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WINCHESTER “BEAR HEAD”
PLATE ON A MILLS .44 CALIBER LOOPED CARTRIDGE BELT –
EXCELLENT SPECIMEN OF A RARE BELT SET:
Certainly the most popular of the Mills Woven Cartridge
Belts made for the civilian market; these “Bear Head”
Winchester Looped Cartridge Belts are well known and
highly valued by collectors today. Patented in 1881,
and assigned to the Winchester Repeating Arms Company by
the designer
Thomas G. Bennett, the Bear Head plate
was one of the first designs of the unique series of
plates for the famous Mills cartridge belts. Although
not selected for use by the US Army, this plate with its
distinctive design was apparently quite popular. These
plate and belt combinations saw wide use on the American
Frontier, and as a result are most often encountered
today in heavily used and worn condition. The condition
of both the Bear Head plate and the belt, and that the
belt was made for .44 caliber cartridges, makes this set
a particularly rare offering.
The Mills Woven Belt
Company must have made these .44 caliber Looped Pistol
Cartridge Belts in some quantity for sale to their
civilian customers, however today they are one of the
rarest of the Mills Woven Looped Cartridge Belts.
Certainly far less common than the Mills .38 caliber
pistol cartridge belts, .44 and .45 caliber belts come
to light at an estimated rate of one in either caliber
for probably every 100 .38 caliber belts, perhaps less
frequently than that.
The cartridge loops on this
belt were woven to accept a .44 caliber cartridge, which
will accommodate a number of different cartridges, such
as the .44-40 & .38-40 Winchester cartridges, as well as
the variety of .44 caliber pistol cartridges such as .44
Colt, .44 S&W American and Russian, and the .44 Merwin &
Hulbert. Of special note, these loops will also accept
the .44 Henry cartridges used in the Henry and
Winchester Model 1866 rifles and carbines, so this belt
would have been appropriate for those men in the West
who continued to carry those early lever guns.
These Winchester “Bear
Head” Belt Plates were made in two sizes – the plate on
this belt is 3” high (top to bottom), and a shorter
version which measured 2 ˝” high. (For a view of the
shorter plate, click
here.) The
generally accepted premise has been that this taller
plate – the one on this belt – was intended for use on
the wider rifle cartridge belts, and the shorter, 2 ˝”
tall plates were intended for use on a narrower pistol
cartridge belt. Until recently, I accepted that premise
as fact until I came into possession of an example of
each plate at the same time and was able to compare the
dimensions of the two, providing yet another lesson in
my ongoing education regarding these antique
accoutrements.
Despite the difference in
the overall dimensions, the slots in all four components
– both plates and their respective matching catches –
were sized to accept only the narrow “pistol” cartridge
belts. The slots in the taller plate are 2 ˝” wide, and
the slots in the smaller plate are right at 2 3/8” wide,
in both cases just large enough to
accept a belt with a
maximum width of 2 ˝”. After reviewing the available
references on the subject, apparently none of the Bear
Head plates were produced which would accept a 3" wide
belt; rather it was just the overall height of the belt
plate which was different.
The
history of the cloth looped cartridge belts may explain
the narrow belt slots in these Winchester Bear Plates.
The first canvas looped cartridge belts were relatively
narrow, and the army complained that the longer .45-70
cartridges protruded from the bottom of the cartridge
loops which caused the lead bullet to leave marks on the
soldiers’ uniform. The solution was easy enough – the
belts were widened to shield the bullet and protect the
uniform. By the time Mills introduced his woven
cartridge belts for the army, the standard width for a
rifle cartridge belt was established at 3”, and the
pistol cartridge belts were nominally 2 ˝” wide in order
that the shorter pistol cartridges not be swallowed by
the longer rifle cartridge loops.
This
arrangement satisfied the army’s requirements, however
the civilian market had different considerations. At
the time these Bear Head Plates were designed,
Winchester was concentrated on marketing their Model
1866 and 1873 Winchesters, and the .44 RF, .44-40 and
.38-40 cartridges the company produced. The longer
cartridges in .45 and larger calibers which would come
along for the Models 1876 and 1886 Winchesters would be
accommodated by belts with larger diameter loops, but it
is unlikely that whether or not the bullets would mark
civilian clothing was a primary consideration in the
offices of the company. Winchester produced one belt
plate design which would accept one width of belt, and
that plate, paired with a narrow belt with appropriately
sized cartridge loops to meet the customers’ needs, was
what they offered. Given the variables of the
permutations of calibers and cartridge lengths, this was
quite likely a very smart marketing decision.
So,
why are there two sizes of these plates? The taller
plate was the design shown in the original patent
diagram, so I think it safe to assume that the taller
plate was the first pattern. I have not been able to
determine when the shorter plate was introduced, but at
some point the decision was made to eliminate the
unnecessary height of the plate. Whether because the
edges of the plate protruding from the top and bottom
edge of the belt was uncomfortable for the wearer, or as
an economic move to reduce the cost of materials, it is
my opinion that the shorter Bear Plate was a second
version.
This Winchester Bear Head
Cartridge Belt Plate is in as close to “like new”
condition as you are likely to find. The belt plate and
catch – made of brass and plated in nickel – retain all
of the original nickel plating with none of the wear or
loss of plating normally seen on these sets. The face
of the plate has only the most minor of blemishes. The
Bear Head stamping and the surrounding border are both
very legible and distinct. The matching catch retains
the Winchester manufacturing and patent data, all of
which is legible and complete.
The Mills Woven Looped
Cartridge Belt is likewise in excellent lightly used
condition, being full length with all 45 of the .44
caliber cartridge loops present and intact. The light
colored canvas binding is present on both ends of the
belt and while the binding shows some wear, it is still
in place and the ends of the belt body have not raveled
or frayed. The belt itself is woven in what Mills
identified as "stone" color – a shade of tan, with three
light red lines running longitudinally through the
loops. A few of the cartridge loops show some very
minor wear on the edges, evidence that this belt was
worn and used, but the integrity of the belt and loops
is not affected.
The woven pistol belts made
for use by the military featured sets of grommets for
attaching the wire holster and sabre hangers. This belt
has none of those grommets, indicating it was intended
for sale on the commercial civilian market and is
appropriate for this Winchester belt plate.
In addition to being a rare pairing, the condition of
this specimen is notable, as so many of these Winchester
belts are found with frayed, torn or missing cartridge
loops and the plate with most of its nickel plating worn
away. The quality of this Winchester Bear Head Plate
and Mills Cartridge Belt set would nicely compliment a
fine Frontier related revolver or rifle. (0714) $1650
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