The 1880 model was the first of the Winchester tools to be marked with the company name. Not all 1880 tools are so marked, but most of them are. Only a few early 1st type tools have no company marking. In addition, the 1880 tool was the first which was not made as a casting. Both the 1874 and 1875 tools were formed of cast iron with only the extractor plate, and associated pins being machined. The 1880 tools were all nicely machined and blued. The mechanism by which cartridges were extracted from the seating chamber was fundamentally changed with the 1880 tools. No extraction plate was used, rather the rim of the cartridge was lifted by two claw-like extensions of the end opposite the handles.
The four distinct types or "issues" of the 1880 tools are quite different from each other. The first type has large, spoon-shaped handles not unlike those seen with the 1875 tools. The spoon-shaped handles were difficult and expensive to machine, and were not really needed for efficient functioning of the tools, so were dropped after only about two years of production. The 2nd, 3rd, and 4th styles all had flat sides with flat-sided handles. The 3rd type incorporated an adjustable seating chamber and was the first of the Winchester tools to do so. The adjustable chamber allowed for different weights of bullets to be seated correctly. The 2nd and 4th types differ by the 4th having an integral Berdan decapping chisel while the 2nd has none.