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While cleaning off shelves of 'stuff,' I found this box of Winchester Ranger shells marked "reloads." My question is this a factory offering or what??


It is a full box and the shells look like a factory shell.

It will be interesting to see if anyone has a lead.

I have a bunch of old Super Target once-fireds, but I can guarantee you that my reloads are never that neat and formal.

I would guess that they were cartridges reloaded by a commercial loader back in the day.

In the early years, especially out here in the west, the ammunition companies shipped NPEs and local concerns loaded the shells. The largest and most often noted was Selby and California Powder Works (CPW)in California. We had Honeyman Hardware in Portland, Oregon; Miller Bros. in Tacoma, Washington; Piper & Taft and Hardy Hall in Seattle, Washington; and Ware Bros. here in Spokane, Washington --

I recall seeing ads for reloaded rifle cartridges in American Rifleman issues dating from the 1930's and '40's.

Did the box have loaded shells in it? Primer type, hull condition, and crimp quality might give some clues as to origin.

I suggest they may have been reloaded at a large skeet club, or at the US Army Advanced Marksmanship Unit, or some other large quantity user; for use within the Club/Unit/Organization. Of course, I have no way of knowing, for sure.
Mike

FWIW, that style Winchester Ranger shell box and with the "Super Seal Cup Wad" was in use from 1948 to 1960.

I always wondered how difficult it was to get factory loaded cartridge ammunition in the remote areas of the west and especially in the old west. I can't find a definitive source only bits and pieces. Heck, the last time I was in South Dakota in 2009, I had trouble finding 16 gauge shells.

I will post some photos of the shells when I get back from the FT. Bragg Clay Target Center.

That was a bad statement on my part. Actually, concerns were handloading shot shells for sportsmen all over the country. In the book The Encyclopedia of Shotgun Shell Boxes by Ted and David Bacyk, the section on handloaded shells goes from page 39 to 61, six boxes per page. Cities represented are New York City; Boston, MA; Philadelphia, PA; St. Paul, MN; Syracuse, NY; Albany, NY; Baltimore, MD; Hartford, CT; St. Joseph, MO; Oakland, NJ; Nashua, NH; Leavenworth, KS; San Francisco, CA; Sacramento, CA; New Haven, CT; Pittsburg, PA; Noblesville, IN; Columbus, OH; San Diego, CA; Allentown, PA; Chicago, IL; Grand Rapids, MI; Troy, NY; Minneapolis, MN; Seattle, WA; Spokane, WA; Los Angles, CA; Portland, OR; Dubuque, IA; Denver, CO; Duluth, MN; Peoria, IL; Cincinnati, OH; Kansas City, MO; St Louis, MO; Colebrook, CT; Accord, MA; Meriden, CT; Omaha, NE; Kenvil, NJ; Carlinville, IL; Swanton, VT; and Chambersburg, PA. There were probably a lot more. Several of the ones I mentioned above weren't in that book.

Local loaders were so common, that the big ammunition companies had different headstamps on their NPEs then they did their factory loaded shells. Winchester had their name and LEADER or REPEATER on their factory loaded smokeless powder ammo --



but put 1901 and LEADER or REPEATER on their NPEs --



For Union Metallic Cartridge Co. their black powder shell was the NEW CLUB, their low brass smokeless powder shell was NITRO CLUB and their high brass smokeless powder shell was ARROW. Their NPEs for black powder were headstamped UNION. Their low brass NPEs for smokeless powder were headstamped CHALLENGE for bulk powders, or MONARCH for dense smokeless powders. Their High brass NPEs for smokeless powder were headstamped EXPERT for bulk powders, or ACME for dense smokeless powders.