ssdave wrote on Sep 2^nd, 2018 at 12:38am:


My Hepburn Match B is a .32-40 and the caliber marking is: ".32-40 B & M" for Ballard and Marlin. So they did give  little credit on some guns.

Interesting about the markings.  I have a original early Winchester LoWall and it is marked "25 WCF."  It is actually a 25-20 SS, not the later 25-20 WCF.  Serial number dates it before the  repeater version was introduced.

George

Yes, I was thinking it was the repeater version, but I was able to get 100 new cases (Jamison I think) and, despite its dark bore, it shoots quite well.

Haven't heard Bill Ballard's name in a looong time.  I corresponded with him at length and got brass for several rifles from him.  He was also trying to make vernier tang sights and I got one of his prototypes for my Sharps.

George

Bill Lawrence wrote on Sep 2^nd, 2018 at 5:46pm:


Probably there were a few others, but they weren't placing small ads (very small) in various shooting publications, or otherwise making themselves known beyond a small in-crowd. He was the only SS resource I'd ever heard of until much later.   

uscra112 wrote on Sep 3^rd, 2018 at 12:18am:


Depends on when Winchester began using smokeless.  No mention of it all in the Feb. '93 catalog.  Don't have a '94 or '95 catalog, but even when the first M.'94s, designed expressly for smokeless, began coming off the production line, smokeless was not yet available.  By the time of the '99 catalog, almost every cartridge sold by WRA was available in smokeless.  

Uncertainty, also, about date .25WCF was introduced--between late '93 & '95, Barnes says.  Ads placed in shooting publications could probably be used to determine the exact date, because WRA must have been very eager to make customers aware of their new cartridge, & start selling guns chambered for it.  Someone lucky enough to own the '93-'95 volumes of Shooting & Fishing could probably identify the intro. date & which powder was first loaded. 

In both my '93 & '99 catalogs, the "old" .25-20 is still called just that, though the fine print says "adapted for SS rifles," & the illustration leaves no doubt about which is which.
  

uscra112 wrote on Sep 3^rd, 2018 at 12:18am:


Yes, they would have and did. They also chambered the 44 in .32-20 and even .44-40, but dropped the .44-40 because they did end up shooting loose. I also had a 44 in .44-40, and bought it because it was still in very good shape, and tight.
And the .25-20 was not always a smokeless powder cartridge. It was introduced in the Winchester version around 1891-1893, depending on varying sources.  It was introduced in the 1889 Marlin in 1892, but called the .25-20 Marlin. Same exact cartridge.

Advertisements would be the best source, since catalogs would be produced for the new year's models early, and likely not revised the same year. One would need to find 1892 ads and see at what point the cartridge began to be advertised by Winchester, Marlin, or even cartridge companies. I'm sure they'd want to get the word out quickly, but also guess there might be some delay between inception, and getting the advertisements to press in magazines.
Have to dig my copy of Madis out, if I can find it. I do recall that Madis described the deal between Browning and Winchester to develop a replacement for the Model 1873 for a stronger action. Winchester offered Browning $10,000 for a rifle design within a set time frame. Browning told Winchester he'd get it to them within two months for $20,000 or give it to them for free. They agreed and Browning sent them a design two weeks later for a reduced scale 1886 that became the 1892. That all took place in 1890, but took Winchester over a year to tool up for it.