I like to think that I have the most of the big picture when it comes to the the evolution of the Newton barrels. I've been a long time wildcatter, shooting a .220 Dean (blown out swift), .256 Sabad (Vom Hofe), .30 Reis, .256 Newton, and I recently acquired a ".30 Nedgley" barrel by Neidner Rifle Corp. but I haven't started on it yet. The area where I live is wildcat country, maybe because of Newton's influence on local interests, but whatever the reason, Western New York has been the home of well over a dozen wildcats. Most notably the 25.06 (.25 Newton to .25 Neidner to 25.06 Rem) .338 Winchester (.33 Newton with a belt) and 6.5 06 (.256 Newton)
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That being said, it's important to note that Newton abandoned the .25 caliber bullet for the 6.5, not because of the liability of the .25 getting into the wrong guns as some have suggested, but because Mauser, Steyr, and Sauer where already tooled for 6.5. ... WW I, and the tremors that led up to it, created enough difficulties, that ultimately Newton changed horses mid-stream and abandoned importation from Mauser and Sauer, and just imported a rifling machine from Steyr (in 6.5). The machine arrived in several shipments of parts and upon assembly, no one could get to work correctly. In a letter to Newtons investors, he explained that one of his large expenses was the high cost of paying his "model maker" (Emil Flues) to work exclusively trying to make the machine work. After months of wrestling with it, Newton brought in a barrel expert (Harry Pope) to work out the remaining kinks...which he did...and to this day, if you know what your looking for, you can still buy a Newton rifle, hand finished by Flues with Pope rifling.
