The .40-65 Winchester (also called the .40-65 Winchester and Marlin) was an American

rifle A rifle is a long-barreled firearm designed for accurate shooting, with a barrel that has a helical pattern of grooves (rifling) cut into the bore wall. In keeping with their focus on accuracy, rifles are typically designed to be held with bo ...

cartridge. Introduced in 1887 for the

Winchester Winchester is a cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government district, at the western end of the South Downs National Park, on the River Itchen. It is south-west of Lo ...

Model 1886, and available in Winchester single shots and in the

Marlin Marlins are fish from the family Istiophoridae, which includes about 10 species. A marlin has an elongated body, a spear-like snout or bill, and a long, rigid dorsal fin which extends forward to form a crest. Its common name is thought to deri ...

Model 1895, it was "a further effort to put more steam" in

repeating rifle A repeating rifle is a single-barreled rifle capable of repeated discharges between each ammunition reloads. This is typically achieved by having multiple cartridges stored in a magazine (within or attached to the gun) and then fed individually in ...

cartridges.Barnes, and Amber, p.94. In the modern era, the cartridge has gained favor for metallic silhouette shooting and Black Powder Cartridge Rifle matches where it serves as a low-recoil alternative to the common 45–70. It was commercially available in

black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have ...

and smokeless varieties until around 1935, and can be handloaded by reforming .45-70 brass.

Nomenclature

The nomenclature of the period was based on several properties of the cartridge: * .40: nominal caliber in inches: 0.40 inches (10.2 mm); actual caliber was .406 in ( mm)Barnes, and Amber, p.123. * 65 : weight of propellant (

black powder Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, carbon (in the form of charcoal) and potassium nitrate ( saltpeter). ...

) charge, in

grains A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit (caryopsis) – with or without an attached hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and legume ...

: 65 grains (4.2 g)

References

Pistol and rifle cartridges Winchester Repeating Arms Company cartridges {{ammo-stub

Nomenclature

See also

References