[rjbman]

I'm a novice in the area of shotshell and cartridge collecting. My reference books are meager and rely on internet a lot. I have recently acquired at a flea market, a 4" all brass shotshell. Has UMC No 12 for headstamp. Could this have been used for any other purpose than a flare ? also any way to date this shell ?

Here is picture of the 4" shell with a 2.14" 12ga.

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d151/rjbman/Cartridges/12Gashotshell1.jpg[/IMG]

[velobard]

Not sure what their headstamp is, but I've seen boxes of these from Magtech for sale at Cabelas. Those weren't 4" long, though.

[rjbman]

Thanks, hopefully someone may know it's purpose and maybe even be able to date it.

[PTK]

How about some pictures? That would greatly aid in identification.

[fireman 9731]

Remington makes an industrial gun to clean out kilns and blast furnaces, its called a master blaster and uses some pretty hefty ammo!

http://www.remington.com/products/ammunition/industrial/

They make 12 and 8 gauge versions, The ammo they show online now is all plastic cased I think, but I wouldn't be surprised if their "Industrial" ammo was brass cased a while ago.

[230RN]

Could be a salute cannon load.

These are 8-gauge, but similar. The clear ones are loaded with King Black.

Used for yacht race starting, etc.

http://www.loesch.org/~arviel/8-brass.jpg
http://www.loesch.org/~arviel/8-cartridge.jpg

I believe these pix are off one of the cannon sites. I really should start documenting my sources so I can give proper credit. Apologies to orginators, although my usage here is for educational purposes only.