.38-72 Winchester center fire | ||||||||
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Type | Rifle | |||||||
Place of origin | United States | |||||||
Production history | ||||||||
Designer | Winchester Repeating Arms Company | |||||||
Manufacturer | Winchester Repeating Arms Company | |||||||
Produced | 1895 to 1936 | |||||||
Specifications | ||||||||
Case type | rimmed | |||||||
Bullet diameter | .378 in (9.6 mm) | |||||||
Neck diameter | .397 in (10.1 mm) | |||||||
Shoulder diameter | .427 in (10.8 mm) | |||||||
Base diameter | .461 in (11.7 mm) | |||||||
Rim diameter | .519 in (13.2 mm) | |||||||
Case length | 2.58 in (66 mm) | |||||||
Overall length | 3.16 in (80 mm) | |||||||
Rifling twist | 22 | |||||||
Primer type | large rifle | |||||||
Ballistic performance | ||||||||
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Test barrel length: 24 Source(s): The Rifle in America |
The .38-72 Winchester, also known as .38-72 WCF is a rimmed, bottleneck centerfire rifle cartridge introduced in 1895 for the Winchester 1895 lever-action rifle.
The original Winchester factory load consisted of a 275-grain (17.8 g) bullet at 1,480 ft/s (450 m/s). This straight-walled cartridge case was designed for black powder rather than smokeless powder.
Besides the Winchester 1895 lever-action, the .38-72 WCF was chambered in the Winchester 1885 single-shot rifle.
With the introduction of superior cartridges designed for smokeless powder, the .38-72 WCF became obsolete and was soon dropped as an optional caliber for the Winchester Model 1895 and 1885 Production of loaded cartridges by Winchester ceased in 1936.