My son has a Winchester brass 10 ga. case we are trying to date. Rather than the usual roll style crimp this case mouth is formed into multiple prongs which are closed over the over-shot wad. I have never seen one like it. I can e-mail some photos if anyone is interested, or post them if I can figure out how.
C.G.B.

Headstamp? Is it heavier or lighter than usual? Might be a military loading for a use other than shotguns. I have some specimens which are minesweeping cartridges with that closure, but they are smaller, more like about 28 gauge.

If you can supply more details about the headstamp , and also the topwad markings I'm sure we can come up with an id for you . Many of these shells were sold as primed mts for future reloading , so yours may well be someones home load .If you are able to send photos that would help , either to this forum or to me at my e-mail address.
As Mr Iconoclast rightly points out the uses for shotshells are many and varied!

This looks like a factory loading.
Top wad: 'Smokeless'
4
0 Buck
Head: WINCHESTER No.(o underlined) 10
Primer (looks like brass) W(underlined)

Good info guys - my referance tells me that Winchester first marketed loaded brass shells in their 1934 Price List , although empty brass cases had been available since 1877 in a variety of gauges from 4 ga to .58 calibre.
I can't date your shell exactly save that it was made post 1934 , was a commercially loaded specimen but likely not a military load .
Hope thats of some use , there will no doubt be Winchester specialists with more information than that but I am not one of them.cheers.

Thanks for the info. Surprised it is that 'new'. I had a box of their military 12 ga. brass for a while. They issued this stuff as late as Viet Nam.
C.G.B.

To the best of my limited knowledge of shotshells, the pronged closure you described is not standard for commercial shells. I still lean toward some sort of unusual special purpose military loading, especially given muzza's data on factory loaded brass 10ga shells; all the exotic bases / closures in metallic shotshells which I've seen or of which I've heard were pre-1900. There have been a host of adaptions of various standard cartridges - the 28 and 12 gauge mortar ignition rounds, .38 Spl seat ejector or booby trap acutators, to name only a few of the most common.

I doubt like heck any handloader could or would go to the bother of cutting nice even half diamond patterns in the mouth of a brass case when it would be far easier (and was a common practice) to seal the mouth with a thin coat of lacquer.

One slim other possibility - maybe law enforcement.

Mr Iconoclast is probably correct in his assumption on a military specialist loading for this shell . I have little information on military loads outside of hacley Woodin and Scrantons tome on the subject , and they dont offer much in ten gauge either .
So - probably military , unusual finger type crimp closure , very interesting cartridge . Cheers.mds

Apologies to Mr Hackley for butchering the spelling of his name.