these old cartridges. They have a funny looking primer. it has what looks like a copper center to it. The bullets weigh 160 grains and have a lead core surrounded by some kind of a gray colored metal. The powder is a small perforated round flat disk dark gray in color. The powder weight is 22 grains. The very old box they came in is marked 38/55 and there is one 45/90 in the box. Several of the brass cases have split necks. I think these are at least 100 years old and probably older.

Does anyone have any idea as to how old these cartridges are?

Concho Bill
 
Landers said:
https://www.cartridge-corner.com/wrahelp.htm

Maybe this will help you out.

Pete

PS: I suspect that WRA Co is Winchester Repeating Arms Co.
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Thanks Pete, That helped a lot. This cartridge was made between 1896 and 1902.
That is good information. Now I know it has a protected primer with a brass ring around it and a W stamped on the primer and a nickel sleeve around the lead core bullet. I still do not know much about the powder.

Bill
 
bill wynne said:
thanks pete, that helped a lot. This cartridge was made between 1896 and 1902.
That is good information. Now i know it has a protected primer with a brass ring around it and a w stamped on the primer and a nickel sleeve around the lead core bullet. I still do not know much about the powder.

Bill
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when syarted loading in 1950 theywere using ball powder in 25 30 32 rem' hivel no'. 2 ion 32 win.
 
Bill
I used to wander around in the woods and get paid for it. While doing so I developed a habit of picking up expended shell casings. Some of them I saved if they weren't common. One of them is a 38 55 introduced by the Ballard Rifle Company. Sometimes I would find a complete round ejected by someone with buck fever. One of them is badly stained 25 35.

Mort
 
dmort said:
bill
i used to wander around in the woods and get paid for it. While doing so i developed a habit of picking up expended shell casings. Some of them i saved if they weren't common. One of them is a 38 55 introduced by the ballard rifle company. Sometimes i would find a complete round ejected by someone with buck fever. One of them is badly stained 25 35.

Mort
Click to expand...
there was also 25 20 t6here is one next door
 
dmort said:
Bill
I used to wander around in the woods and get paid for it. While doing so I developed a habit of picking up expended shell casings. Some of them I saved if they weren't common. One of them is a 38 55 introduced by the Ballard Rifle Company. Sometimes I would find a complete round ejected by someone with buck fever. One of them is badly stained 25 35.

Mort
Click to expand...

Mort, That is an interesting story and it leads me into a story about a case I found as a teenager in about 1955 or 1956. We were starting to form a foundation for a house in a new subdivision at the time and in the dust I found a well preserved copper 45/70 case. It was marked on the base 8 and 78 and a C and an F. This case was not meant to be reloaded because it had no visible primer on the outside. The primer was built-in to the case. Where the firing pin struck was a deeper than usual impression. It was in the city of San Angelo, Texas when I found this shell case, about three miles from the location of the frontier army post of Fort Concho. Fort Concho was in operation for twenty-two years from 1867 until 1889 as a fort to protect the settlers from the hostiles. I have always wondered how the shell case got there. Was it fired at an Comanche, or a jack rabbit, or just a tin can? I still have the case and I am looking at it as I write this.

Concho Bill
 
Bill,

Finding old things is really a kick and I have always had a real interest in local history.

Once I was walking down a ridge with a gentle slope that I could put a road on for logging. There were many old trees on the ridge that were scared about the same distance up from the ground. I was clueless. My USGS quad map showed an undocumented survey corner below the ridge. It is against the law to remove evidence of the old GLO (Government Land Office) surveys. On the West coast, these surveys go back to the late 1800s. I found evidence and plotted the location on an aerial photo where it was then turned over to someone with a land surveyor license, who would then monument the corner.

Copies of the original GLO notes were available so I did a little research. The notes stated that the surveyors accended X number of chains from the corner and crossed a wagon trail! The scars on the trees were from the axle hubs.

A chain is 66 feet and multiples of that is how we arrive at 1/8, 1/4, 1/2 mile etcetera.

Mort
 
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[QUOTEW C F STAND FOR WINCHESTER CENTER FIRE=Bill Wynne;842220]There are people on this site who know a little bit about everything gun related so help me on this.

I have come by some very old cartridges marked 30 W. C. F. made by W. R. A. Co. I know this is an old 30-30 name but let me tell you more about these old cartridges. They have a funny looking primer. it has what looks like a copper center to it. The bullets weigh 160 grains and have a lead core surrounded by some kind of a gray colored metal. The powder is a small perforated round flat disk dark gray in color. The powder weight is 22 grains. The very old box they came in is marked 38/55 and there is one 45/90 in the box. Several of the brass cases have split necks. I think these are at least 100 years old and probably older.

Does anyone have any idea as to how old these cartridges are?

Concho Bill[/QUOTE]
 
billbrawand said:
[quotew c f stand for winchester center i was told some yrs agothat hese are around 1880 the first number is cal. The next pd' charge fire=bill wynne;842220]there are people on this site who know a little bit about everything gun related so help me on this.

I have come by some very old cartridges marked 30 w. C. F. Made by w. R. A. Co. I know this is an old 30-30 name but let me tell you more about these old cartridges. They have a funny looking primer. It has what looks like a copper center to it. The bullets weigh 160 grains and have a lead core surrounded by some kind of a gray colored metal. The powder is a small perforated round flat disk dark gray in color. The powder weight is 22 grains. The very old box they came in is marked 38/55 and there is one 45/90 in the box. Several of the brass cases have split necks. I think these are at least 100 years old and probably older.

Does anyone have any idea as to how old these cartridges are?

Concho bill
Click to expand...
[/quote]
 
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