UMC and Early Remington-UMC Primers

[d'Artagnan]

UMC and Early Remington-UMC primers

1. UMC

1.1 UMC tins
The chronology of UMC tins, from oldest to newest, is (1) paper label-topped tins, usually referencing patents, prior to 1884; (2) enamel-topped tins referencing the Hobbs' 1876 and 1869 patents and (3) enamel-topped tins without reference to Hobbs patents, from about 1883 to 1900; and finally (4) raised lettering brass top from about 1900 to 1908. Because of the seemingly endless variations of fonts (with and without serifs), U.M.C. logos in or without of cartouches; and my small number of examples, I really can't break it down further at this time. Nor did the entire line changeover to enameled tins at one time. Pictured is a paper label-topped No. 00 tin probably only made in 1887 and an enamel-topped tin for Wesson No. 2 primers, which transitioned to just No. 2 primers -- dropping the Wesson designation -- by 1884, making the tin before 1884.

Also worth mentioning is the entry in Remington's 1877 catalog of Remington No.1 and No.2 primers, whose existence I have no other evidence for.

1.1.1 UMC Paper Label-topped tins

Pre-1884: In the beginning there were Wesson primers.





Above are two UMC 250-count Wesson (Hobbs' 1876 patent, top contained primers with cruciform 4-leg anvil) primer tins. According to UMC catalogs; between 1882 and 1884 their Wesson, Wesson No.1, Wesson No. 2, and Wesson No. 2 brass primers for S&W 32 & 38 cal evolved -- dropping the Wesson designation -- into UMC's No. 0, No. 1, No. 1 1/2, No. 2, and No. 2 1/2 primers with Hobbs' earlier 1869 patent anvil. Wesson No. 2 brass primers for S&W 32 and 38 cal became UMC's No. 2 1/2 brass primers, so its not a great leap to presume that UMC's No. 1 1/2 primers are the brass version of their Wesson No. 1 primers. Worth noting and reinforcing here -- because its counter-intuitive -- is that UMC tins with Hobbs 1876 patent date PREDATE those with Hobbs 1869 patent date.





A paper-label topped 500-count No. 00 (itty bitty) primers tin (top), a possibly enamel-topped -- I really can't tell -- tin of same (lower left), and a presumably early enameled top 250-count Wesson No. 2 primers tin (lower right). No. 00 primers were advertised only in UMC's 1887 catalog, so were presumably only made around that time, and used only in its 22 Extra Long centerfire cartridge. UMC catalogs do not mention a 500-count tin of any of their primers. UMC's Wesson primers disappear from its catalogs between 1882 and 1884 so this enamel-topped tin is presumably pre-1884, making the introduction of UMC enamel-topped tins pre-1884.



UMC 250-count Orcutt primers tin. Advertised in UMC catalogs from 1880 to 1909, 1874 patent reference obviously makes it post-1873.



The above tin's label doesn't even mention the Union Metallic Cartridge Company but does mention Hobbs' 1869 primer patent used by UMC beginning between 1882 and 1884. Someone wrote "Berdan" between 250 and Waterproof Primers, and the tin does, indeed, contain Berdan primers. Also interesting is that Hobbs' 1869 patent is for the anvil of a Boxer primer, which begs the question "what relevance does referring to that patent have on a tin of Berdan primers?"

1.1.2 UMC Enameled tins



Because this enameled tin refers to Hobbs' 1869 anvil patent, like previous paper-labeled tins, I presume its from the early portion of the enameled tin era. Later enameled tins dropped reference to Hobbs patent. Although Hobbs' patent is for primer anvils, this tin contains Berdan primers, and does not indicate the primer count. UMC introduced Berdan 1 1/2 primers "for metallic shot shells" in their 1884 catalog; previously they advertised only Berdan No. 1 and Berdan No. 2 primers.



Older enameled No. 2 and No. 2 1/2 primer tins referencing Hobbs' 1869 patent (below) and the presumably newer examples of the same without the reference to Hobbs' patent (above).



UMC 250-count No. 3 shot shell primer tins, one adapted to "all NITRO', the other adapted to "SCHULTZE" powders. I really can't tell from the catalogs which is older but I speculate it's the "SCHULTZE" tin. No.3 primers were introduced in UMC's 1892 catalog, and last advertised in their 1907 catalog.



UMC's No. 5 and No. 6 1/2 primers were introduced in their 1895 catalog.

1.1.3 UMC Raised Lettering Brass tins

I cannot date UMC raised-letter brass tins, but UMC's competitors Peters Cartridge Company and Union Cap and Chemical Company (set up by the Western Cartridge Company) packaged their primers in similar tins from 1901 to 1908.









1.2 UMC boxes

1.2.1 Green Labels

At some point, UMC's primer packaging transitioned from tins to boxes. There are a seemingly endless number of UMC box label variations, like U.M.C. in cartouche/two U.M.C. in cartouches/U.M.C. without cartouche, but I want to emphasize two things: first, UMC primers adapted for black powder cartridges have green labels:





and those adapted to smokeless powders have red labels.

1.2.2 Red Labels











It is also worth noting here that while UMC used the green label/black powder, red label/smokeless powder convention, UMC's competitor Winchester Repeating Arms used the opposite: red label/black powder, green label/smokeless powder convention.

Second, UMC's copper primers are numbered with whole numbers -- 1, 2, 3, 6, 8, 9, 33 -- and their brass primers are 1/2 numbers -- 1 1/2, 2 1/2, 6 1/2, 7 1/2, 8 1/2, 9 1/2. Both these UMC conventions transitioned into the Remington-UMC primer line.

 

[iH8DemLibz]

VERY COOL!!!

 

[d'Artagnan]

2. Remington-UMC

The changeover from U.M.C. to Remington-UMC -- generally considered to be 1911 -- did not occur on a given day nor even in a given year. UMC and Remington -- both located in Bridgeport, Conn. -- issued joint catalogs starting in 1908. Their 1910 joint catalog noted that the companies had the "SAME OWNERSHIP" and "SAME MANAGEMENT". The introduction of the REM-UMC headstamps took place gradually and early REM-UMC headstamped cartridges are routinely found with "U" (for UMC) stamped primers; copper, brass, and nickeled. Their 1923 catalog still illustrated the 7mm Mauser with UMC 7M/M headstamp when all the other centerfire cartridge cases were headstamped REM-UMC, although many of those REM-UMC cartridges were still illustrated with "U" stamped primers.

The chronology of the company names, as printed on the labels, oldest to newest, was:
The Remington Arms Union Metallic Cartridge Company, early 1911 to early 1916,
Remington Arms-Union Metallic Cartridge Company, early 1916 to mid-1920, and
Remington Arms Company, Inc., after mid-1920,
in a cresent; and, finally,
Remington Arms Company, Inc.
horizontally.
Other indicators of chronology are nickeled primers introduced between 1917 and 1921, and the introduction of non-corrosive primers in 1926. Some boxes also have lot numbers in at least three different formats -- none of which I've equated -- but noted for future reference.

2.1 Green Label Boxes

Continuing UMC's green label/black powder and red label/smokeless powder convention, Remington-UMC primers originally adapted to black powder were packaged with green labels.



Top right lot number 51 (???) 3



LOT M928A3 (top left), LOT B1682 SE3 (top right).



Lot numbers NK14W (top right) and 70NK (bottom).

2.2 Red Label boxes



LOT I5 K2 (top)



Lot number K 23 K (top), 2322 D2 (bottom), another similar to the bottom (but not pictured) 2606 D3.



Lot L 26 E



LOT 31 E1 (top) and ?I?R 43 SF3 (bottom).



Lot numbers 2317 E1 (top) and 185 232 (bottom)



Lot numbers P 25 K (left) and (?) 7 B (?) (right).



Bizarrely, the top No. 9 1/2 Nickeled Primers are labeled (non-mercuric) and overstamped NON-CORROSIVE, compared to the bottom box labeled both non-mercuric and non-corrosive. Lot numbers NK16W (top) and illegible (bottom).



Bottom lot number L 2 L.

 

[Arloe]

This is my first post. Yes, I'm 8 years late to the party.

Attached is an ad from October 30, 1884 on the front page of American Field. It specifically references "Wesson Primers No. 2" for all paper shotshells. Apparently, although the original poster noted that "Wesson Primer" references were omitted in the 1884 catalog and subsequently, UMC still touted them in advertising at least as late as the fall of that year.

 

[outrider58]

This is my first post. Yes, I'm 8 years late to the party.

Attached is an ad from October 30, 1884 on the front page of American Field. It specifically references "Wesson Primers No. 2" for all paper shotshells. Apparently, although the original poster noted that "Wesson Primer" references were omitted in the 1884 catalog and subsequently, UMC still touted them in advertising at least as late as the fall of that year.

For a new guy, you've certainly figured out the Search function better that 99.999999999999~% of the others here.

 

[d'Artagnan]

Nice catch. I'll edit my dates when I get around to redoing the thread. A few others to add are that the UMC/Remington-UMC ammuntion started to carry lot numbers indicating year in 1908. I have UMC 7mm Mauser boxes from 1909 and 1911, and two boxes without lot number indicating pre-1908. By the way, I reload those cases. And a 9mm Luger box from 1926. The later boxes of Remington UMC primers should also have dateable lot numers.

 

[Arloe]

I'm a brand newbie on this forum. I had this thread bookmarked for a long time for reference, reread it last week, and then remembered my UMC ad. I joined the forum to make the post. Glad to add to your very fine discussion.

I reload a lot of 38 S&W Specials and about five years ago I bought a lot of 1000 pieces of brass, presumably swept off an indoor range floor. There were a bunch of REM-UMC headstamps with the small lettering that should be from the 1920s. I don't know how many times they were reloaded in the past 95 or so years before I got them, but I've reloaded them a few more times and they are ready for more.

Anyway, thanks for responding and for your diligent posts.