Whitney Cartridge Company, Cortez, CO
1961
16
A bud brought me this box of shells, all plastic two pieces with the base unscrews.
Very interesting concept!
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Very interesting concept!
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Very different. Plus I was just looking around the net. and could only find 1 mention on them. One mention here: Shotgunworld.com • Whitney Cartridge
States not safe to use.
States not safe to use.
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I’m curious - is the base metallic or something like Bakelite, plastic, etc? It’s fascinating.
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It was mentioned they are from the 70's.
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US3675576A - Reloadable two-piece shotgun cartridge - Google Patents
A 2-piece, all plastic, reloadable shotgun cartridge contains the conventional elements of a shotgun cartridge, i.e., shot, wadding, primer and a powder charge. A crimp step makes for easier crimping; a self-locking feature is provided by serrations; and powder reloading can be easily...
patents.google.com
Thanks for posting
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As I heard about these many years ago, the idea was you did not need a press to reload. You used a punch to kick out the primer and reseat a new one with a larger punch. The crimp was supposed to indeed be an end cap which you could buy for reloading. The primer punch and primer setting ram from Lee Precision shot shell loading kits were all you needed. There might have been specific reloading tools for this hull as well. I must be clear, I never saw these, just going on faded memory about what I had heard in the 1970’s.
The patent drawing shows an end cap that goes over the shot, must have been under the crimp. The drawing when enlarged could give the impression the end of the hull has a cap instead of a rolled crimp. Perhaps the over shot cap gave people the idea the crimp was a separate piece as well.
US3675576A - Reloadable two-piece shotgun cartridge - Google Patents
A 2-piece, all plastic, reloadable shotgun cartridge contains the conventional elements of a shotgun cartridge, i.e., shot, wadding, primer and a powder charge. A crimp step makes for easier crimping; a self-locking feature is provided by serrations; and powder reloading can be easily...
patents.google.com
The patent drawing shows an end cap that goes over the shot, must have been under the crimp. The drawing when enlarged could give the impression the end of the hull has a cap instead of a rolled crimp. Perhaps the over shot cap gave people the idea the crimp was a separate piece as well.
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Rick:
Thanks for that. It appears the end cap was an additional claim for the patent and used a roll-crimp:
It may be desirable in certain conditions, to provide an alternate means for retaining the shot in the casing portion of the shell FIG. 8 shows a shot retaining disk 31, made from a hard plastic material. The periphery of disk 31 is provided with a raised lip 33. The top portion of disk 31 is provided with grooves 32 across the diameter of disk 3!, which divide disk 31 into four quarters. FIG. 7 shows shot retaining .disk 31 crimped at 33 by inturning the end of the shell casing over lip 33 of the disk. When the shotgun shell is detonated, disk 31 will break up or peel away at the grooves 32 when leaving the muzzle of the shotgun without interferring with the shot pattern.
Frankly, there is no much new here and it took the PTO 2 1/2 years to get around to granting the patent. I don't see anything in the patent that would not have been obvious to one skilled in the particular area. I don't see any use/advantage for the screw on base; hence it would be unlikely anyone would try to infringe the patent (as history has shown). A waste of patent attorneys' fees.
And that thin line at the top of the hull that Gort focused on, above, appears to be a line that demark's a change in the thickness of the plastic. It's apparent from the drawings in the patent.
Thanks for that. It appears the end cap was an additional claim for the patent and used a roll-crimp:
It may be desirable in certain conditions, to provide an alternate means for retaining the shot in the casing portion of the shell FIG. 8 shows a shot retaining disk 31, made from a hard plastic material. The periphery of disk 31 is provided with a raised lip 33. The top portion of disk 31 is provided with grooves 32 across the diameter of disk 3!, which divide disk 31 into four quarters. FIG. 7 shows shot retaining .disk 31 crimped at 33 by inturning the end of the shell casing over lip 33 of the disk. When the shotgun shell is detonated, disk 31 will break up or peel away at the grooves 32 when leaving the muzzle of the shotgun without interferring with the shot pattern.
Frankly, there is no much new here and it took the PTO 2 1/2 years to get around to granting the patent. I don't see anything in the patent that would not have been obvious to one skilled in the particular area. I don't see any use/advantage for the screw on base; hence it would be unlikely anyone would try to infringe the patent (as history has shown). A waste of patent attorneys' fees.
And that thin line at the top of the hull that Gort focused on, above, appears to be a line that demark's a change in the thickness of the plastic. It's apparent from the drawings in the patent.
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1,820 Posts
I'm old enough to remember this cartridge and its advertising. The removeable base with a projected life of 40 reloadings allowed the avid reloader to purchase new shell bodies only when the original soft plastic wore out or failed to hold a crimp (many reloads fewer than 40). This was supposed to be an economical alternative to buying complete new shells when the reloaded ones became useless. Throw away the orange shell body and buy only new shell bodies.
I think that the marketing department didn't know how much reloaders hated doing the work of unscrewing and re-attaching the black bases to the new orange shell bodies. The wife and kids thought it was fun once--only once.
Mike Mann
I think that the marketing department didn't know how much reloaders hated doing the work of unscrewing and re-attaching the black bases to the new orange shell bodies. The wife and kids thought it was fun once--only once.
Mike Mann
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