“FRANKFORD ARSENAL SCHOFIELD RELOADING TOOLS”

[BMur]

Historically Accurate

Ok,
I changed my mind. Just to put this issue once and for all to rest. This is not a 30-40 Krag case holder.

I decided to clean and size the original circa 1884 Schofield 45
Case and sized it to .480 base diameter. Which is actually a little oversized for the original case diameter.

Look closely at the photos. The case is not a good fit in the tool. It is a “perfect fit” in the tool. The 30-40 Krag head is too big for this case holder. It is now 100% clearly proven to be a case holder for the 45 Schofield/ Colt original case as seen holding perfectly a circa 1884 original dug up 45 cal case. Literally 2 years after this tool was introduced. It doesn’t get better than this example.
If you still can’t see it? I can’t help you.

Murph

 

[BMur]

Frankford Arsenal 1897 Report

I’m researching Frankford Arsenal yearly reports from the Chief of Ordnance.

According to the 1897 Report the Frankford Arsenal manufactured and issued the following;

45 cal ball rounds: Manufactured; 4,509,598. Issued; 1,082,500

Small Arms primers: Manufactured; 2,000,000. Issued; 1,584,700


So they actually issued more primers in 1897 than rounds of 45 cal pistol ball ammo.

That’s a lot of reloading!!!

Murph

 

[Patbar]

Patbar,
The Military's first reloadable cartridge was based on the Gill patent anvil primer of 1879. That primer was pressed into an outside primed case.
.............................................................
Murph

Thanks for your infos, Murph. So, If I understand what you wrote, your tool was designed for outside primed cases and not for inside ones like Benet's.

 

[BMur]

Inside primed

Thanks for your infos, Murph. So, If I understand what you wrote, your tool was designed for outside primed cases and not for inside ones like Benet's.

Patbar,
That’s correct. I’m not aware of any tools manufactured at that time for reloading the inside primed cartridge. The U.S. military did not consider it a reloadable case.

Murph

 

[Thuer]

Thanks learned a lot. But do not forgett the Colt Thuer conversion. That was his own reloading tool.

 

[BMur]

Early conversion

See attachments.

The U.S. Army experimented with this early centerfire and found it to be unreliable ignition and cumbersome to load and unload. It was never adopted. The first reliable and reloadable centerfire “outside primed” design incorporated an anvil to basically reduce the occurrence of miss-fire enough to gain Army Ordnance approval after rigorous testing and documentation. That didn’t happen until 1879 with the approved Gill patent design that I posted.
If you read the early Chief of Army ordnance reports, they experiment and evaluate constantly and from every angle prior to eventually approving a proven reliable design. Usually years of testing prior to general approval.

Murph

 

[BMur]

Conclusion

I’ve concluded my research on the early “hand and bench” Frankford Arsenal issued reloading tools.

Results;

The hand loading tools in complete kits were actually introduced and issued by the Frankford Arsenal beginning in 1879.

The bench reloading tools were manufactured at the Frankford Arsenal and shipped in crates, (See photo) to the various forts beginning in 1883. Only minor changes and additions were made to the bench loading tools throughout production.

Reloading was basically routine at the forts and the basic excepted case survival rate was 10 times each case could be reloaded minimum before case failure would occur.

Murph

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

Thanks for sharing your efforts and entertaining us for the last 18 days!

I have enjoyed the exploration of all the ideas. One last question. How did the accuracy of the reloads compare to the factory ammo of the times?

Ivan

 

[BMur]

Accuracy of reloads

Ivan,

The Frankford Arsenal initially issued 50 kits in early 1879. Those kits were sent to various Forts in the Eastern and Southern States to receive feedback I’ve read letters from the following:

Fort Monroe, Va.
Fort McHenry, Me.
Fort McHarvey, Mo.
Fort Trumbull, Conn.
Fort Wadsworth
Fort Ontario
Fort Adams
Fort Columbus
Fort Barraucus, Florida
Little Rock,Ark
Plattsburgh
Etc

Feedback varied based on the capacity of the troops at each Fort to operate the newly designed tools and cartridges. It was all new to them at that time.

Here is an excerpt from the most competent report:

June 9, 1879
From Capt. W. Randolph
Fort Monroe, Va.

1000 rounds were loaded and fired using 600 shells, refilling them sometimes as often as five times.
I find that they shot accurately and are easily refilled.

There were a lot of complaints documented regarding flaws in the early tools that were corrected with later production kits from The Frankford Arsenal based on feedback.

I also clearly documented yearly “replacement parts” that were manufactured for the reloading tools and the bench loading tools as early as 1888. So it was a constant and continual re-supply over a 25 year period found in what remains of the partial Military records.

They were reloading at such a high volume that parts and equipment were breaking down. I really learned a lot from this research and had no idea how much reloading the Army accomplished beginning in 1879! Many millions of rounds were reloaded during that time.

Which really translates to learning the skill in the Military and those that got out and wandered the frontier took that skill with them. Amazing stuff. Not like the movies that’s for sure.

Also and lastly, the real problem was case life. Clearly documented in the records is a breakdown of copper cases, primers becoming inert in as little as 2 years once loaded with black powder.

So storing raw reloading material and reloading when needed was the initial solution and that concept lasted a few decades until machine reloading was required for automatic actions in the smokeless Era that followed.


Murph