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Major Quality Control Damage here!! Edited with correct scale.
In Winchester’s 1873 catalog, they share the targets from the 1866 Swiss trials.
Winchester calls out a basic 6 foot x 6 foot over-all size main target,
Large Squares = 6 Inches, Small Squares = 1/10 of 12 inches.
Should translate to… 1 13/64″ or 1.2030″ 1.2030″ x 5 small squares = one big 6″ square!!! (Lord I think!!)
Here is what I came up with trying to size up the targets.
I don’t understand your point? If I am looking at this correctly almost all shots hit in a 1 ft. X 1 ft. square at 300 paces?
The majority of the 66’s (44 Henry) hit’s were 1′ x 1.5′ at 250 yards (300 paces). Much better than my 44-40 hits with as scope
Here are the targets from the 1866 Switzerland Trials for the Winchester Model 1866 44 Henry. Also included are amateur’s targets from the Winchester armory. As seen in Winchester’s 1873 catalog
I decided to try and replicate the group. Although the cartridges are different in all aspects, why not? It was fun.
300 Paces = 250 yards. I used 265 yards.
I do believe this proves that the range and accuracy of the 44 Henry and the 44-40 cartridges used at The Battle Of The Little Bighorn were underestimated and over looked by nearly everyone.
My research results here:
https://sites.google.com/view/44winchester/chasing-the-44-40/winchester-history/little-bighorn
Maybe some collectors can shed some light on the following
The Battle of Königgrätz
Say what? During the time between 14 June and 22 July 1866, the Prussians fought the Austrians. These battles were well observed by the Swiss. It was here that the Swiss decided that they were in need of modern breech-loading weapons.
The Swiss made a Decree that they would find and arm their sharpshooters and Army with breech-loading rifles on 20 July 1866.
During the 6th and 8th days of October, Winchester had already shipped the Model of 1866 to Switzerland for the Swiss Trials. On these two days the aforementioned targets were made.
On the 12th of October the Swiss government proposed an order for 8,000 repeaters for their best outfits but soon changed the proposal to between 90,000 and 110,000 repeaters to arm all of their soldiers. A condition to the contract would be that Winchester would also provide all of the tooling necessary for the 66’s to be manufactured in Switzerland. Winchester could not or would not agree and offered some sort of counteroffer with the Henry rifle. The deal fell quiet and eventually Winchester backed off. I am unsure of the details.
The Report To The Commission For The Introduction Of The Breech-Loading Arms was dated Oct 1866 and published in Winchester’s 1873 catalog. The information I posted above is not included in the report. The report talks about the Winchester Rifle – A. The Trajectory, B. The Precision and C. The Rapidity of Fire.
Now you know the rest of the story.
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