A friend showed me a very old rimfire cartridge case he found while out hunting this year. It is an old soft case which appears to be made of copper rather than brass.The base much thinner than a modern one and is somewhat bulged on the face of the base. The base is marked with a double strike on the rim which appears to have been made with a double firing pin as the marks are 180 degrees apart. There is no headstamp visible.The case mouth is approximately .32 inch diameter and about an inch to an inch and a quarter in length.Sorry but it was a about a month since I was shown it so my estimates may be off. I seem to recall some mention of a double firing pin but have forgotten the name of the firm that produced such a beast. Any help in identification?

I believe I saw a special on little bighorn battle field (thanks tivo) where they showed the henry rifle as having two firing pins 180 degrees apart.

The only 32 of that case length would be the 32 extra long - 1.15" case. Introduced in the 1870s and no longer available after WWI.Can't help with the double pins.

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Originally posted by jb:
I believe I saw a special on little bighorn battle field (thanks tivo) where they showed the henry rifle as having two firing pins 180 degrees apart.

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Jb, you are correct they do have a double firing pin on the Henery and the 1866!

I believe that they were able to identify the Indian ammo from the multiple striker marks due to reloading.

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Originally posted by parryj:
I believe that they were able to identify the Indian ammo from the multiple striker marks due to reloading.

Only the Indians used the 44 Henry ammo. The soldiers used 45 carbine and revolver ammo. I think you might be talking about the 44 cases that were found with multiple strikes. The Indians would never throw a way a cartridge just because it mis-fired. They would try again and again until it did. Also, the 44 is a rim-fire and is not reloadable.

Actually, any case from a round fired in a Henry is going to have dual firing pin marks because the Henry had a dual firing pin. For true, it was a flat 'pin' with a slot in the center that stuck the rim at both sides. I have been told the rimfire priming compound of the period was far from dependable and this was an effort to insure more positive ignition.