| .38-72 Winchester center fire | |
| Origin: | United States |
| Type: | Rifle |
| Designer: | Winchester Repeating Arms Company |
| Manufacturer: | Winchester Repeating Arms Company |
| Production Date: | 1895–1936 |
| Case Type: | Rimmed, straight |
| Bullet: | .378 |
| Neck: | .397 |
| Shoulder: | .427 |
| Base: | .461 |
| Rim Dia: | .519 |
| Case Length: | 2.58 |
| Length: | 3.16 |
| Rifling: | 22 |
| Primer: | large rifle |
| Bw1: | 275 |
| Vel1: | 1480 |
| En1: | 1337 |
| Test Barrel Length: | 24 |
| Balsrc: | The Rifle in America[1] |
The .38-72 Winchester, also known as .38-72 WCF is a rimmed, bottleneck centerfire rifle cartridge introduced in 1895 for the Winchester 1895 lever-action rifle.[2]
The original Winchester factory load consisted of a 275gr bullet at 1480ft/s.[1] This straight-walled cartridge case was designed for black powder rather than smokeless powder.
Besides the Winchester 1895 lever-action, the .38-72 WCF was chambered in the Winchester 1885 single-shot rifle.
With the introduction of superior cartridges designed for smokeless powder, the .38-72 WCF became obsolete and was soon dropped as an optional caliber for the Winchester Model 1895 and 1885 [3] Production of loaded cartridges by Winchester ceased in 1936.