SOLD - Rare Winchester Model 1895 - Russian Contract

Description

8/23/23 - This is a rare and interesting Winchester M1895 lever-action rifle that was manufactured in 1915 and sent to Russia as part of a contract order by their military. From Forgotten Weapons' website, "In 1915, Russia was in serious need of small arms, and approached many of the major American factories. Remington and New England Westinghouse both took contracts to make Mosin-Nagant Rifles, and Winchester struck a deal to produce 300,000 Model 1895 rifles in the standard Russian military 7.62x54R cartridge. Unlike the Mosin-Nagant orders, all of the Winchester rifles were delivered prior to the Russian Revolution. In addition a rather distinctive military style fill-length stock, the Russian contract guns are also notable for their inclusion of stripper clip guides. Standard Mosin-Nagant clips were used to reload the box magazine, making the process much quicker and easier than loading individual cartridges by hand. Still, the 1895 was not originally intended to be a combat rifle, and its characteristic of exposing all the internals to intrusion of mud when being cycled must have resulted in problems for Russian soldiers who weren’t careful with it." This particular example features a Russian military crest on the receiver but it is now faint as the receiver was arsenal refinished at some point. The action on the rifle is smooth and the bore has good rifling, but it is notably frosted throughout and in need of a thorough cleaning. The stock is in decent condition, as there are no cracks or structural issues, but the wood does show its age and there are a few chips.