The following entry from our Colt Auto Gun ledgers details two guns shipping to Shelton & Payne in February of 1912. The guns were chambered in 7mm Mauser. Both guns were to be shipped with tripods and mounts, as well as 4 feed boxes and four feed belts each. Leather tool bags were to be shipped, each containing spare parts and accessories.

Now, what sort of audience did Shelton & Payne Arms Co have for a set of machine guns like this in February of 1912? It seems obvious enough that the intended customer of the guns was a party across the border in Mexico. Francisco Madero had been elected President of Mexico in the late 1911 election, having been influential in toppling the decades long regime of Porfirio Diaz the year prior. Madero rode a wave of support to the 1911 election, but soon faced increasing headwinds in the form of armed rebellions fronted by Emiliano Zapata south of Mexico City, and Pascual Orozco in the north. Would these guns end up with Madero forces, or Orozco’s forces? Or would they be with Huerta’s forces after Madero’s assassination? Fun to imagine where these were bound after the Shelton & Payne destination.

Considering Shelton & Payne Arms Co’s role as an arms dealer along the US/Mexico border in El Paso, many guns flowed through this business to parties concerned with nearly every point of view during the Mexican Revolution. Pancho Villa and other revolutionaries bought guns here, for example. Shelton & Payne had assets exceeding $1,100,000.00 in 1913, or over $35,000,000.00 in 2025 dollars. Their location was in the Merrick building (shown below) in El Paso.

The 7mm chambering fits like a glove for a gun going to a zone as hot as Mexico in 1913. ‘Spanish’ Mauser rifles in 7mm were peppered across Mexico since being adopted for use as the M1895, so there were obvious stocks of this caliber ammo held across the border. Numerous Colt Model 1895 Auto Gun ‘potato diggers’ are known to have been used in the conflict, and on multiple sides and fronts of combat.