Chad@GalleryFirearms said

kevindpm61 said

Hi Chad. As Steve had mentioned, I just purchased an 1883 Winchester Hotchkiss sporting rifle. Does your cartridge board designate which rounds are Hotchkiss? I made a chamber casting and I’m trying figure out the cartridge.

  

I don’t believe so but I’ll take a closer look on Tuesday when I have access to it. To be clear I personally do not own this board, it’s just something that came through our doors.

  

The Hotchkiss shot 45-70 cartridges or 45-55 carbine. 

Curious minds want to know!

What did the Cartridge Board sell for?

Anthony

Chad@GalleryFirearms said
From what I gathered the 40-65 was a chamber option in the 1884 catalog on the M1883. The internet seems to think it was never actually produced?

Yeah don’t trust everything you read on the internet. The 40-65 W.C.F. cartridge was produced for a long time and I suspect the board merely labeled it Hotchkiss, but that they’re the same cartridge. I’d have to compare the size of the cartridge on the board with a 40-65 W.C.F. Did you happen to take good pictures of said cartridge?

Head-stamped and earlier pre-1885 un-head-stamped versions of the 40-65 WCF exist.  

The .43 spanish cartridge are both there, patched and grooved. It’s super interesting to me the amount of international volume that was done even in that time period.   

Depending on the year, especially in the early days, Winchester likely would not have been able to survive if it wasn’t for international / foreign sales. 

I’m not seeing where the photos posted.

Maverick said
Here is what the back of your 1884 Board is supposed to look like.

Sincerely,

Maverick

  

Maverick, what kind of wood is behind that paper?

Deg saidMaverick, what kind of wood is behind that paper?  

I’ve never seen any wood behind the paper. Which is why I stated I believe the board was remounted or reframed previously. I’ve only seen the a board that I guess is a type of compressed paper particle board material. So the way they constructed those boards, from what I’ve observed, was on the front a lithograph printed sheet with the scenes and calibers printed on them. Then they poked two holes through the particle board with the wires that are attached to the board dummy cartridges and hand tied on with the back covered with another piece of paper covering over the tied wires.

You can see on the back of this board where they were tied back onto the board.

Sincerely,

Maverick

P.S. Would love to see pictures of any boards constructed differently.

TXGunNut said
I seem to recall a cartridge board with kraft paper covering the wires & such in the back but can’t recall the variation. The paper was in poor condition but the rest of the board was pretty cool, IIRC.

Mike  

I don’t necessarily know that I would call it Kraft paper, as I don’t know if it is or not. If you look closely at the photo of the back of the board I posted. You can see the edges of the paper that was glued to the board which covering the wires.