I found this on a friend's property recently along with various relics. The place was a farm as early as the 1880s or '90s This 45-70 seems different thsn ones I used to have in cartridge collection, maybe it's the head having a raised center.... Was surprised to find something this big in Kansas where the biggest game is probably whitetail deer. And for once found a whole casing, most are half gone. Headstamp is W. R. A. CO. 45-70 - thanks in advance!
How old is this W.R.A. Co. 45-70 cartridge casing?
- Thread starter Iggyks
- Start date
TrashMasterCCS
Elite Member
Based on the primer I would say 1940’s-1950’s
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DaveVanP
New Member
.45-70 came out in 1873, in the middle of the buffalo hunting era, and the cartridge was used for that, its popularity #3, after the .50-70/.50-90 Sharps ("Big Fifty") and the .44-77 Remington. Sharps produced rifles in this caliber after 1875, and the Army used the .45-70 ("Trapdoor Springfield") from 1873 to 1892 (Volunteers and Nat'l Guard until WWI).
"W.R.A." stands for "Winchester Repeating Arms", who also made ammunition, until the ammunition division was bought by Olin Corporation in 1944, and re-branded "Winchester-Western", so your casing should be pre-1944, anyway. The raised center portion leads me to believe it may be a little older, but I don't know when they started making the bases completely flush, as they do now.
"W.R.A." stands for "Winchester Repeating Arms", who also made ammunition, until the ammunition division was bought by Olin Corporation in 1944, and re-branded "Winchester-Western", so your casing should be pre-1944, anyway. The raised center portion leads me to believe it may be a little older, but I don't know when they started making the bases completely flush, as they do now.
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