Any one know what a winchester 2 and one half primer is for.

[zipcode]

   Found an old brass tin of winchester two and a half primers , and dont know if they are for rifel or pistol.

[Siskiyou]

A quick search of a few resource show that Remington and Peters used 2 ½ for Large Pistol primers .210”.  You have evidence of Winchester using the 2 ½ identifier.  It would not be the first time Winchester has changed its primer identifiers.  Somewhere down the path Winchester switched from numbers to letters.  Must be those marketing guys.

[sr sawyer]

In my oldest Lyman manual (1967) it lists Winchester primers as follws:

Large Rifle 8 1/2
Small Rifle  6 1/2
Large Pistol 7
Small Pistol  1 1/2

The only reference to a 2 1/2 I can find is Remington and it is a Large Pistol primer.  These could possibly been
mis-labeled.  If they are brass colored I would think they are Remington primers.

Ken

[OR-E-Gun Bill]

Found these on a vintage firearms auction website that are dated 1878. No idea on what their use is (was).



Besides the No. 2 1/2 the other three tins, a little hard to see in this picture, have No. 1 1/2, No. 2 and No. 8 W
Bill