Rough Year Of A Rifle Shell?

[Gold Seeker]

Not sure how accurate this info for this auction was but it dates that cartridge at 1883.

"This auction is for a raised letter headstamp E. Remington& Sons  44-90 Remington Special Bottle Necked 2-7/16" cartridge with a paper-patched inside Lubricated 550 grain lead Bullet.  The 44-90 was introduced as a match cartridge in 1883 for the Remington Rolling Block Creedmoor."

https://www.gunbroker.com/item/930752746

[Gold Seeker]

Also found this on .44-90 cartridges..

An accurate case length will tell you which .44-90 casing it is.

"Apparently there is more than one .44/90 cartridge according to the 8th edition of 'Cartridges of the World'.

Both are bottle neck cases; .44/90 Remington Special, case length 2 7/16" made for the Remington rolling block 'Creedmore' Series about 1873.

.44/90 Sharps Necked, case length 2 5/8" made for the Sharps 'Creedmore' Series and listed in catalogue as early as June 1873.

The SPG Reloading Handbook lists the Sharps cartridge; boolit diam. .446" approx 414 grains in weight 1/40 tin/lead.
90 grains FFg; Federal 215 LRM Primer, .030" card wad and 3.30" oal."

 

https://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?15598-44-90

[JCR]

I think I would get a new case to reload.😁

[jasong]

Back home again, measured the shell and it's actually 2 1/4", looks like the same round and for a Sharp's still though, .44-90 so that's the one.

This area was frequented by buffalo hunters and the time era makes sense. So I'm guessing that's probably what it was from as the era seems to fit in there somewhere. Land of Butch Cassidy, Buffalo Bill Cody and even some of the "Deadwood" names like Wild Bill Hickok made it out here too, all in that general time frame.

Seems likely this was a stray round and not from a prospector now that it's been ID'ed though. Maybe just coincidence it was in a gold bearing area, as it seems like an unlikely round for a prospector to be carrying around for general use.

[Gold Seeker]

Being the casing length is 2 1/4" it would be a .44-77 cartridge, still for a Sharps rifle and mostly used for buffalo hunting and target practice.

It was the most popular cartridge for the Sharps Models 1869 and 1874, up until the introduction of the .45-70 which took over in 1876, but that caliber would of still been used for a long time after that by those who still own the previous models 44-77 Sharps rifles. 

http://www.thegunmag.com/the-colorful-history-of-the-44-77-sharps/

It's still possible that a prospector had a Sharps rifle for protection from bears if in bear country, or for hunting to feed himself.

[jasong]

Dang, you got some Google-fu going, thanks. That actually pins the date down pretty accurately for me. It looks like the closest forts were built in the early 1870's so the time span makes sense. 

I appreciate all the help, I learned quite a lot here. This means that it's likely someone - prospector or otherwise - at least knew about this area fairly early on, even though it seems to have escaped almost any mention in history until the 1900's. 

Found this too a few miles away, some kind of massive knife or something, never found one this big, and it appears to be only half of it, must have been the size of a football almost originally. Guessing it was for scraping buffalo hide or something. Or an axe head?

[Doc Bach]

1 hour ago, jasong said:

Dang, you got some Google-fu going, thanks. That actually pins the date down pretty accurately for me. It looks like the closest forts were built in the early 1870's so the time span makes sense. 

I appreciate all the help, I learned quite a lot here. This means that it's likely someone - prospector or otherwise - at least knew about this area fairly early on, even though it seems to have escaped almost any mention in history until the 1900's. 

Found this too a few miles away, some kind of massive knife or something, never found one this big, and it appears to be only half of it, must have been the size of a football almost originally. Guessing it was for scraping buffalo hide or something. Or an axe head?

That is a very nice artifact! possibly an ax or adze for wood working it could also qualify as being a hoe head and or spade bit and was most likely hafted to a stout wooden handle.

[strick]

Buffalo hide scraper good find 

strick

[Doc Bach]

28 minutes ago, strick said:

Buffalo hide scraper good find 

strick

Perhaps? However every hide scraper no matter the size or material that I have ever personally found or seen and that numbers in the thousands has a worked and flaked edge on the base not what appears to be ground and polished? To be fair though the purpose and usaage of a lot of these ancient tools is based purely on ones opinion and imagination.

[strick]

9 hours ago, Doc Bach said:

To be fair though the purpose and usaage of a lot of these ancient tools is based purely on ones opinion and imagination.

Yep exactly which is why I’m making it a buffalo hide scraper...I will also add that it was once lashed to a wood handle and used for very aggressive buffalo hide scraping. 

Strick