Eley Wasp .22 paper lable tins

[edbear2]

Not what you are thinking I bet......every time I think I have pretty much worked out the time line, and evolution of these classic pellets that so many of us grew up with......a great big spanner comes along!.......In the .177 range, I obtained a few years ago some plastic tubs with paper labels at a militaria fair...the vendor had a cardboard Eley box with 100 or so tubs in, and said they came from a forces disposal source.....at the time I thought possibly Cadet use, and there have been posts since about these where other folk have come across them and commented that the quality is not as good as some earlier Wasps they have.....It was ascertained that Eley by this stage in production were farming out tenders, and so the very late production Wasp pellets did vary in style and quality.

Anyway......back on track, Have just obtained this .22 tin (the one on the right).....postcode is B6 7UT, which is the last I have ever seen on Wasp tins, and on others I have with this code dates to 2003 according to the production label inside. Maybe a temporary measure due to lack of screen printed tins, or the end of the line? (the L.H.S tin is Birmingham 6 and earliest, the centre one B6 7BA).

If indeed these are the last style of tins, it is another part of the jigsaw, and a nod to the roots of production when they were introduced in the very late 1920's / early 30's........a 70+ year production run .

some Eley random facts;

"The name C Eley first claimed public attention through an advertisement in the London Morning Chronicle of 10 July 1828, the advert promotes the opening of an extensive manufactory who can supply patent cartridges, superior to anything else and hailed as the greatest improvements ever produced in gunnery. Later evidence suggests that the proprietors were two brothers, William and Charles Eley who were adventurous and courageous in developing this infant industry.

William Eley had three sons who inherited the business from him in 1842. They vigorously developed the business in the second half of the nineteenth century, which included a major expansion in 1874 through the sale of shares to the public. During this period ELEY won many awards for the quality of its products throughout the world, the most prestigious being the Grand Prix which was bestowed on the company at the Paris Exhibitions of 1898 and 1900. The early 1900s saw a major development when ELEY became one of the founding members of Nobel Industries alongside the world renowned Kynoch Company. In 1928 the business moved to the Witton site in Birmingham as a subsidiary of what is now Imperial Metal Industries plc, a major publicly quoted multinational engineering conglomerate.

Major ammunition developments that have come from ELEY include a joint patent with Samuel Colt for Colt revolver cartridges, in 1855; Britain's first centerfire cartridge, produced in 1857; fundamental patents during the 1860s in the development of the Boxer primer system; development of the first bottleneck rifle cartridges, in 1869; and thin-brass totally waterproof shotshell cartridges, in 1882.

During the American Civil War, ELEY was a major supplier of ammunition to the Confederacy. Its first .22 rimfire cartridges were produced in 1860, but the move toward ELEY present world rimfire prominence really didn't begin until 1951 with the introduction of the first generation of Tenex."

[Josie & John]

Hi Eddie,

Cracking pix as allways and a fine collection. I agree with your timeline and recall buying some of these tins at a fair a while ago. The late John Rothery once told me he used the Eley name on his Wasps for as long as he could get away with it.

Slightly off topic but do you have any detail on the BSA Diabolo tin - it's not one I am familiar with?

Kind regards,
John

[edbear2]

Hi Eddie,

Cracking pix as allways and a fine collection. I agree with your timeline and recall buying some of these tins at a fair a while ago. The late John Rothery once told me he used the Eley name on his Wasps for as long as he could get away with it.

Slightly off topic but do you have any detail on the BSA Diabolo tin - it's not one I am familiar with?

Kind regards,
John

Hi John, can't even remember where that one came from.......I have no idea, and have never seen another.....I had to dig it out, as the coffee table gets rotated from time to time

Regards, Ed

[Lakey]

Slightly off topic again, only I went up the Great Dorset Steam Fair, this weekend and what should pass me in the playpen ( great arena ) - A general purpose traction engine manufactured by Kynoch of Birmingham