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Home of the Old Ammo Guy's Virtual
Cartridge Trading Table Featuring a wide range of antique, obsolete, and modern ammunition for collectors Picture Page April 2009 A close look at the Eley needle gun cartridge.....
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The picture here shows the variations of Eley needle gun cartridges
from my collection. These were used in single shot 'garden' rifles made in
England from the the 1850s through the 1890s. Produced only by Eley
Brothers, these were made in three sizes as shown beginning on the left of
the picture, 110, 90, and 75 bore, which
correspond to .31, .36 and .41 caliber, respectively. These cartridges
have tan or, less often, blue paper cases, usually with an orange or a blue label on the bottom
marked 'ELEY'S NEEDLE GUN
According to Robert Buttweiller, as described
in one of his auction catalogs, 'the Eley needlefire system used a small
pellet of fulminate above a series of
Dimensions of the sectioned 110 Bore cartridge are: bullet - .345" neck - .347" base - .347" case length - .913" overall length - 1.312" bullet weight - 93.5 grains total weight - 119.4 grains Dimensions of the other two conical ball cartridges shown in the first picture are: 90 bore: bullet - .374" neck - .397" base - .398" case length - .971" overall length - 1.285" total weight - 143.5 grains
75 bore: bullet - .413" neck - .419" base - .424" case length - .915" overall length - 1.310" total weight - 176.5 grains
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A box of cartridges for the Ballard rifle.........
This box of ten .40-85-370 cartridges was made by the Union Metallic Cartridge Company between about 1885 and 1900. The label indicates that the cartridges are 'adapted to Ballard Rifles using 40-85 Everlasting shells', however the cartridges themselves don't actually have 'everlasting' shells, as they don't have the thickness at the mouths usually associated with everlasting shells, nor have I ever seen one of the true everlasting shells with a headstamp, other than those sometimes found with the patent date (NOV. 9, 75). These cartridges would have been used in the Ballard No. 5 Pacific Model, the only Ballard I'm aware of that was chambered for the cartridge. The rifle is shown and described on this page from the 1888 catalog of the Marlin Firearms Company.
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Considering that a full box of these cartridges would probably sell for around $300 or more today, they were originally quite reasonably priced, as attested to by this page from the same 1888 Marlin catalog. It lists the .40-85 Ballard cartridge at $50 per 1000, or 50 cents per box of ten.
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A box of Austrian .45 Colt cartridges.....
Here's a box of familiar looking cartridges, these being .45 Colt as made by the Austrian firm Hirtenberger. The generic box and label suggest perhaps a pre-production run of the cartridges, or possibly packaging that was done outside of the factory. The label was produced on a mimeograph machine and reads "25 Stk. REVOLVERPATRONEN Hirtenberger Patronenfabrik Aktiengesellschaft Hirtenberg, Austria". The cartridges appear to be fairly recently made, perhaps 1980s. This company had its start when Joseph Mandl purchased half ownership in Keller & Co, an ammunition factory in Hirtenberg, Austria. The company assumed the Hirtenberger name (Hirtenberger Patronen Zunhutchen und Metallwarenfabrik AG Vormals Keller & Co) in 1897. The Jewish Mandl family fled Austria with the rise in German control over their country in the 1930s, and the company was taken over by the Germans. With the end of World War II, the company was dismantled, and the equipment was taken by the Russians. In 1956, the Mandl family returned and rebuilt the company, and was back in production in 1958 under the name Hirtenberger Patronen Zundhutchen und Metallwarenfabrik AG. Since the late 1980s, the company has changed hands twice, and no longer operates under the Hirtenberger name. . .
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CARTRIDGE', with or without the bore size
included. They will be found loaded with conical bullets, one or two round
balls, or as blanks.
The term 'needle gun' refers to the sharp, needle-like firing pin, which
penetrated the head of the cartridge and struck the priming to ignite the
powder charge. This close up shot of the bullet on the first 75 bore in the
picture above (the one with the case marked '1666') shows the unusual
markings on the bullet - '75 BORE' on one side and '41 BORE' on the other. 
paper, cardboard or felt wads held
together with a light brass wrap. The brass enclosure was seated at the base
of the case, below the powder charge.' This description left me with
more questions than answers regarding how the cartridge was constructed, so
I decided to dissect a duplicate 110 bore that I have. What I found was that
the cartridge consists of a case made of thin sheet brass covered with
paper. This case is folded over at the base leaving a .01" hole in the
center, which is covered on the inside by a thin (.007") disc of brass,
followed by a .07" thick paper wad. What appears to be a shallow flanged
percussion cap with a small ignition hole in its center is seated with its
open side against the wad, followed by the charge of black powder, a .35"
thick paper wad, and the
cast bullet. The top of the wad is cup-shaped to accept the tapered base of
the heeled bullet. A groove at the top of the heel is filled with grease. 
Patented
on November 5, 1861 by Charles A. Ballard, the timing of the introduction of
the Ballard rifle could not have been much better. The Civil War was into
its second year, and the United States Government and the various state's
militias were eager to secure contracts for firearms. It should be noted
that the Ballard rifle was one of the first metallic cartridge firearms to
be successfully marketed in the United States, and there was significant
demand for it, both civilian and military. Total production in the first 12
years is estimated at 24,000, with an about half of these being military
carbines and rifles produced during the war; the largest portion of these
were for the state of Kentucky. Seven different companies manufactured the
Ballard until the end of its production in about 1891, the last of these
being the Marlin Firearms Company, for which the rifle was a good seller, with
about 40,000 produced.
