Paper shells

jmr40 said:
Any input on that.

Also, any idea when these may have been made. The graphics on the box just scream 1950's to me but I don't know.
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A photo of the back of the box would be very helpful. Now Remington plastic Power Piston wads came to Wisconsin in 1965 and some people say they advertised them as early as 1963. Olin Mathiesen merger was 1954. the back of the box would tells us a lot more. You should photo the top of a shell and see if it is rolled or star crimp. Also look closely on all sides inside and out for patents and any dates. Stores and distributors some times dated the boxes on their flaps.
 
Bull Nutria said:
Rem came out with plastic shellsabout 1963 I was 12. I hung around a discount store that sold hunting and fishing gear. I was gifted a old fox 20ga SxS. I bought a box of Win "Mark 5" shells. A short time later there was a glass gallon jar filled with Rem plastic shells under water on the counter. I ask the clerk, who i was friends with, if i could exchange my mark 5s for the Rem plastic with the "power piston" .The clerk did exchange the shells. I WAS A VERY Happy 12yr old!!

BULL
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I was using Remington plastic 16 ga before 1963. Probably after 1959.
 
PapaG said:
Best smelling empties are Federal papers.
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The smell of fired paper shells is what I miss most ... plastic shells just ain't right !

Paper shells were loaded for a lot of small hardware stores , Sears & Roebuck and Westen Auto even Montgomery Wards ...cheaper store brands ...
I remember buying paper 12 , 20 and .410 shells from these places untill the early 1970's at least !
I still a few boxes stashed away !
When you a Pack-Rat you hang on to that kinda stuff !
Gary
 
jmr40 said:
When I 1st started hunting back in the early 70's dad had a partial box of paper 12 ga shells that I just assumed he had had forever. I always thought they went to plastic after or during WW-2. But doing some research it seems they made them into the 1960's. Any input on that.
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Yeppers, I obviously have a few years on you because I started bird hunting in the early '60s, and I remember paper shotgun shells. If fact, I seem to recall there was something about the "new" plastic shotgun shells that reloaders back then didn't like. I've never reloaded shotgun shells though, so I don't know for sure about that. :)
 
They never stopped making them. They fell out of popularity for hunting, but some Trap shooters have been shooting paper hulled loads the whole time.
 
When I was a young lad in the late 90's, grandad gave me an old LC Smith hammer 10 gauge. We had a few shells for it, but that was also during a time that I could walk down to Lamb's store and Mr. Lamb (who was also the high school principal) would sell me 5 old Winchester New Rival paper 2&7/8ths 10 gauge shells for a quarter. I always tried to get 10 if I could, but sometimes I only got two; times were hard for us then. I traded that gun off later for something a bit more modern, but still remember the smell of those old paper shells. Later on in life, after I married, my grandad gifted me his guns: a Winchester M37 single shot 16 gauge and a New Haven 251 automatic 22, and I used them quite a bit until I got some better ones. Now they don't get out much. Fast forward a few years later and the old man passed on. While we were cleaning out the house, I got his hand-made gun rack along with his ammo, which consisted of 2 boxes of Remington Thunderbolt 22lrs and three quarters of a box of Winchester 2&9/16ths paper 16 gauge shells. The guns, ammo, and rack all reside in my gun room now. Every once in a while, I take the old Winchester out and pop off a paper shell at a varmint in the Old Man's honor; or maybe just for the smell of burnt powder and paper.

Mac
 
I cannot verify it. But I distinctly recall paper shells in the 60s and buying them for both dove and duck hunting.
 
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