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smaller as in diameter, or smaller as in lighter weight?
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Yes they were slightly smaller in diameter and of course lighter like 110gr in 38 Special IIRC. The slightly smaller diameter allowed a little higher velocity without spiking the pressure. The English have been doing that same thing with their rifle barrels for a long time claiming lower pressures. The American thought is to have a tight bullet to bore fit on rifles.
I suspect that Marlin was thinking the same thing when they made lever action rifles in 44 Mag with slightly oversized bores. When Marlin made these rifles the SAAMI spec for the 44 mag round was higher than it is today. Marlin couldn't control the pressure factory loads were loaded to but they could help lower the pressure by using a slightly larger bore. The SAAMI mag pressure was on the ragged edge of what the 1894 action could take before it would loosen up.
This worked fine with jacketed bullets but when the Cowboy action shooters came along with lead bullets it didn't work so well. Not unless you loaded a slightly over sized lead bullet to fill the bore. Now the pressures have been lowered and Marlin can make tighter bores.
Super Vel did the same thing by using slightly undersized bullets and got much higher velocities in 38 Special duty guns without wrecking the guns. The cops had a better round and no new guns were needed.
https://www.supervelammunition.com/our-story