THE PEERLESS SMOKELESS WINCHESTER

eplacing ages-old black powder propellants with cleaner, safer and more powerful smokeless powder—formulated in 1884 by French chemist Paul Marie Eugène Vielle—revolutionized the firearms industry at the close of the 19th century. In the 1890s American gun makers jumped on the bandwagon that had started in Europe, designing rifles, pistols and shotguns that could handle cartridges packed with the nitrocellulose-based propellants. The U.S. Army set the precedent when it adopted the Krag-Jorgensen Model 1892 bolt-action repeating rifle, chambered for the .30-40 Krag smokeless cartridge. Most U.S.-based firearms manufacturers then upgraded