Browning Winchester Developments
John Browning developed from 1885 several Winchester rifles such as the Model 1885, a single shot , the lever action Model 1886, 1892, 1894 and 1895, the pump action Model 1887, 1897, and the small-bore -Repetiergewehr Model 1890 with the same locking system.
Start of cooperation
The reason for the beginning of the cooperation between Browning and the Winchester Repeating Arms Company can be traced back to a patent infringement by the Browning Brothers in Ogden (Utah) , since a cartridge reloading device manufactured by Browning is in function and structure that of a device developed and patented by Winchester corresponded.
Winchester sent Vice President and Manager TB Bennett to Ogden to clear the matter up and negotiate a solution. In the Browning rifle shop, M. Bennett saw a single-shot rifle with drop block, developed by John Moses Browning and his brother Matthew and patented in October 1879. Bennett showed interest in the weapon and suggested that Browning mass-produce it with Winchester. This first agreement between Browning Brothers and the Winchester Repeating Arms Company was signed by Winchester on May 17, 1883, and confirmed by Browning on June 1, 1883. The collaboration between John Moses Browning and the Winchester company lasted until the turn of the century, and the most successful lever action rifles emerged from it.
The advantages of the new developments over the predecessors manufactured by Winchester, the lever action rifles Model 1873 and 1876 with knee joint lock, were the improved locking and the shorter breech housing, which allowed longer barrels with the same length of the weapon.
The single loader model 1885
The first Winchester rifle developed by Browning was the single-shot Winchester model 1885. Except for details, the weapon corresponded to the weapon developed in Ogden with a vertically opening drop block with ejector, which is operated with a loading lever located below. Civil weapons were manufactured in various calibers as high-wall and low-wall Mod. 1885 from 1885 to 1913. A total of 100,352 pieces were produced in various calibers, from the rimfire caliber .22 to the central fire caliber 50–110 Express.
Shortly after the turn of the century, US Colonel CB Winder developed a .22 caliber training rifle based on the M 1895 High-Wall with a military stock. In 1918/19, 11,419 of these "Winder Muskets" were made. They were used by the US Ordnance and, after the war, by the American NRA (National Rifle Association) as training and sporting rifles.
Lever action rifle model 1886
In 1886, Winchester brought out the first bolt-action rifle designed by John Moses Browning, which later also took cartridges with low-smoke powder . The development by Browning replaced the lever system with a knee joint lock, the locking of the Henry rifle and its successors with a much more resilient block lock . At the rear of the lock housing and on the lock (picture), there were vertical millings on both sides, in which locking blocks blocked the lock. To reload, the locking blocks were pulled down by actuating the loading lever, the bolt ran backwards, the empty case was ejected, at the same time the cartridge feeder folded up, the next cartridge was fed in and the bolt locked, the weapon was ready to fire. The 1886 model fired various cartridges from the .33 WCF hunting caliber to the .45-70 army cartridge and up to .50 large game cartridges . 156,599 pieces of the 1886 model were produced between 1886 and 1935. Of a modernized variant, the Model 71, 47,254 pieces in caliber .348 WCF were produced between 1935 and 1958.
Lever action rifle model 1892
The little sister of the Model 86, the Winchester Model 1892, followed in 1892. Function and locking system were structurally the same as that of the Model 1886 developed by Browning; Since it fired shorter cartridges, the breech block was shorter, the weapon was considerably lighter than the Model 86. Like the Model 1873, it fired revolver cartridges of calibers .44-40 WCF , .38-40 WCF and .32-20 WCF and later the .25-20 WCF . In contrast to the Model 73, modern cartridges loaded with smokeless powder could also be fired. Of the Winchester Mod 92 and its later variants Mod 53 and Mod 65, 1,001,324 units were produced by 1932.
The Winchester lever action rifle model 1894
The Winchester Model 1894 rifle was the last lever action rifle with tubular magazine designed by John Moses Browning for Winchester.
The locking system was the same as that of its predecessors M 86 and M 92 except for details. In contrast to these, the locking block behind the lock is one-piece. In addition, the bottom of the lock housing is no longer closed and round, but can be folded down at the rear. During the loading movement, the bottom is folded down by the loading lever attached to its rear end.
The Model 94 initially fired .32-40 and .38-55 black powder cartridges, which were later also loaded smokelessly. From 1895/96 the modern .32 Winchester Special , the classic .30-30 Winchester and, for small game, the .25-35 Winchester cartridge. The magazine of the carbine, barrel length 20 inches, holds 6 cartridges, the magazine of the rifle, barrel length 24 inches, holds 8 cartridges.
The Model 94 became famous at the turn of the century for its use in the Klondike gold rush in Alaska , where the weapon always worked even in the freezing cold.
From 1924 the Model 94 hunting rifles - not the carbine - were offered as the Model 55 and from 1933 as the Model 64. They fired the same ammunition as the Model 94, with the Model 64 the .219 Zipper cartridge was added, all smokeless middle cartridges. By 1932, around one million Winchester Model 94 weapons had been produced, and by the end of 1963 the weapon number had reached 2,586,000.
The manufacture of weapons manufactured from 1964 to 1983 was changed. The lock housing was no longer forged and milled, but made of sintered steel, other parts were made directly as precision castings instead of milled, which made production much cheaper. The Winchester 94 was the only Winchester in classic form - especially in the .30-30 Winchester caliber suitable for hunting - to be launched on the market by 2006, copies from Italy and Japan are still available today.
Lever action rifle model 1895
With the previous Winchester bolt action rifles with tubular magazine, pointed cartridges could not be fired, the danger of magazine detonators was too great. From 1895, the Winchester Repeating Arms Company therefore produced a lever action rifle developed by Browning with a box magazine for modern pointed cartridges. Depending on the type of ammunition (case diameter), the magazine held 4 or 5 rounds. The locking system was the same as that of the Model 94 except that the locking block did not cover the entire rear surface of the breech. Between 1895 and 1931, 485,881 Winchester Model 1895 were manufactured as hunting rifles, infantry rifles and military carbines, and sales ceased in 1938.
The most famous owner of a Winchester Mod 95 was the big game hunter and later US President Theodore Roosevelt . In addition to powerful hunting cartridges such as the .35 Winchester and the big game cartridge .405 Winchester , the rifle was also offered for various army cartridges such as the .303 British . Great Britain used the model in 1895 in the Second Boer War (1899–1902) .
The carbine with a 22-inch barrel in the American army caliber .30-40 Krag and .30-06 Springfield was used by the Texas Rangers - who provided their weapons themselves - and other police units.
In 1915 the Russian army ordered around 300,000 of these weapons in the Russian military caliber 7.62 × 54 mm R , which also fired the Mosin-Nagant rifle. As with the Mosin-Nagant rifle, the magazine could be filled with the help of a loading strip or with individual cartridges. It held five cartridges. About 200,000 pieces of the weapon were delivered until the outbreak of the October Revolution in 1917, when the US government banned further arms exports. Some of the Russian weapons ended up in Finland , where they were used in the Finnish Civil War (1918) and the Winter War (1939-1940). In the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) the Republicans also benefited from supplies from the Soviet Union.
Lever-action bolt-action shotgun model 1887 and 1901
The 1887 model was the first bolt-action shotgun produced by Winchester. Around 64,800 of these weapons were produced as lever action rifles for black powder shotgun cartridges . Production of the successor, the 1901 model for smokeless powder, continued until 1920, with a total of 79,400 lever action rifles made.
When Winchester John M. Browning proposed the development of a lever-action bolt-action shotgun, the latter was already busy developing a forend bolt-action shotgun. After lengthy negotiations, he announced the development of the lever bolt action shotgun proposed by Winchester, although he doubted its success.
The function of the drop block lock is similar to that of the Spencer rifle , like this one it is unlocked and opened by a lever. The tube magazine holds 5 rounds and is loaded from above when the shutter is open. Two additional cartridges can be loaded, one on the feeder and one in the chamber. The model 1887 in caliber 12 and 10 was offered in series, prototypes for large-caliber rifle cartridges are known.
In contrast to the 1887 model, which did not have a safety device, the 1901 model had a safety device installed that blocked the trigger guard during reloading before the breech block was locked. In order not to negatively affect sales of the 1897 forearm bolt action shotguns, the 1901 model was only produced in caliber 10.
The barrels were often shortened for use by the police and in prisons, and the butt was also reworked. It is not known whether these changes were made by the manufacturer or by gunsmiths.
Model 1890 forend repeater
From 1890 the forearm repeater model 1890 (improved in 1906) in caliber .22, patented by Browning in 1887, came onto the market, of which 849,000 were produced by 1932. The weapon has a tilting block lock and a tubular magazine located under the barrel. The breech locks with two blocks on the front of the breech block. To unlock it is opened at the front (picture). The system has been continuously developed and adapted to the new .22 cartridges. An improved version with an increased magazine capacity came on the market in 1932 under the model designation 62. 158,000 of these weapons had been sold by 1943.
Forend bolt-action shotgun model 1893/1897
The smooth- barreled Model 1893 bolt-action shotgun for black powder cartridges developed by Browning was only sold in a few copies due to the emergence of smokeless powder; just four years later, an improved variant, the Model 1897 for modern cartridges, was offered. The tube magazines of both models hold 5 rounds. While the model 1893 was only produced in caliber 12, the model 97 was available in various shot calibers with the exception of caliber 10.
The function of the locking system is shown in the attached illustration. The ejection opening of the Model 93 pointed upwards, the cases were ejected upwards, which annoyed the shooter. When Model 1897 this was corrected, the case ejection carried sideways.
63,400 of the Model 1893 had been produced by 1899. The 1897 model had 906,128 pieces by 1943. Various model 93 weapons were returned to the manufacturer for repair due to technical defects or damage. Winchester responded as follows: the Model 83 shotguns were exchanged for a Model 1897 shotgun free of charge, the Model 83 shotguns were scrapped.
Forend bolt-action shotgun Model 1912
The 1912 model is a further development of the 1897 model. In contrast to this, it has an internal tap. Since the collaboration with Browning came to an end and at the same time he had developed a forearm repeater with an internal hammer, the mechanism of the ignition system for triggering the hammer was not allowed to correspond to that of the Browning weapon. The longtime Winchester development engineer Thomas Crossly Johnson was therefore commissioned from 1906 to develop a locking system that did not infringe any Browning patents. The weapon was a success, by 1943 973,826 of these "Hammerless Pumpaction Shotguns" were produced. The M1897 and M1912 forend repeating shotguns were manufactured after the Second World War until around 1954, with a total of over a million units of both models being produced.
Army weapons
During the World Wars, short-barreled M1897 and M1912 repeating shotguns for the forearm were supplied in large numbers to the US Army for equipping the infantry.
It is also little known that the Winchester company produced machine guns developed by Browning on behalf of the US government. B. the Browning Automatic Rifle . Winchester manufactured 47,123 of these weapons for US forces during World War II.
literature
- Martin Pegler: Winchester Lever-Action Rifles. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2015, ISBN 978-1-4728-0658-1 . (82 pages online PDF)
- George Madis: The Winchester Book . Taylor Publishing Company, Dallas, TX 1971, ISBN 0-910156-03-4 .
- George Madis: The Winchester Handbook . Art & Reference House, Brownsboro, TX 1981, ISBN 0-910156-04-2 .
- John E. Parsons: The First Winchester . William Morrow & Co., New York, NY 1955, LCCN 55-007621 .
- Arthur Pirkle: Winchester Lever Action Repeating Firearms, The Models of 1866, 1873, 1876 . North Cape Publications, Tustin, CA 1994, ISBN 1-882391-05-5 .
- Arthur Pirkle: Winchester Lever Action Repeating Firearms, The Models of 1886 and 1892 . North Cape Publications, Tustin, CA 1996, ISBN 1-882391-13-6 .
- Arthur Pirkle: Winchester Lever Action Repeating Firearms, The Models of 1894 and 1895 . North Cape Publications, Tustin, CA 1998, ISBN 1-882391-11-X .