.38 Henry Rimfire ammunition question.

jayefsee

I was at a swap meet yesterday and bought 12 rounds of ammunition from a seller. The casings appear to be copper rather than brass, with lead bullets. They are rimfire with an "H" in the center of the cartridge head. I assume that "H" means "Henry". But they appear to be ".38 rimfire". I've never heard of that type of ammo. I found that .38 rimfire is listed in the Curio and Relic Ammunition List. When were they used ? And in what firearms ? Thanks in advance for information on these.
Regards,
JFC

rufe-snow

Barnes book "Cartridges of the World", shows the "38 short" "38 long" and "38 extra long rimfires" with the "H" headstamp.
They date from just after the civil war (1865) but were avaiable for commercial sale well into the 20th century, (1940). Although guns chambered for them, generally weren't sold latter then the 1890's.

Iconoclast

jay, welcome to the zoo! The "H" is a legacy of the Henry era and used to mark Winchester brand rimfires as a tribute to the company's origins. You will find "H" headstamps on virtually every type of rimfire ammo Winchester loaded from the 1870s well into the 1900s, it has no relationship to the caliber. The copper case was used on some of these older types long after brass cases came into general use. I have some .41 derringer loads made up in the 1940s or perhaps later with copper cases. The .38 rimfire was originally a rifle cartridge - inexpensive single shots - and was soon adapted to all manner of inexpensive revolvers. Your rounds could have been made at almost any time during the period and could be either corrosive primed or not, black powder, semi-smokeless or smokeless - once they are out of the package, there is no non-destructive test to determine these characteristics. Bullet shape and slight dimensional variations would help narrow that, but, frankly, it's not worth the effort. This stuff is about as common as dirt and about as valuable. I've picked up thousands of rounds as part of larger deals over the years, and most of it I've given away to friends with firearms chambered in the .32 & .38 Short and Long rimfires. It's a crap shoot (no pun intended) when they shoot it (and the BP rounds are the most likely to fire), but the price is right.