44 Henry Rimfire Cartridges
New Haven Arms Co. Maker
Circa 1863 – 1865
A highly desirable Civil War era box of early 44 Henry rimfire cartridges. These early military style boxes manufactured by the New Haven Arms Co. are sought after accouterments to accompany a Henry Rifle. Therefore, this box of ammunition was made and sold in the same era as the Henry Rifles, circa 1863 – 1865.
New Haven Arms Henry Ammo
The box is marked “50 Cartridges for Henry’s Repeating Rifle, Manufactured by the New Haven Arms Co.”
This is the rare “Tall 4’s” box making it the rarest of the three “military” box variations. The box is in excellent overall condition showing one small water stain on the top label (about a ¼” in diameter). In addition, some slight soiling from age and handling. Most noteworthy, the top label is 100% intact and the box is solid showing one split seam at the top left hand side. The split seam is a natural occurance and shows no attempt to paste and repair it. There are no repairs what-so-ever on this box. These early New Haven Arms boxes came with no sealing side labels, hence they are considered “opened” as they were never factory sealed.
Although, the box has been opened it contains all the original .44 flat, raised “H” head stamped bullets in a dished circle. These “military” boxes were never sealed. Consequently, the cartridges are very good and in original uncleaned condition. Furthermore, the cartridges appear to have never been removed from the box and are still in their original location in the box.
History of the 44 Henry Rimfire Ammo
One of the great reasons for the ultimate success of the Henry rifle, most notably the Henry Model 1860 repeating rifle, was the self-contained metallic .44 Henry cartridge.
In 1854, the Smith & Wesson Company had patented a lever action pistol using a toggle action and an integral front-loading magazine. Unfortunately, the “rocket ball” ammunition used with this design left much to be desired. Despite the limitations of rocket ball ammunition, the rocket ball was used in a number of attempts at making a commercially successful firearm. As a result, this lead to the reorganization and creation of the Volcanic Repeating Arms Company.
During this Smith & Wesson reorganization, Oliver Winchester became a major stockholder, eventually controlling the Company. Subsequently, Winchester hired B. Tyler Henry to improve the Volcanic design. B. Tyler Henry went one step further by improving the cartridge. He invented a copper cased self-contained cartridge which made the bullets more reliable. Accordingly, the .44 caliber rimfire cartridge was born. With his new metallic cartridge and S & W’s lever action design, he developed the Henry Rifle. Thus, the henry rifle, using the .44 rimfire cartridge, was the first reliable lever action rifle.
Otherwise known as the 1866 “Yellowboy“, the improved Henry rifle was also chambered for the 44 Henry Rimfire cartridge.
Covered in plastic wrap for protection. Additional photos on request.
Clarks Antiques – 44 Henry Rimfire Cartridges – Price $12,000.00
Item #1575
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Note: If you are looking for .44 Henry ammo, single cartridges, we do have a limited selection of rim fire and central fire (.44 S&W American) available for purchase. Please contact us for selection and pricing.
* Can’t ship antique or modern ammo to California, Hawaii, and Alaska