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THE CARTRIDGE COLLECTOR'S EXCHANGE |
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Home of the Old Ammo Guy's Virtual
Cartridge Trading Table
Picture Page August 2017 Please note: Unless otherwise indicated, the pictures on this web site are my property, and should not be used by anyone without crediting the source. Paradox Shotgun Shells (& their Pretenders), Part 3..... Not to be outdone by their gun-making competitors at
Holland & Holland, Westley Richards introduced their own versions of the
Paradox guns and
The two Westley
Richards cartridges shown here are a brass-hulled 12 gauge Super Magnum
Explora on the
The Wesley Richards Explora, Super Magnum Explora, and Fauneta double barrel guns utilized rifling at their muzzles like Holland's Paradox gun. The Explora was chambered for a cartridge loaded in a 2 1/2" shell; the Super Magnum Explora was chambered for a 2 3/4" shell with a heavier charge. Boxes of the Super Magnum cartridges included a warning on the labels stating 'These Super Magnum cartridges must not be used in the Explora gun', suggesting that the 2 3/4" magnum cartridges would chamber in the Explora. An advertisement for the Explora cartridges is shown below. Note that the ad indicates that the groove or cannelure (the punch marks around the case mouth) holds the bullet in the case and prevents the the Super Magnum Explora cartridge from being mistaken for the ordinary Explora cartridge. An advertisement for the Fauneta shell is also shown below.
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These two 8 gauge 'Paradox-like' cartridges were made by H. Utendorffer or Nurnberg, Germany/
The H. (Heinricht) Utendoerffer ammunition manufacturing company was formed in 1856. In 1889, Utendoerffer was taken over by RWS, but the 'H. Utendoerffer' head stamp continued to be used into the 1920s.
The cartridge
shown on
the left has a steel capped, grooved lead bullet with a pin-like nose
projection that is an integral part of the steel cap rather than a
separate piece projecting through the nose of the cap. The cartridge on the
right is thought to have an explosive bullet. The description of a similar
cartridge listed in a 1999 Robert T. Buttweiler collector's ammunition auctions describes
the bullet as being 'made with a large internal brass chamber which is
closed at the base with a screw-plug. There is a long, pointed steel
arrow-like rod whose back-end rests inside a small recess on the inside face
of the rear screw-plug. It seems that this is an early "EXPLOSIVE" BULLET
Both cartridges have the head stamp shown here. .
. . . Sources: Explora advertisement: IAA Journal, Issue 481, Sept/Oct 2011, pg 38, Jim Buchanan. Fauneta advertisement: The History and Development of Small Arms Ammunition, Vol 3, George Hoyem, Armory Publications, 1985 General information on H. Utendoerffer: European Sporting Cartridges, W. B. Dixon, Armory Publications, 1997 H. Utendoerffer 'explosive bullet information: Robert T. Buttweiler's Volume XII, Number 3 Collector's Ammunition, March 20, 1999, Lot 704. .
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cartridges
and named them the Explora and the Fauneta. These cartridges
utilized
a lead bullet with an attached cone-shaped hollow brass cap, as shown in the
sectioned bullet to the right. This bullet, referred to as the L.T. pointed
bullet, was patented by Lesley Taylor. The patent was assigned to Westley
Richards, the long-time employer of Mr. Taylor. The brass caps on the
bullets were marked boldly around their lower circumferences 'WESTLEY
RICHARDS' with the appropriate British patent number. 
left
and a red paper-hulled 20 gauge Fauneta on the right. The Explora cartridge
with it's proprietary 'Westley Richards' head stamp, was probably made by
Eley or Kynoch in the early 1920s. The Fauneta cartridge has the ELEY NOBEL
head stamp that was in use from 1924 to 1927. 
design.
The internal chamber would be filled with powder, and a cap placed on the
end of the rod, resting in the rear plug. Upon impact the rod
would drive against the cap, crushing it against the rear plug to ignite the
powder.' 