FRANKFORD ARSENAL .45 CALIBER
AMMUNITION PACKET FOR THE MODEL 1873 COLT ARMY AND THE
MODEL 1875 SCHOFIELD SMITH AND WESSON REVOLVERS – DATED
1875 - AN EXCELLENT UNOPENED SCARCE PACKET:
Dated 1875, this Frankford Arsenal packet of the
shortened .45 caliber pistol ammunition intended for use
in both the Colt Model 1873 and Smith & Wesson Model
1875 Schofield Revolvers. Of particular note, this
packet was one of those manufactured in the first
year of the production of this shorter cartridge,
commensurate with the first year of issue of the Smith
and Wesson
Model 1875
Schofield Revolver.
This packet
contains the shorter internally primed cartridge,
reduced in length from the original longer .45 pistol
cartridge that had been introduced with the Model 1873
Colt Army, in order to accommodate the shorter cylinder
of the .45 caliber Schofield. The shortened cartridge,
which would function in both pistols, simplified the
manufacture, supply and issue requirements of the
frontier army.
This packet is in excellent
condition, still sealed and with the pull string still
intact. The label is complete and fully legible, the
edges of the packet are sharp, all of the seams are
intact, and the packet is very solid.
Issued during the height of the
Indian Wars on the Northern Plains, and across Texas,
New Mexico, and Arizona, these packets replaced the
supplies of longer pistol cartridges then in inventory.
As the campaigns and contact with the hostiles
increased, so did the demand for ammunition from the
field, resulting in a low survival rate of these early
1875 dated packets. As difficult to find as the 1874
dated packets for the Colt Pistol, this packet will be
an important addition to your Indian War display or an
ammunition or revolver collection, as an example of the
development of ammunition for the Frontier Army.
(0517) $850
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