1coolcat wrote on Sep 25
th, 2017 at 4:11am:
Haha..no problem..I did some reading and now I understand why it is called the 38-55 Ballard. That is the original name of the cartridge, it became the 38-55 WCF once winchester standardized the cartridge and add the WCF to it..correct ?
Kinda, but not. It was indeed introduced by Marlin in their Ballard rifles. But as with some other cartridges Winchester was prone to steal, they simply offered the round in their brand of ammo and added WCF or Winchester after the .38-55.
In early manufacture by Winchester or other cartridge companies the designation on the box was indeed .38-55 Ballard. But later it became just .38-55-255, and under that it was marked "For Ballard, and Winchester Rifles". Eventually Winchester simply added their name after the designation.
At the point that Winchester brought out the .375 Winchester, it had a shorter case length, and was loaded with a slightly smaller diameter bullet. Winchester at that time decided that making two different length cases for the old .38-55 Ballard and the .375 Win. was not as financially efficient, so they simply dropped the correct longer case, and offered .38-55 and .375 Win. ammo in the same length case.
Not sure when others began to add WCF or Win. after .38-55, but it seems that it went beyond the ammo at some point and began to also be marked on all sorts of gun related equipment and guns.
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38-55 WCF Reloading question (Read 12282 times)
