Union Metallic Cartridge Company
The Union Metallic Cartridge Company was an early manufacturer of cartridge ammunition for small arms. The company was founded in 1867 during the most rapid evolution of cartridge design to date. Following merger with Remington Arms in 1912, the company manufacturing complex in Bridgeport, Connecticut became a major arms supplier during World War I. The factory was Remington headquarters until 1984 and the source of sporting and police ammunition headstamped REM-UMC until 1970.
Independent history
The New York sporting goods firm of Schuyler, Hartley & Graham purchased two small New England cartridge manufacturers in 1866. Machinery from the Crittenden & Tibbals Manufacturing Company of South Coventry, Connecticut, and from C.D. Leet of Springfield, Massachusetts, was moved to Bridgeport where ammunition production began as the Union Metallic Cartridge & Cap Company until the operation was incorporated as Union Metallic Cartridge Company in September 1867.A powder magazine on Success Hill was destroyed by explosion of 16 tons of gunpowder on 14 May 1906. There were no deaths, but damage was reported as far away as Long Island. In February 1909 UMC completed a shot tower which was the tallest building in Connecticut for many years. The red brick shot tower functioned by dropping molten lead from a height of into vats of cold water deep.