The United States military started using headstamps in 1877 at the
Frankford Arsenal to show origin, type, and date of manufacture. The
.45 Colt cartridge was introduced with the United States Revolver of
1873. Other manufacturers gradually started using headstamps so that
by 20 years later, almost all cartridges had headstamps. Your .45 Colt
cartridges would date in the period from 1873 to the early 1890s. The
case head will be of the balloon type in which the primer pocket
protrudes into the powder chamber.

(Note: some idiots today call the .45 Colt the ".45 Long Colt" so as
to differentiate it from the .45 ACP (Automatic Colt Pistol -
introduced for the U.S. Model 1911 pistol) cartridge.)

On Thu, Jan 10, 2013 at 3:45 PM, dallas ward <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Howdy Fellow HISTARCH listerv members,
>
>      My name is Dallas and I am a graduate student in Heritage Management
> at Texas Tech University.  I work primarily in Historical Archaeology and
> am currently working on a west Texas cowboy site.  I have two questions
> that hopefully some of you may be of assistance with.
>      First, do any of you now of any papers or reports related to ranching
> or cowboy archaeology?  I have only been able to locate a couple and this
> seems strange to me, am I just missing something or are publications of
> this sort just rare?  I have the Fontanna - Johnny Ward's Ranch (1962), THC
> - Walker Ranch report by Scurlock (1973), and one from U of A McGuire -
> Rancho Punta de Agua (1979).  I also have a CRM report out of Nevada but it
> was little help.  If anyone could offer suggestions or assistance with
> sources I would greatly appreciate it.
>      Second, the cowboy camp has a large quantity of 45 caliber cartridges
> without head stamps.  Does this mean they are loading their own maybe at
> the headquarters?  If so I have been unable to find a source in support of
> this theory.
>      I greatly appreciate any help or insight.  Unfortunately due to
> confidentiality issues I am unable to supply any pics or much of a
> description beyond the vague description of a cowboy camp, possibly a
> line-camp in western Texas dating to approximately 1890.  Thanks in advance
> for your responses.
>
> -Dallas Ward



-- 
Smoke Pfeiffer
In other news, the wolves and coyotes have finished investigating
a break-in at the henhouse.  The fox has been cleared.