i have located the same conditional cartridges in 45/70 from Spanish American training camps. Due to dry conditions when the camp was used(summer months 1898) and the amount of activity in the camps with civilian (weekends)and military the camp could reach five thousand or more.
The soldiers would dump the empty cartridges on the way back to and in the
Camps from the designated rifle ranges..with the amount of foot traffic a lot of the cartridges would be subjected to being crushed on the exposed bullet end..also to was noted  damage from freeze and thaw cycles in the 
Changing northern weather ...just a thought


-----Original Message-----
From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Smoke
Sent: Friday, January 08, 2010 9:44 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: cartridges

If there are .30-30 (1894 for the rifle and 1895 for the cartridge),
.30-06 (1906), and .45 ACP/.45 Automatic Colt Pistol (1911), they were
WAY too late for any of the Indian Wars.

I am not familiar with the 40-70 Sharps (it was not a very common
caliber) but the .45-70 was the standard cartridge for the military
trapdoor Springifled from 1873 until the adoption of the .30-40 Krag
(or .30 government or .30 Army) in 1892.  If your .45s are the
standard .45 Colt round for revolvers and rifles, they have been
aaround since 1873.     :-)

On Thu, Jan 7, 2010 at 1:52 PM, David Legare <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> I have a large number of cartridges at a historic mine site in southern New Mexico.  The primary occupation of the site is from around 1903 to 1911.  These cartridges are of a very wide variety of calibers.  they were all identifiable  30-30, 30-06, 44-70, 45, etc.  The question concerns their treatment.  Virtually every one of them was found crimped in almost exactly the same place on the cartidge.  Anyone have any idea what this behavior is?
>
>
>
>



-- 
Smoke Pfeiffer

In my many years I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a
shame, two is a law firm, and three or more is a Congress. -- John
Adams

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