Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Western And Peters Ammunition

Many years ago, there was ammunition, both rifle, pistol, and shotgun made by both Western and Winchester. From all appeareances, except for the markings, the ammunition from each company appeared identical.

It was the same thing with Remington and Peters. They were both almost identical.

At the time when ammunition was made in all four brands, what was the difference between these two companies, and why did each manufacturer have two different companies make the same, or almost the same, ammunition?

I have wondered about this for a long time. Does anyone have the answer?

Chevy-GMC...Johnson-Evinrude...

I too always puzzled over that. I used to search far and wide hoping to find "Winchester" shotgun shells. It seemed that all the local stores stocked was "Western" and I was sure that there was something magical about the "Winchester" name. Of late, Gander Mountain has had some "Peters" ammunition, which in the case of shotgun shells are just Remingtons in a blue hull. Once again, though, I have in my infinite wisdom decided that there is something preferable about the "Peters" brand. My Ithaca 37 Deerslayer shoots 7/8 ounce 12 gauge slugs (also hard to find) in either persuasion with scary accuracy, but you know that I will have the blue ones loaded up while waiting for a deer to happen along.

I wonder if it was a regional thing? I can remember seeing Peters ammo a lot in rural Missouri, but after moving to southern Indiana, I can't recall ever seeing any on the gunshop shelves.......

But do like the packaging..

Olin (Western) purchased Winchester in 1931, and Remington purchased Peters in 1944. "WW" is Winchester-Western, and "RP" is simply Remington-Peters.

"Olin (Western) purchased Winchester in 1931, and Remington purchased Peters in 1944. "WW" is Winchester-Western, and "RP" is simply Remington-Peters."

But why keep selling either one under two seperate names? Were both brands loading in the same factory using the same machinery and components.

I know some Peters shotgun shells were blue, but that appeared to be the only difference.

Winchester and Western used the same Silvertip and Power Point bullets, and IIRC some cartridges were available in one brand and not the other.

I knew Olin bought Winchester, and Remington used to head stamp their cartridges REM-UMC, for Union Metallic Cartridge Co. Who were UMC?

luv2safari has answered the question. Selling otherwise identical products under different labels is a classic marketing tactic. See any introductory text on Marketing for more explanation than most people want to endure.

Union Metallic Cartridge once owned Remington, along with Winchester...Yep, Win owned part of Rem in the late 19th century for a few years, then in the early-mid 20th, DuPont bought a major portion and the rest in about 1980.

there was just something about those Peters blue shells that had me hitting everything.
Federals were for the poor guy's

way back in the 80's

1+

...and Western Auto were the worst...generic Federals...

I remember when all tests showed that Federals ejected the worst of all these back in the 70's. Federal came a long way, IMO. And, the blue Peters seem to have more Class, and I'm positive I hit more with better kills using Peters...or did at one time.

I still remember as a kid walking into a Brown Hardware with my mom, and asking the young lady behind the counter if she knew where the "Blue Peters" were!

She gasped and ran to the back of the store, mom whacked me in the back of the head, and I left with a sore noggin and no shells to go squirrel hunting with. I thought my dad was gonna piss himself laughing when my mom told him what I did...True story...

ROFLMAO

That would be as bad as on your wedding night, your new bride said, "I thought they were all black."