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Revised 23 August 2010

What can you see at a Cartridge show?
 Some examples from the April 2006
St. Louis International Cartridge Show

  The main focus of a cartridge show is on cartridges for sale or trade. These are collector cartridges, not bulk quantities for shooters. They range from thousands of rounds of individual cartridges (usually called "singles") to boxes of .22 rimfires, to larger packages or larger caliber ammunition. Most shows also include artillery size ammunition (totally inert and legal to own and not dangerous to anybody unless you drop it on your foot....).

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Left- part of the crowd, with a few (mostly large) cartridges for sale.
Right- a very, very scarce brass case for WW1 German battleship guns, which used a 280mm (or 28cm or about 11 inch) diameter projectile.

However, some of the most interesting things are the displays. Smaller shows will probably not have as many displays as these at the prestigious Saint Louis International Cartridge Show, but this give a good sample of some of the collecting fields, and what can be found if you look hard enough.

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Left- A nice selection of Winchester .22 caliber boxes circa 1880-1906. (Sorry about the glare and reflection from the overhead lights on some of these photos...)
Right- A group of very scarce early boxes of ammunition made by Allen, circa 1860-1890.

A nice collection of U.S. military .30-06 ammunition, including a "draw set" showing the various stages of manufacture of the parts of the cartridge.

A small section of a very large display of 40mm grenade cartridges (inert, of course) and another draw set showing the stages of manufacture.

This display covered the 1 inch diameter cartridges used in sub caliber practice as aiming cartridges in heavy artillery pieces.

Sir Joseph Whitworth invented the use of a muzzle loading rifle bored in a hexagonal (six sided) shape which could use either normal cylindrical bullets, or special bullets made in a hexagon shape with a twist that matches the twist of the bore for exceptional accuracy. A small number of these were used as sniper rifles during the Civil War, and no more than a few hundred were ever made. This collector brought a fantastic display of a superb condition rifle, cased with all the special accessories and long range sights, and a full array of the various types of ammunition and ammunition accessories (bullet molds, etc) to go with the rifle. He also made us all envious by telling us that he has actually fired the rifle!

Two other famous Civil War rifles and their various types of ammunition were featured in another display, the Spencer cavalry carbine, and a Henry rifle, the forerunner of the Winchester lever action rifles.

Like the Road to Rome, which led from many directions and took a long time to build, this display examined the historic evolution of many cartridges which eventually culminated in the .30-06 cartridge. This involved improvements in cartridge cases, priming systems, bullet types and powders. Many of the changes were small, and the cartridges where they were first used are long forgotten. A book with detailed specifics accompanies the display to educate the viewer about the significance of the individual cartridges included.

Best of Show award winner was "Less than Lethal- Part I" covering various tear gas type munitions. This truly amazing collection was a real crows pleaser, and gives an idea of the in-depth study which can be done on specific ammunition topics.

Cartridge makers often used various advertising gimmicks like cartridge boards showing all the different caliber they made, or stages of production, or salesman sample kits with cut away ("sectioned") cartridges. Here is a great display of many of the materials used to promote Winchester ammunition.

How much wood could a wood chuck chuck...? Or, how many 3/4 inch thick pine boards will a .405 WInchester bullet penetrate? Winchester found out the answer by doing the obvious, and the proof is shown here (actually just the last 10 or so pieces of the entire set). The answer- It will penetrate 45 pine board 3/4" thick and stick in the 46th board.