Replicating Winchester's 1866 Switzerland Trials 300 Yard Shots

[Bryan Austin]

This morning I finally got a chance to enjoy some range time. I wanted to replicate the Winchester Model of 1866 44 Henry 300 yard shots but using th e Uberti Winchester 73'.

nothing is ever the same....

The 44 Henry was reported to be a 200gr lead bullet at 1,125fps. My loads were full 44-40 214gr 1,350fps loads using Reloder 7. So technically I didn't replicate anything but maybe the Groups...was still fun!!
Winchester 66' should be about 12" x 10", 30 hit Groups

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[Drawdown]

Hey, good shooting Bryan. Look at the best 32, and the B.C. of a 44 every round would have to be loaded to the exact same muzzle velocities to do much better!

[Bryan Austin]

Thanks, I need to find someone that knows how to shoot to try it. I bet they could do better!!!

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[Bill in Oregon]

Admire your diligent efforts with the .44 WCF, Bryan. Thanks for posting here.

[Bryan Austin]

Thanks Bill

I tried my luck at Gimp, this was kind of neat!!

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[Bryan Austin]

I learned how to do an overlay on Gimp

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[Bryan Austin]

The Battle of Königgrätz

Say what? During the time between 14 June and 22 July 1866, the Prussians fought the Austrians. These battles were well observed by the Swiss. It was here that the Swiss decided that they were in need of modern breech-loading weapons.

The Swiss made a Decree that they would find and arm their sharpshooters and Army with breech-loading rifles on 20 July 1866.

During the 6th and 8th days of October, Winchester had already shipped the Model of 1866 to Switzerland for the Swiss Trials. On these two days the aforementioned targets were made.

On the 12th of October the Swiss government proposed an order for 8,000 repeaters for their best outfits but soon changed the proposal to between 90,000 and 110,000 repeaters to arm all of their soldiers. A condition to the contract would be that Winchester would also provide all of the tooling necessary for the 66's to be manufactured in Switzerland. Winchester could not or would not agree and offered some sort of counteroffer with the Henry rifle. The deal fell quiet and eventually Winchester backed off. I am unsure of the details.

The Report To The Commission For The Introduction Of The Breech-Loading Arms was dated Oct 1866 and published in Winchester's 1873 catalog. The information I posted above is not included in the report. The report talks about the Winchester Rifle - A. The Trajectory, B. The Precision and C. The Rapidity of Fire.

Now you know the rest of the story.

https://sites.google.com/view/44winches ... and-trials

[Drawdown]

Thanks Bryan, good history! The great arms race? Involved Lotta Weapons, of all kinds. But the race for the best individual battle rifle, I believe the most, and most important!