Correct vintage shells for a Fox HE

[ROMAC]

An aquaintance of mine wants to do a photoshoot with his HE.

He asked me if I had any period correct shells for it.

This is what I have. I do not have a lot. Do they have to have the patent information to be of the right era? Only the 5 shot shell has Magnum on the overshot card.






I also have a few boxes. Does anyone (Researcher perhaps?) know which would be the best to use?













Any help would be appreciated.

[Researcher]

These are the original Super-X 3-inch shells from circa 1925 --



The shells you show with the Patent number on them are from the mid- to late 1930s and early 1940s.

The beige one-piece box with the red borders was in use from late 1933 to 1939. The blue and yellow boxes came into use in 1940, and the Super-Seal Crimp and Super-Seal Cup Wad in 1948. The Super-Seal Crimp was first introduced in the skeet and trap loads circa 1939.

The earliest Super-X loads from 1922 were the 2 3/4 inch 12- and 20-gauge shells put up in the 2 3/4 inch FIELD shell --



followed in late 1922 or early 1923 in 16-gauge in the 2 9/16 inch FIELD shell.

By 1927, they had gone to this style two-piece box for the Super-X loads in the FIELD shell --



and the Super-X logo was now on the side of the shell, like the left shell in this trio --



Then about 1930 they went from Western in the diamond on the box lid to Western in script on the lid --



and by 1931 the Super-X loads had non-corrosive priming --



During 1933 Western Cartridge Co. went from the two-piece boxes to the one-piece box for their Super-X loads. The 3-inch 12-gauge Super-X shells and all the Lubaloy shot Super-X shells came in the high brass RECORD shell until after WW-II.



The regular length, lead shot Super-X shells were put up in the lower brass FIELD shell into the mid-1930s like the shell on the left --



then got a Super-X head stamp shortly after the introduction of the one-piece boxes, as the middle shell. Right is post WW-II.

[fox-admin]

Dave: Thanks very much excellent. Just to add---The circa 1922 2 3/4" Field Super X had no markings on the side of the hull and the two piece box was marked "Maximum Load" on the end label.

[Stan Hillis]

Great question and a fabulous answer. Thanks, Dave. This is memorization material for those of us with HE's. But, I'm saving it, too.

SRH

[ROMAC]

Dave,

Thanks for all the effort put into answering my question. You went way beyond my expectations.

I only have what I have, so I will offer them to him along with showing him your response. In the end, I'm sure his pictures will be fine and very few people in the world will have the knowledge to know the difference anyway.

One last thing. While looking through my shell/box collection trying to find the Super X shells, I came across a Very Flair Shell that I did not even know I had. I got excited thinking it would look great next to my Fox Flare gun. It does but it is a 10 gauge shell, not the 25 MM that would fit the Fox flare gun I have.

[Researcher]

For some reason Western Cartridge Co. never put the Dram Equivalent on their Super-X shells and boxes, just that MAXIMUM LOAD and early on SUPER-EXCELLANT LONG RANGE LOAD. By the 1930s after Western Cartridge Co./Olin Corp. owned Winchester, the Winchester shotgun shell line came to mirror the Western line and they did put the Dram Equiv. on their Super-Speed loads --