16 September 2019, 14:26
rabbithabitU.S. Benicia Arsenal 1883 Powder Measure
What was the army doing with powder measures? Did they reload for a shooting team or did they make these and sell them to the public? I don't think they would reload their own cartridges while on campaign. I bought this at an estate sale in Jacksboro, Texas and might have come from Fort Richardson. Did a lot of looking online but haven't found any information yet.
16 September 2019, 19:05
dpcdUsed at the Arsenal for loading cartridges; not in the field. The 45-70 was the Infantry cartridge then and our only enemy was Indians. Which is why we were many years behind Europe in adopting a modern rifle, but that is another thing.
Production of things were not as automated then, as now, even though this was in the height of the Industrial Revolution. I can see rows of girls and young women sitting, making ammo.
Now that I think about it; they might actually have reloaded ammo in Garrison as well. Saving money was big then.
16 September 2019, 22:44
rabbithabitI thought they might have had some type of reloading machine even back then
17 September 2019, 21:29
Bill/OregonTom is right. No doubt it is for reloading .45-70 Government shells for the Springfield. That's a really lovely find.
I have ancestral ties to Jacksboro, and our good friend Lane has very close family ties to it.