Originally Posted by
Savvy Jack
The call-out "Pistol Primers" doesn't seem to come into play until the 1970's as far as being printed in catalogs. They were always labeled as just numbers on the primer boxes. However, during the early 1980's, the letters "WLP" etc were printed on the primer boxes and the numbers omitted.
The Large Primers were adapted to the 44-40 (replacing the use of the small primers) starting in the late 1920's with the introduction of the "Staynless" primers.
The 44-40/38-40 really started getting kicked in the face by the mid 1970's. In the catalogs both were still offered as a rifle and revolver cartridge. In the rifle section, the 38-40 and 44-40 were the only rifle cartridges that used the "7-111" primers noted by Winchester-Western and shortly into the 1980's, as "WLP".
With the reduced power loads over the years, and use of what was then called "pistol primers", the "-40 duos" were inadvertently pushed into the "Pistol Caliber" group once again but this time by the younger generation of shooters.