This lead to incredible mixture of types of used rifles which mean hard ammo supplying and rifle repair. There was some trials to recover rifle lost in Manchuria in 1904-1905 (from local villagers) but it failed.Ĭartridges for Japanese Ariska were produced in England (45000000/month) Japan: 6,5mm Arisaka Model 1897 and Model 1905, 7mm Mexican Arisakaįrance: 8mm Lebel, 11mm Gras and Gras-KropatschekĪllies of Russia: 8mm Mannlicher Model 1889 and Model 1895 First weapon-acquiring mission was done in August 1914 to Japan, in 1915 there was same mission to European allies of Russia. Some Regiments fighting Germans in fall of 1915 has as low as 20% of weapon that they should have. North-West Front lacked 320000 according to V.G.Fyodorov. First problems with quantity occurred in late 1914, but it became severe in 1915. Prewar calculation states that maximal performance of rifle factories was 40000 rifles/month. It’s all moot now of course, but I find these questions from history to be of great interest, and I especially like to see how the study of firearms is linked to broader historical developments. I am sure Winchester could have churned out 1894s without missing a beat. 30-30? They would have been an excellent carbine for cavalry, artillery, engineers etc, and would have released Mosin Nagants for the infantry. I do wonder why the Russians did not take advantage of the production facilities at Winchester and order 1894s in. I wonder how many of the Mosin Nagant order got through in the end? Incidentally, the “backwards N” is pronounced “ee”. I remember an article once in the American Rifleman which said that the Russian inspectors for Mosin Nagant production in the USA were real idiots, rejecting perfectly serviceable rifles for no good reason, even smashing the stocks to make their point.
The Russians would have called it a three line rifle back then, so I wonder why Winchester did not mark it that way? As you point out, the sight is marked in arshins after all. I was interested that the piece is marked 7.62mm, when neither the USA nor Russia used the metric system. I have long admired this rifle, and the action is like a Swiss watch. What made them feasible was the action designed specifically for full-power smokeless rifle ammunition and the box magazine design which avoided the potential problems of spitzer cartridges in a tube magazine. They saw heavy combat use, and reportedly performed well, despite the lever action system having some fundamental inferiorities compared to bolt action rifles in a military context.
These rifles were purportedly going to be available immediately form Winchester’s existing production line, although in reality it took several months before deliveries began, The rifles were modified by Winchester to accept standard Mosin-Nagant stripper clips, and were chambered for the 7.62x54R cartridge. While waiting for a contract with Remington (and later New England Westinghouse) to provide Mosin-Nagant rifles, the Czar’s military ordered 300,000 model 1895s from Winchester. The Russian military was woefully under-equipped at the outset of WWI, and needed rifles wherever it could find them. On another, it was the object of the largest military lever-action purchase ever, made by the Russian Czar during World War I. 405 Winchester caliber is known as Theodore Roosevelt’s “Big Medicine” for safari hunting.
The Winchester 1895 was the last of Winchester’s lever-action rifles, and has an interesting place in a couple different parts of world history.