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Swagger Stick Shell Casing ID Help

dwagner825dwagner825 Member Posts: 12 ✭✭
edited November 2013 in Ask the Experts
Picked up this swagger stick at an estate sale. The guy said his father was in the USAAF during WWII and Korea. Didn't know if it was from either period. Does anyone recognize the casing head stamp markings? Manufacturer and rough time period. It has a W an I and a 5 at the 12 9 and six oclcok position respectively. 50 cal casing.



http://www.flickr.com/photos/76157827@N08/10649417065/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/76157827@N08/10649416985/in/photostream/
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Comments

  • dwagner825dwagner825 Member Posts: 12 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    added links to the original post.
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  • charliemeyer007charliemeyer007 Member Posts: 6,572 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    (W) incherser 19 (15) is my guess.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.50_BMG

    added from the wiki

    The .50 Browning Machine Gun (.50 BMG) or 12.7x99mm NATO is a cartridge developed for the Browning .50 caliber machine gun in the late 1910s. Entering service officially in 1921, the round is based on a greatly scaled-up .30-06 cartridge.

    Hard to say where that case has been in nearly a 100 years.

    My analysis of the 50 BMG when I in high school in the early 70's was it was like 5 30-06's at once. I tried with little success to use powder pulled from 50's in an -06. I did however have a half full glass jar of said powder under observation for nearly 15 years before it started turning red. It was harvested from LC or SL 43 that had already laid out on the ground in the weather for perhaps several years.

    I have a pair of watchmakers tweezers my dad made from the canopy safety on a B-24 during his time in England of WWII. I also have a pair of silver plated 50 cal. salt and pepper shakers he made around that same time. He told me drilling the holes on the ogive of the bullets was a challenge even after removing the AP cores. My favorite is the WWI trench lighter copy marked "Made in occupied Japan" I found in the M1G ammo carrier web belt I bought as a kid in the 60's.
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  • Tailgunner1954Tailgunner1954 Member Posts: 7,734 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    CM
    1915 is way to early for the 50BMG (it was one of the answers to the 1918 Mauser AT cartridge). Even your Wiki link shows a 1921 intro date, the first ones carried a "Cal 50 FA ##" headstamp (my oldest has a Cal50 FA 28 date on it). Note the Cal 50 is in the top quadrant, the FA ## is in the bottom quadrant.

    Best guess from here would be Winchester, made in 1955 (the single 5 is a giveaway on the date, as bunters from 1954 (54) could be modified by grinding off the 4 (you see the same thing in other "same # years too)
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  • bill2740bill2740 Member Posts: 886 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    The pictures are poor quality. Could not see the cartridge headstamp.
    SWAG: The shaft of the swagger stick appears to be a fired primer from a tank round. Again, just a SWAG.
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  • babunbabun Member Posts: 11,038 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Most likely "trench art". During WW1 and WW2 many items were made by GI's out of everyday used up ordinance.

    My father {a tank mechanic] during WW2 made loads of stuff for use on the bases and camps, such as ashtrays from 155mm casings, map pointer sticks from tubing and spent 50bmg shells, {which I believe your item is}.
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  • dwagner825dwagner825 Member Posts: 12 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Yeah it is definitly a trench art swagger stick. I'm just trying to date it. I brought the pics up and they appear crystal clear.
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  • dwagner825dwagner825 Member Posts: 12 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Think I found it. Looks like a twin city 50 BMG that has had its markings worn or not completely stamped. take a look at the first pic here. http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=twin+cities+50+bmg&FORM=HDRSC2#view=detail&id=4EE9B384E21E1C9387C3FE702FD627F43EA85F90&selectedIndex=0
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  • MIKE WISKEYMIKE WISKEY Member Posts: 10,042 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    my guess as well T W 1955
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  • TxsTxs Member Posts: 17,809 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    During prototype development of the .50 BMG Winchester produced cases marked with only a 'W' instead of their later 'WCC' marking.

    This development period began in 1921, so that '5' could possibly indicate 1925 production.
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  • v35v35 Member Posts: 12,710 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    We made 50 cal swagger sticks in Korea at least in 53-54 when I was there. They were known as "Short Timers Sticks".
    You were entitled to carry one around the company area when your tour was almost up.
    British officers in the nearby Commonwealth Brigade carried swagger sticks everywhere. They weren't made from 50's though.
    A guy in the welding tent was deactivating the primer in the rear half of a cut 50 round while making a short timers stick. He torched it and was shot through the leg.
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  • Ray BRay B Member Posts: 11,822
    edited November -1
    Here's a pointer that my father-in-law used, combined the base of a 50 BMG from Twin Cities 1945 and the forward portion of a 30-06. The stick is Walnut. Incidentally, the 155 doesn't have a casing- I suspect the casing was from a 105mm.
    DSC_0107_zps249e2a5c.jpg
    DSC_0108_zps3358d000.jpg
    DSC_0109_zpsec20c5f2.jpg
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