From old memory (and hands remember for a long time what the head forgot!) It seemed to me very convenient to hold it in my hands. It didn't seem heavy to me either. True, in this case he was without cartridges and without a bayonet.
But then I got into a special school, started learning English from the second grade, and very soon I read the inscription "Winchester Model 1895" on it. That is, the gun was American ?! And then the GDR film "Sons of the Big Dipper" was shown on the screens of our cinemas, and that's all - I realized how lucky I was. And my grandfather, when I asked him about this, then told me that the Winchester was given to him in 1918, when he, as the head of the food detachment, was collecting bread in the villages. Then he rearranged it under the hunting cartridges, and so he stayed with him, as a keepsake. Then, when the laws on weapons in the USSR were tightened, I had to sell it, but … the memory of the “first gun” and shooting from it, of course, I still have.
Full ammunition: Winchester, clip and bayonet. Is that the belt is missing.
And when once again my friend-collector of weapons called me and invited me to "the same Winchester", I went to him immediately, I really wanted to hold it in my hands. And he held it! And I photographed everything, as far as the conditions of outdoor photography allowed. So our series, as you can see, has reached right up to the number "25". In my opinion, it's just great that I managed to talk about so many rifles, even if not for all of them, unfortunately, I managed to hold on. “Buy,” I say, “a Mondragon rifle, I really want to dig in it!” "Do you know its price ?!" - followed by his answer, so what is the same as with the hard drive? we can hardly get to know her. However, on VO there was a story about her.
This is how he looks in full growth.
So, what was the American Winchester M1895 magazine rifle with lever-action reloading, developed by the famous American gunsmith John Mozhes Browning and adopted by Winchester in 1895? They prepared her for participation in the competition for the best rifle for the National Guard, which was held in 1896. However, the first place was taken by the rifle of the company "Vavage", which presented an original design, also controlled by a lever, but … with a drum magazine - the Savage Model 1895. The rifle of the company "Winchester" took only second place. Outraged, the Winchesters accused the organizers of the competition of falsifying the results and achieved their goal - the National Guard revoked the contract for the supply of rifles, but the firm did not receive an order for the Winchesters!
The receiver, the hammer that had to be cocked before each shot, the clip guides and the famous Henry's bracket.
In an effort to interest potential buyers, "Winchester" has developed several models of rifles for different cartridges, both army model and for hunting big game. Moreover, it is interesting that for a fairly long time of its production, and the M1895 was produced from 1895 to 1940, its modifications appeared for a variety of cartridges, including 6 mm USN,.30 Army,.30-03,.30-06,.303 British, 7.62 x 54mm R,.35 Winchester,.38-72 Winchester,.40-72 Winchester and.405 Winchester. Also known is the Winchester.50 express variant, which was custom-made by US President Theodore Roosevelt.
A conventional frame sight.
The M1895 rifle was the first rifle proposed by Winchester to have a box magazine rather than its traditional tubular magazine under the barrel, with a central box magazine rather than a tubular under-barrel magazine. The new magazine made it possible to safely use powerful rifle cartridges of central ignition with a pointed bullet, which was completely impossible when using the old tubular magazine due to the possibility of piercing the primer of the previous cartridge with the bullet of the next one. Well, since cartridges with pointed bullets appeared, this design of the store was not suitable for them.
Bayonet mount and front swivel.
This model became the most powerful rifle in the Winchester line of rifles, but it is generally believed that this attempt was still not very successful, since the M1895 retained all the basic design decisions of the previous generation, and times have already changed. And by the way, the M1895 was the last rifle with a Henry Bracket bolt action, which was developed by John Browning. He no longer dealt with such weapons!
The shutter is open.
The history of the M1895 is quite interesting, and she also, in general, had a chance to fight. First, the US Army made an order for 10 thousand M1895.30 / 40 Krag caliber for testing it during the Spanish-American War. But the war ended before the first batch of these rifles arrived at the place of use. This batch of rifles was marked with the .30 U. S. Army”over the chamber, and they all had a bayonet similar to the bayonet of the M1895 Lee Navy rifle. Then one hundred M1895 was transferred to the 33rd Volunteer Infantry Regiment for testing it in a combat situation during the Philippine-American War (interestingly, the report of December 25, 1899 emphasized that the.30 / 40 Krag cartridge is very good for the army). But the remaining 9,900 rifles were sold to the M. Harley Company, which in turn sold them to Cuba in 1906, from where they came to Mexico, where … the rebels liked the peasant general Pancho Villa very much!
Magazine feed and cartridge fed into the barrel.
When, during the First World War, emissaries of the tsarist government went around the world in search of rifles, this sample, which the company promised to produce in the required quantities, turned out to be very useful. For the period from 1915 to 1917, about 300 thousand M1895 rifles were ordered for the Russian Imperial Army. It was a very large order and, of course, it brought big profits to this company. Although, according to the requirements of the Russian side, a number of changes had to be made in the design of the rifle. First of all, it was necessary to change the barrel for the bullet of the Russian cartridge 7, 62 × 54 mm R, replace the chamber and magazine. The second important change was the two guides attached to the receiver, which were needed so that the magazine could be loaded using standard clips from the Mosin M1891 rifle. In addition, rifles produced for Russia had a slightly elongated barrel and a bayonet mount. Accordingly, the increased length of the barrel forced the forend to be lengthened. That is, if we consider that 426 thousand M1895 rifles were manufactured in total (from 1895 to 1931), and almost 300 thousand were manufactured under the Russian cartridge, it is not surprising that such rifles are still found today, as we have in Russia. and abroad! However, all this order did not reach Russia, but from 291 to 293 thousand rifles were delivered, which were used both during the First World War and during the Civil War.
Of course, purely psychologically it is very strange when, when reloading, the rifle "unfolds" in your hands in this way. It's strange somehow …
It is believed that if we compare the Mosin rifle and the Winchester M1895 rifle, the latter will have a slightly higher rate of fire just due to reloading with the Henry's bracket, even though the trigger had to be manually cocked every time before cocking the shutter. However, the M1895 rifles, according to experts, were somewhat more sensitive to contamination, and their reloading with the Henry's bracket in the prone position, as well as in the trench, was rather difficult. The mass of the American rifle was 4.1 kg, the length was 1100 mm, with a barrel length of 710 mm. Accordingly, the weight of the "three-ruler" was 4.5 kg, the length of the infantry rifle was 1306 mm, the barrel length was 729 mm (infantry). That is, ours was a little longer and heavier, but surpassed the "American" in reliability and ease of maintenance.
There is no upper barrel lining on the barrel. Have the Americans really decided to save on wood ?!
Interestingly, the Americans delivered the first batch of rifles later than the appointed time, since the conversion of the rifle to the standards of the Russian army required more work than expected. For some reason, it turned out to be especially difficult to develop such a simple part as the guides for the Mosin clip, which were fastened to the receiver with screws.
The stock and neck of the stock are traditional and very comfortable.
But what is this mark on the butt (the second on the receiver), experts are still arguing. It is believed that this is the stigma of Russian military acceptance, but whether this is so is not known for sure.
This is the same stamp on the receiver on the right.
In addition, the Winchester firm considered that the Russian military inspectors were too picky: they require standard tests for the imperial army (although they passed the tests at the manufacturer), as well as tests using cartridges produced in Russia, and not in the United States. … They rejected a number of rifles due to the allegedly low quality of the wood of the rifle used to make the stock. The Americans considered all this to be unreasonable demands, however, the rifles, nevertheless, were not accepted by our side and they were sold to civilians in the United States.
Well, here everything is written about this rifle, where it was released, by whom and when, as well as what its number is. Comfortable…
The M1895 rifles, which arrived in Russia, went into service with the troops stationed in the Baltic States and Finland in the imperial Russian army, in particular, they were used by parts of the Latvian riflemen. It is believed that at least nine thousand survivors since that time, the USSR sent M1895 in 1936 as military aid to the Republican government in Spain.
Bayonet handle with lock button on the head.
To the stop, that is, to the very front sight, we did not manage to put on a bayonet, apparently, time affects even the "pieces of iron". As you can see, the bayonet is attached to the M1895 under the barrel, but I personally do not like this bayonet mounting, although it is quite widespread. The fact is that with this position of the blade it is good for them to stab in the stomach, but between the ribs it may not go through and the wound will be superficial. It was nevertheless necessary to provide for a side mount, so that the bayonet blade lay flat. Then he will enter into life without difficulty, and between the ribs …
When it comes to hunting modifications of the M1895, they usually remember such an American president as Theodore Roosevelt, who simply adored this rifle and traveled with it on a safari to Africa in 1909. But it was used by many other famous hunters, such as Marty and the Wasp Johnson, Charles Cottar, the writer Stephen Edward White, Garrit Forbes and Elmer Keith, who advised her to the future President Roosevelt.
It seemed to me that the bayonet certainly affects the balance of the rifle, but not very much.
It is not at all easy to recharge it, wielding this very "Henry's bracket". As a child, I loved to do this, playing "war", lying on the floor at home … on a soft carpet. And I was very uncomfortable, I had to roll on my side! And what was it like to do this to soldiers in greatcoats on the ground under the fire of German Mauser ?!
In Africa, Roosevelt used two M1895s (both chambered for.405 Winchester) and bought two more for his son: one under the same cartridge and the other under.30-03 Springfield). In his memoirs, Roosevelt called these rifles his "talisman from lions" and praised them very highly. Interestingly, in honor of the 100th anniversary of the reign of President Theodore Roosevelt, Winchester has released special commemorative rifles chambered for.405 Winchester,.30-06 Springfield and.30-40 Krag. And in 2009, two rifles were made to commemorate his famous African safari. Moreover, although the hallmarks on them were Browning and Winchester, they were made by the Japanese company Miroku Corp.
Advertising poster of the Winchester firm. The upper sample is exactly the one that my grandfather had. Only not branded, but reprocessing.
