I recently read Charles Pate’s book on the S&W American pistols.  He went over the early years of primer development and the Rollin White impact on center fire cartridges.  Got me interested.  So I started putting together some info.  I’m not really ready to post all the info but here are some info on the first Winchester primers.

The earliest primers Winchester used for the first center fire round, 44 WCF, were Milbank primers.  These look like the firing pin has already hit them.  The next primer was one with an O. F. Winchester Patent.  Both of these were used for a very short time. The next primer, which actually worked well was one Patented by Gardner.