In article , Ogden Johnson III
wrote:

(Elmshoot) wrote:

When did the turm "Winchester" come into being to mean that you were out of
ammo.
I was trying to explain the term to my daughter and got to thinking
that maybe
it has a long history. During my time from 76-94 it was used by the
attack guys
as well to signify they were out of all ordnance.

purest, unqualified, speculation possible

Probably dates back at least to Custer at Little Big Horn, with a
lot of guys yelling that they were running out of Winchester
ammo. Don't you think?


:-D
Good guess, but the cavalry were using Trap Door Springfield carbines
and the cartridges came from government arsenals, not private purchase.
I don't think Winchester were able to chamber the .45-70 in a repeater
until well after Little Big Horn.

/purest, unqualified, speculation possible

[Second thought. Latest historic research suggest that the
Indians had both more and better {i.e., more recent, and
repeaters to boot} rifles than the 7thCav with their CW-era
breechloaders. Mebbe it was the Indians that were running out of
Winchester ammo.]

Indians were armed with Winchesters in .44-40 and .44 Henry.
More rapid firing, but also more limited range. Circumstances seem to indicate
that the troopers were simply overwhelmed by numbers.
But everyone knew that already.

--
Harry Andreas
Engineering raconteur