I know this information may be taking away from the main topic of how effective was it but I was wanting to back up a wee bit to the very beginning of the 73' and is why I included the Henry and 66' information. Tests conducted in Switzerland in 1866 showed 12"x12" target groups at 300 paces. Effectiveness then was better than now but documents prove all three were very effective. Aside from the loading and repeated shooting of 14 cartridges, accuracy was effective as well. Power effectiveness is harder to prove and all we have is the Indian wars and hunting stories. The Indians proved they were very effective according to the archaeological mapping of Indian positions around the Bighorn Battlefield. Much of the artifacts were long gone as well as many artifacts discovered on private lands in the same areas. This map of the Custer Last Stand area shows the locations off all of the artifacts found during the 1984 survey. The cluster in the upper right Calhoun Hill) are Henry/66 items. The 73's were there, just not many...they were still new.
First...the earliest, first style 44 Winchester ammunition box shows a photo of the 44 cartridge and were used from 1873 to 1874.This gives us a time frame that would make one believe all early ammunition would have been used up. The cartridge on the box shows the use of the Milbank primer (factory dimple) but a bullet has no exposed lube groove. It is reported that the 44-40 cases recovered were of the Milbank primed cases but the battle was late enough to have used ammunition from the second label style box with an exposed lube groove and boxer primers. Only a few people have actually seen the artifacts. The only three 1st style boxes known do not even have the Milbank primed cases in them and they were manufactured only for a few months. The second style box manufactured between 1874 to 1876 shows a boxer primed case but also shows a bullet with an exposed lube groove. This should have been the common items found date wise. How many of you have actually seen a 44-40 cartridge with an exposed bullet lube groove? Indicating that it may have used the same bullets as were used in the 66'. This is were I just don't know the answers. We do see the 44 Henry with exposed lube grooves so just maybe.....
This early 44 Winchester 73' cartridge shows the same bullet design with the exposed lube groove as the Henry Flat.
Now we just have to figure out what bullet was originally used in the Winchester 73'.
Winchester Swaged bullets found in the 1875 catalog do not appear to be the same leading me to believe that the early 44-40 bullets were heavier and longer than the 1875 swaged 200gr bullets. Maybe the Henry 220gr or 225g bullets. This theory would be more in line to why I was told the bullets they found that may have matched the Winchester 73....were 220gr bullets. Since they could not confirm, they listed all bullets founf to be from the Henry or the 66'.