In the late 1880s, Winchester built one or more 70 caliber double rifle(s). Depending on who you read/believe either one gun was built on the 1887 Shotgun action, one gun was built as a single shot or a small number of doubles (5-6) were built. The cartridge showed up on the 1888 Winchester Cartridge board and a small amount also as boxed cartridges. The official cartridge designation was 70-150-900, meaning a 70 caliber bullet, 150 grains of black powder and a 900 grain bullet. Muzzle velocity was said to have been around 1200 fps. The case looked like a slightly necked full length brass 12 gauge shell but used a large rifle primer instead of a shotgun primer. No one knows what happened to the gun(s) and the cartridges are quite rare. In the picture below, the first cartridge on the left is the 70-150-900. For size comparison, the cartridge next to it is a 577 Snider round! Recoil must have been "significant"!
