Headstamp Guide - Letters - W
W
A Brief History
The dots on either side of "WINCHESTER" indicate a foreign manufacturer, e.g. made in Korea, Isreal, or Czech Republic.
International Ammunition Association forum thread
A Brief History
Winchester Western Division
427 North Shamrock Street
East Alton, Illinois 62024-1174
From Winchester Ammunition Website:
During the late 1890s and early 1900s, several companies in the United States began to develop as integrated ammunition organizations.
One of those was the Western Cartridge Company, which was also a powder manufacturer. In 1892, Franklin W. Olin and his associates formed the Equitable Powder Manufacturing Company at East Alton, Illinois, to manufacture black powder that was sold chiefly to the mines in the area. However, because that business was seasonal, Olin became interested in loading shotshells. In February 1898, he persuaded his associates to join him in forming the Western Cartridge Company, also located in East Alton, the principal purpose being to provide a market for powder that could be produced by The Equitable Powder Company in the off season.
With the outbreak of World War I, interest in negotiating contracts for arms and ammunition picked up sharply. When the United States declared war in 1917, Winchester again was called on to fulfill contracts for arms and ammunition.
The purchase of Winchester by the Olin interests brought a breath of life to the institution. A major benefit was having the leadership of John M. Olin, son of company founder F.W. Olin. When John Olin, at that time First Vice President of Western Cartridge Company, came to New Haven to find out just what he and his associates had purchased, he found stored-up accumulation of new gun models and ideas. He was able to make an accurate appraisal of each model and to introduce a number of revolutionary ideas he had in mind.
John Olin was a master inventor ... and his name appeared on more than 20 patents, several of which dealt with Super-X developments. Super-X ammunition, probably Western Cartridge Company's most widely known product, resulted from his work during World War I. Super-X was a major development in the ammunition industry early in the post-war years. It came, according to John Olin himself, partly from his personal desire to teach sportsmanship to a hunter who shot ducks on the water rather than on the wing. Olin even suggested to the greedy hunter that if he needed meat on the table he should go shoot a cow. "You can get a thousand pounds of meat with one shell."
On December 14, 1940, a contract was signed with the government for the United States Cartridge Company, a subsidiary corporation of the Olin-owned companies, to build and operate the St. Louis Ordnance Plant, the greatest small arms plant in the military history of the nation. At its peak production period in 1943 the plant had 34,338 employees on its payroll. Manufacture of ammunition components began October 20, 1941, and the first finished ammunition came off the line at the new plant on December 8, 1941, the day after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor forced the United States into World War II.
Total production of .30 and .50 caliber rifle and machine gun ammunition at the St. Louis Ordnance Plant during the war, 6,738,009,746 loaded rounds, exceeded the output of all of the nation's small arms ammunition plants in World War I. In addition, the Western Cartridge Company plant at East Alton produced 4,022,621,734 loaded rounds of ammunition, and the Winchester plant in New Haven another 4,499,493,774 rounds. Thus a total of 15,260,125,254 rounds of ammunition were produced by the various Olin companies during World War II.
A Brief History
Winchester Repeating Arms Co.
New Haven, Connecticut
A Brief History
These headstamps can be found in boxes of American Quality Ammunition, which is a company that appears to sell commercial reloads. The American Quality Ammunition brand is sold on multiple online wholesalers, but has no website of their own to verify this information. Winchester has confirmed that it is not a headstamp of theirs.
A Brief History
Weatherby, Inc.
3100 El Camino Real
Atascadero, CA 93422
805-466-1767
Weatherby Website
From Website:
Founded in 1945, Weatherby is recognized around the world for its high quality, high performance firearms, ammunition, outerwear and accessories. Perhaps best known for the Mark V® and Vanguard® bolt actions and pioneering magnum rifle performance, the company offers a full line of wood and synthetic stock rifles that deliver on the promise of “nothing shoots flatter, hits harder or is more accurate.”
Weatherby also markets a full line of Over/Under, side-by-side and semi-automatic shotguns, proprietary Weatherby Magnum ammunition, Weatherby Performance Wool and shooting accessories. The company is headquartered in Atascadero, California.
The history of Weatherby began in the mid-1940s when a young cartridge “wildcatter” named Roy Weatherby set out to change the world of firearm performance. Contrary to then-popular thinking (heavy bullets pushed at slow speeds), Roy believed that lightweight bullets traveling at super high speeds provided the best combination for one-shot kills. Based upon that philosophy, he spent the next decade developing the high-powered Weatherby Magnum cartridges for which the company is known today (.224, .240, .257, .270, 7mm, .300, .30-378, .340, .338-378, .375, .378, .416 and .460).
Throughout that period, Roy was also producing or re-chambering rifles designed specifically to accommodate his super-charged ammunition. At that time, he was producing his rifles on FN Mauser and French Brevex Magnum Mauser actions. However in 1957, Roy would again catch the attention of shooting and hunting world with a proprietary action that is today recognized around the world as the Mark V®.
The foundation for the Mark V® was the need for a stronger, safer action, able to withstand tremendous pressure, and the possibility of blown primers and ruptured case heads (due to the unpredictability of early handloaded and wildcat cartridges). After nearly a half century of proven performance, the Mark V continues to be known as “the world’s strongest bolt action.”
In 1970, Roy once again showed his entrepreneurial spirit when he introduced the Weatherby Vanguard® action, borrowing many of the same characteristics and design elements of the Mark V with two locking lugs (vs. 9 in the Mark V). Over the years, the Vanguard has steadily gained in popularity for its superior performance, guaranteed accuracy and exceptional value.
The Weatherby lineage continued in 1983 when Roy’s son, Ed Weatherby, assumed the leadership mantle of the company. Under Ed’s guidance, the company has seen growth and expansion both in Mark V and Vanguard rifle offerings, as well as a full line of Over/Under, Side-by-Side and Semi-Automatic shotguns, and shooter/hunters accessories including gun cases and Weatherby Performance Wool hunting clothing.
The innovation and pacesetting performance associated with the Weatherby name spans more than 60 years. Yet, while our place in history is firmly established, it is the prospects for the future that shine brightest of all.
Over half a century ago, Roy Weatherby began his career in the firearms industry as a “wildcatter,” developing his revolutionary ideas about rifle cartridge performance and design.
At the time, many of the industry’s “experts” were promoting the idea that optimum performance was a result of pushing big bullets at relatively slow speeds. Roy, however, believed just the opposite. It was his opinion that the faster a bullet traveled, the better—the flatter it would shoot, the less it would drop, the harder it would hit—the better its terminal performance. It was a concept that would spawn many an argument among ballistics experts, gun writers and in many a deer camp. But as people began to hear about and experience Roy’s notion firsthand, those questions, concerns and doubts were quickly laid to rest. Soon, the entire hunting world would know what Roy had always believed—generate enough speed to create hydrostatic shock in the animal and the result will be more one-shot kills.
Today, our ammunition remains true to the concept Roy developed in the 1940s. At the same time, our ammunition also takes advantage of the latest in controlled expansion bullets which are capable of harnessing the higher velocities to create a cartridge that provides the ultimate in penetration, large wound channels and more one-shot kills.
All Weatherby® Mark V® rifles are guaranteed to shoot a 1 1/2" 3-shot group at 100 yards from a cold barrel when used with premium (non-Weatherby calibers) or Weatherby factory ammunition. Together, the Weatherby system (premium ammunition and Mark V rifle) forms the flattest shooting, hardest hitting, most accurate combination in the industry today.
We start with Norma® Precision brass, the finest that money can buy (handloaders also tell us it's the finest for reloading). Then we add premium grade primers and bullets from the top names in the business-Hornady®, Nosler® and Barnes. The result is that each Weatherby Magnum cartridge is produced with the precision of handloading...with the blistering speed and downrange power to deliver the opportunity for more one-shot kills. In virtually every case, no other commercially-produced ammunition provides the Maximum Point Blank Range of Weatherby. Nothing shoots flatter, hits harder or is more accurate out of the box than a Weatherby.
A Brief History
From Winchester Website:
During the late 1890s and early 1900s, several companies in the United States began to develop as integrated ammunition organizations.
One of those was the Western Cartridge Company, which was also a powder manufacturer. In 1892, Franklin W. Olin and his associates formed the Equitable Powder Manufacturing Company at East Alton, Illinois, to manufacture black powder that was sold chiefly to the mines in the area. However, because that business was seasonal, Olin became interested in loading shotshells. In February 1898, he persuaded his associates to join him in forming the Western Cartridge Company, also located in East Alton, the principal purpose being to provide a market for powder that could be produced by The Equitable Powder Company in the off season.
With the outbreak of World War I, interest in negotiating contracts for arms and ammunition picked up sharply. When the United States declared war in 1917, Winchester again was called on to fulfill contracts for arms and ammunition.
The purchase of Winchester by the Olin interests brought a breath of life to the institution. A major benefit was having the leadership of John M. Olin, son of company founder F.W. Olin. When John Olin, at that time First Vice President of Western Cartridge Company, came to New Haven to find out just what he and his associates had purchased, he found stored-up accumulation of new gun models and ideas. He was able to make an accurate appraisal of each model and to introduce a number of revolutionary ideas he had in mind.
John Olin was a master inventor
...and his name appeared on more than 20 patents, several of which dealt with Super-X developments. Super-X ammunition, probably Western Cartridge Company's most widely known product, resulted from his work during World War I. Super-X was a major development in the ammunition industry early in the post-war years. It came, according to John Olin himself, partly from his personal desire to teach sportsmanship to a hunter who shot ducks on the water rather than on the wing. Olin even suggested to the greedy hunter that if he needed meat on the table he should go shoot a cow. "You can get a thousand pounds of meat with one shell."
On December 14, 1940, a contract was signed with the government for the United States Cartridge Company, a subsidiary corporation of the Olin-owned companies, to build and operate the St. Louis Ordnance Plant, the greatest small arms plant in the military history of the nation. At its peak production period in 1943 the plant had 34,338 employees on its payroll. Manufacture of ammunition components began October 20, 1941, and the first finished ammunition came off the line at the new plant on December 8, 1941, the day after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor forced the United States into World War II.
Total production of .30 and .50 caliber rifle and machine gun ammunition at the St. Louis Ordnance Plant during the war, 6,738,009,746 loaded rounds, exceeded the output of all of the nation's small arms ammunition plants in World War I. In addition, the Western Cartridge Company plant at East Alton produced 4,022,621,734 loaded rounds of ammunition, and the Winchester plant in New Haven another 4,499,493,774 rounds. Thus a total of 15,260,125,254 rounds of ammunition were produced by the various Olin companies during World War II.
A Brief History
30-06 NPE case (New Primed Empty) from Western/Olin. Apparently intended for competition loading outside the factory. Interesting to note these cases were corrosive primed indicating WW2 or earlier vintage. Nickel plated brass cases, with nickel, percussion, boxer primers, no primer sealant, no primer crimp. "Western 30-06 SPRG" headstamp. Packaged in white cardboard, 20-round, slip-top boxes, with white labels and black printing. "20 30 Springfield '06 Match Empty Primed Shells Corrosive Primers Western Cartridge Co. Division of Olin Industries, Inc. East Alton, ILL. USA" Lot number 50CC.
A Brief History
Wilson Combat Custom Ammunition
2234 CR 719
Berryville, AR 72616
Phone: 800-955-4856
A Brief History
Per Paul Szabo at Winchester: "“WMA” stands for Winchester Military Ammunition and is the site indicator for our Oxford (MS) facility. We use “WMA” shellcases sometimes in commercial loads so the headstamp is not a clear indicator of military ammunition."
A Brief History
WOLF Performance Ammunition
PO Box 757
Placentia, CA 92871
(888) 757-WOLF(9653)
(714) 632-9653
Fax:(714) 632-9232
info@wolfammo.com
Wolf Performance Ammunition Website
A Brief History
WOLF Performance Ammunition
PO Box 757
Placentia, CA 92871
(888) 757-WOLF(9653)
(714) 632-9653
Fax:(714) 632-9232
info@wolfammo.com
Wolf Performance Ammunition Website
