To Grizzly, I'm glad you like to reloading tool. So do I.
To John Boy and others who may be interested. The sizes on the "naked" bullet are as follows: length, .835, diameter as ejected from the mold, .458. There are two good reasons why in my opinion, Winchester would not have expected their customers to paper patch the bullets cast from either the companies 1st or 2nd model molds. First, the paper patch bullet would have to be loaded as a single shot. Even if it would chamber, you couldn't load it through the loading gate without tearing up the patch. The very selling point of these model guns (model 1873 and 1876) was the fact that they were repeaters. Loading them as single shots with paper patch bullets, defeats the repeater idea. Second, since the bullet I've cast from my 2nd model mold is .458 in diameter, it seems unlikely that a paper patch would work very well. All of the original 1876 model Winchesters I've owned, ranged from .457 to .459 in bore size. The only exception I have found is my Mountie carbine which is .455. This is however, a late gun and well after the production dates of these first two Winchester molds.
The introduction dates you list are absolutely correct. However, I don't think the .45-70 or the .45-90 could be included, because these were not production calibers for the 1876 model. There are in fact, a very few early 1876 models in the Winchester ledgers, listed by serial number, with the caliber designation as .45-70. It is believed that this was nothing more than an error in listing each gun. A couple of these serial numbers have actually surfaced as guns that still exist today and both were found to be chambered for .45-75 WCF. No guns in the entire warehouse ledgers are listed as being .45-90 caliber.
I have to agree that this forum is exciting and interesting. Yes, it does beat the SASS Wire in my opinion.
Adios,
Buck