| The Special Shot Box
Magazine ...... is increased in length to accommodate a maximum
cartridge length of 1.450 inch. The magazine is especially
designed for the Peters Thompson Gun Shot Cartridge, but it can be
used in emergency for ball cartridges ... The full capacity of the
magazine is 20 cartridges. The magazines however are marked For
18 Shot Cartridges as it is deemed advisable to load only 18
cartridges ..... except in case of necessity. These magazines are
blued, same as the gun. To easily distinguish from the standard
box magazine, the front surface is accentuated by whiting the
stamped legend For 18 Shot Cartridges.
Still this was not enough to meet
the demand for magazines sold with guns. Another production was
called for from Colt's or directly with the maker whose letters
are MSCO. The letters appear on the inside of the backstrap of the
magazine. The maker with the MSCO markings made two different
production runs of twenty round magazines. The first is a magazine
with markings similar to the Aug. 20-Aug. 20 Colt magazine, except
the markings appear to have been panographed into the magazine
body. The lettering of these markings is also much larger than
earlier versions. |
| The third production of
MSCO magazines is referred to by collectors as Corrected Patent
Date magazines. This terminology is dead wrong as there was never
a patent granted on August 20, 1920. Therefore, these magazines
should be called Incorrectly Dated Patent Magazines.
Until recently the name of the
maker (MSCO) has been unknown. It had also been my belief that
Colt never went too far away from Hartford, Connecticut to find a
supplier. So, I always felt the MSCO maker had to be close in the
New England area. Through research done by Frank lannarnico, for
his new book on WWII.
Thompson production, I think we have an answer.
Due to the unique position of the
MSCO markings and that of the later WWII
markings of USCO, I believe this MSCO stands for Mitchell Stamping
Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Mitchell later became a
division of United Specialty Company, home office in Chicago,
Illinois. This supply of magazines was sufficient until
January 31, 1942 when a new contract was signed. |
