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Indian Wars, Smashed .50-70 Gov't brass


Keith
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These 4 cases have had the ends of them intentionally smashed closed as if to contain something. Has anyone read about this practice or have any ideas? The .50-70 was the service cartridge from 1868-1873 and the early ones were Berdan primed which these are. Thanks for any input.

50-70a.jpg

50-70b.jpg

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UPDATE: I weighed an unsmashed case, clean with no corrosion and it weighs 8.6 grams. The smashed cases weigh from 9.6-10 grams. So there is either something inside or else the corrosion is the weight difference.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Yes,this was known to have been intentional so that the Indians could not reload them to use in any captured weapons. I believe that this was also discussed in one of the Custer episodes on the History Channel.

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