Winchester weapon characteristics. Guide to Lever Action Rifles
In films about the Great Patriotic War Our Red Army soldiers, as a rule, are armed with PPSh submachine guns, and German soldiers- certainly angular MPs. To some extent this corresponded to reality, taking into account the fact that this type automatic, designed to fire pistol cartridges both single shots and bursts, was one of the most massive. But it arose not at the end of World War II, but 25 years before it began.
The First World War was a test for many European countries And real test their weapons. In 1914, all armies experienced a lung shortage mechanical weapons, even remade heavy machine guns manually, which were individually equipped with infantrymen. The only shortage of this type of weapon was felt by the Italian army, whose soldiers had to fight in mountainous conditions.
The very first submachine gun was introduced in 1915 by Italian design engineer Avel Revelli. He retained in his design many of the properties of the usual “machine gun” - paired 9-mm barrels, with the breech resting on the butt plate with two handles, in which a starting device was built in, allowing firing from the entire barrel in turn or from both together. To operate the automation, Avel Revelli used the recoil of the bolt, the rollback of which was slowed down by the friction of specially designed bolt protrusions in the grooves of the receiver (Revelli grooves).
The production of a new type of weapon was quite quickly established at the Vilar-Perosa and Fiat factories, and already at the end of 1916 they were equipped with most of infantrymen and crews of combat airships. However, it soon became clear that the submachine gun designed by Abel Revelli was complex, massive, had an exorbitant consumption of ammunition, and the firing accuracy was extremely unsatisfactory. As a result, the Italians were forced to stop producing double-barreled automatic monsters.
Germany, of course, did not develop significantly faster than its opponents in time, but it was ahead of them in terms of quality. The MP-18 pistol, patented by designer Hugo Schmeisser in December 1917, was a rather sophisticated design, which was later copied in many European countries. The main automatic device was similar to the Italian one, but without stopping the bolt rollback by friction, which made it possible to simplify the weapon mechanism. Externally, the MP-18 resembled a shortened carbine, with a barrel covered with a metal casing. The receiver was placed in a familiar wooden stock with a traditional forend and example. The drum magazine, borrowed from the Parabellum pistol of the 1917 model, held 32 rounds. Trigger provided firing only in mechanical mode, therefore the MP-18 turned out to be extremely wasteful. Until the end of hostilities, the Bergman factory produced 17 thousand units of submachine guns, a huge part of which, however, never managed to get into the active army.
In our country, the first submachine gun, or as it was also called, a “light carbine,” was made in 1927 directly chambered for the then widely used revolver pistol. famous gunsmith Fedor Vasilievich Tokarev. However, tests showed the unsuitability of such low-power ammunition.
In 1929, Vasily Aleksandrovich Degtyarev made a similar weapon. In fact, it was a slightly reduced sample of his own light machine gun DP - ammunition was placed in a new disk magazine with a capacity of 44 rounds, which was installed on the receiver; the breech was locked by a bolt with sliding working combat cylinders. The model of designer Vasily Degtyarev was rejected, indicating in the commentary to the decision taken on heavy weight and an excessively high rate of fire. BEFORE 1932, the designer finished work on a different, completely different submachine gun, which 3 years later was adopted for arming the command staff of the Red Army.
In 1940, our army had at its disposal submachine guns of the Degtyarev system (PPD). The Soviet-Finnish war showed how effective this weapon was. Later, Boris Gavrilovich Shpitalny and Georgy Semenovich Shpagin began developing new models. As a result of field tests of prototypes, it turned out that “Boris Shpitalny’s submachine gun needs to be modified,” and Georgy Shpagin’s submachine gun was recommended as the main weapon for arming the Red Army instead of the PPD.
Taking the PPD as a basis, Georgy Shpagin conceived a weapon whose design was as primitive as possible in terms of technical indicators, which was achieved in the final version. In the experimental version, after a few months there were 87 parts, despite the fact that there were 95 of them in the PPD.
The submachine gun created by Georgy Shpagin worked on the principle of a free bolt, in the front part of which there was an annular piston that covered the rear part of the barrel. The primer of the cartridge, which was fed into the magazine, was struck by a pin attached to the bolt. The trigger mechanism is designed for firing single shots and bursts, but without salvo restrictions. To increase accuracy, Georgy Shpagin cut off the front end of the barrel casing - when firing, the powder gases, hitting it, partly extinguished the recoil force, which tended to throw the weapon back and up. In December 1940, the PPSh was adopted by the Red Army.
TTX PPSh-41
Length: 843 mm.
Magazine capacity: 35 rounds in a sector magazine or 71 rounds in a drum magazine.
Caliber: 7.62x25mm TT.
Weight: 5.45 kg with drum; 4.3 kg with horn; 3.63 kg without magazine.
Effective range: approximately 200 meters in bursts, up to 300 m in single shots.
Rate of fire: 900 rounds per minute.
Advantages:
High reliability, shoots regardless of conditions, even in severe frost. The firing pin reliably breaks the primer in very cold weather, and the wooden butt does not allow your hands to “freeze.”
The firing range is approximately twice that of its main competitor MP 38/40.
The high rate of fire created a high density of fire.
Flaws:
Somewhat bulky and heavy. The drum-type magazine is very inconvenient to carry on your back.
Long loading of a drum-type magazine; as a rule, the magazines were loaded before the battle. I was “afraid” of small dust particles much more than I was of a rifle; covered with a thick layer of fine dust, it began to misfire.
Possibility of firing an accidental shot when falling from a height onto a hard surface.
A high rate of fire with a lack of ammunition turned into a shortage.
The bottle-shaped cartridge quite often warped as it was fed from the magazine into the chamber.
But even with these seemingly significant shortcomings, the PPSh was many times superior in accuracy, range and reliability to all types of American, German, Austrian, Italian and English-made submachine guns available at that time.
During the war, weapons were repeatedly improved. The first PPSh was equipped with a special sector sight designed for targeted shooting up to 500 meters, but as practice has shown, effective application weapons were only at a range of up to 200 meters. Taking this into account, the sector sight was completely replaced by an easy-to-manufacture, as well as zeroing, L-shaped revolving rear sight for shooting at 100 meters and over 100 meters. Combat experience has confirmed that such a sight does not reduce the basic qualities of the weapon. In addition to changes to the sight, a number of other minor changes were made.
PPSh was the most common automatic weapons infantry of the Red Army during the Great Patriotic War. They were armed with tankers, artillerymen, paratroopers, reconnaissance officers, sappers, and signalmen. Widely used by partisans in the territory occupied by the Nazis.
The PPSh was widely used not only in the Red Army, but also in the German Army. Most often they were armed with SS troops. The Wehrmacht army was armed with both the mass-produced 7.62 mm PPSh and the Parabellum, converted to the 9x19 mm cartridge. Moreover, the alteration in reverse direction was also allowed, it was only necessary to change the magazine adapter and the barrel.
Winchester M1897 repeater pump-action shotgun.
The Winchester model 1897 pump-action shotgun was created weapons genius John Moses Browning. Browning released his first smoothbore gun with reloading by moving the fore-end back and forth back in 1893, based on his own patent from 1886. However, the original model, as often happens, suffered from many “childhood diseases” and did not gain popularity. Then Browning significantly refined his model, and in 1897 the Winchester company released it under the name Winchester M1897. Other names for this gun and its modifications are also known - model 97, M97, Trench gun, "Trench broom", Riot gun.
Initially, the weapon was created as hunting shotgun chambered for 16 and 12 gauge cartridges. Later, military and police modifications appeared, differing mainly in barrel length, finishing and additional options.
Externally, the gun looks like a classic “pump-action” with an under-barrel tubular magazine. Actually, pump-action shotguns began their rise to fame with this model, becoming a kind of fetish and classic for residents of North America, and then, after successful application in the First World War both thanks to Hollywood and to the rest of the world.
Basic hunting Winchester M1897.
Design, operation of parts and mechanisms of Winchester M1897.
To reload this shotgun, you must first move the fore-end a little forward, then all the way back and all the way forward. Preliminary feeding of the forend forward is necessary only if there was no shot before, in order to unlock the gun mechanism. If there was a shot, then due to the recoil, a slight forward movement of the fore-end occurs naturally from the recoil. Locking is ensured by a swinging cylinder located in the body of the bolt and blocking the spontaneous movement of the bolt back and unlocking of the barrel. The connection between the bolt and the forend was ensured by one steel rod located along left side weapons, between the barrel and the magazine.
Loading the gun with ammunition into the under-barrel tubular magazine, which is also a guide for the movement of the longitudinally sliding forend, occurs through a window in the lower part of the receiver, one cartridge at a time. The standard magazine held 5 rounds. The chambering of the cartridge into the breech is ensured by the bolt when the fore-end and, accordingly, the bolt move forward. The ejection of the spent cartridge case when the fore-end moves back after the shot is carried out through a window in the upper right part of the receiver.
The trigger mechanism had an external open trigger, which allowed the design to do without safety devices.
An interesting feature is that you can squeeze trigger, and then conduct rapid fire with energetic movements of only one forearm. Naturally, we are not talking about combat accuracy during such shooting, but this method was very well suited for close combat or for emergency rescue of one’s body in case of escape large animal straight at the hunter.
The barrel length of the basic hunting model in 12 gauge was initially 760 mm, and on 16 gauge guns it was 711 mm. These 16-gauge shotguns were produced only for cartridges with short cartridges 65 mm long (16/65), while the 12-gauge shotguns used 12/65 and 12/70 cartridges. For firing bullets and buckshot, cylindrical drill barrels with a length of 510 mm were made. The weight of the basic M1897 16-gauge is about 3.4 kg, the 12-gauge is about 3.5 kg (we are talking about long-barreled hunting modifications).
The sights consisted only of a rear sight (a slot on the top of the box). Herself receiver It was made of weapon steel, the fore-end and butt were made of walnut.
Modifications of the Winchester M1897 shotgun.
Winchester M1897 "Trench".
During the First World War, a combat modification of this gun appeared for arming the army - the Winchester M1897 “Trench” combat shotgun.
The “Trench” model had a cylindrical drill barrel shortened to 510 mm. A ventilated barrel casing was also introduced to prevent burns to the shooter’s hands when the barrel becomes hot from firing. The “Trench” modification also included a mount for a bayonet, which can hardly be called a bayonet - it is more like a long cleaver and can be used separately from a gun. This bayonet-knife was supplied with a sheath, in which the knife was carried by soldiers on their belts. The weapon was used great success, as it was efficient and reliable in operation. Firepower at short distances was such that the M1897 received the nicknames “Trench gun” and “Trench sweeper” (“Trench gun” and “Trench broom”, respectively). For military purposes, in most cases, 12-gauge ammunition with 9 buckshots with a diameter of 8.38 mm was used, less often 12-gauge bullet cartridges. The Germans even officially protested against the use of such weapons at the front as inhumane (breakage of limbs, blown heads, huge wounds in the torso from buckshot).
Interesting fact combat use"Trench": some experienced shooters used cartridges with small shot for shooting at hand grenades, thrown into their trenches (a kind of extreme sporting).
Winchester M1897 “Trench” and a separate bayonet in a sheath.
Winchester M1897 "Trench" with attached bayonet.
This weapon was also used during the Second World War, mainly Marine Corps, and showed its effectiveness in street battles, in trenches and during assaults field fortifications enemy.
Winchester M1897 "Riot".
This modification, also known as the “Riot Gun,” was a model adapted for police needs. This police shotgun was essentially the same “trench broom” (Winchester M1897 “Trench”), only without a ventilated barrel casing and without a bayonet mount. In addition to its popularity among law enforcement agencies, this model was also loved in the US civilian market.
Winchester M1897 "Riot" police shotgun.
In addition to these modifications, there were also Trap, Pigeon, Tournament, Brush, Brush Takedown, which differed only in the length of the barrels, some minor changes for certain tasks and finishing.
When buying shotguns from the Winchester M1897 series, it is worth keeping in mind that the Chinese corporation NORINCO continues to produce these weapons (remember, Winchester stopped producing the 1897 model in 1957). Although China is a space-nuclear power, not all of its products are of impeccable quality.
Chinese analogue of the Winchester M1897 “Trench” shotgun - Norinco 97.
Hunting with Winchester M1897.
It’s worth saying a few words about hunting with the basic long-barreled M97 Winchester rifles. Hunting with pump-action shotguns as a phenomenon in general has somehow not taken root in most countries of the world. Either traditions make themselves felt, or the peculiarities of the “pump” work. The main disadvantage here is the reloading process - the clicking of the shutter when the forend is twitched is quite loud and can be heard far away. Manipulating the forend after a shot knocks the insert into the weapon; it is necessary to re-aim at the target.
The Winchester M1897 pump-action shotgun during its active use was more preferred weapon than double-barreled shotguns when it comes to hunting large and dangerous beast, because there is the possibility of quick reloading, and the presence of five rounds in the magazine and a sixth round in the barrel, instead of two, gives more confidence.
Compared to self-loading guns The advantage of a pump-action pump is the ability to use cartridges with different weights of gunpowder and omnivorousness, because the operation of the automation requires stability in the firing process (the weight of gunpowder, the mass of the projectile, the cartridge case - all this affects the operation of the automation). But for the “pump” this factor is not important.
Conclusions.
What can you say about this gun? This is a landmark weapon. The second in the world and the first worthy “pump-action”. Various models were produced from 1897 to 1957. This “pump” has proven itself to be a reliable machine. Find negative reviews about this weapon is extremely difficult. The only ones obvious shortcomings- not the best sights and the lack of left-handed options in the original Winchester models. Perhaps the most global plus of the M1897 is its excellent workmanship. Even guns produced before the Second World War still serve their owners faithfully and are also the subject of close attention of collectors.
The Winchester M1897 is a reliable, high-quality weapon that has become a milestone in the development of smoothbore and pump-action shotguns in general, as well as military and police smoothbore weapons in particular. Since then, self-loading and even automatic shotguns with drum, with detachable box, with under-barrel tubular magazines, and even extravagant belt-fed submachine guns. But the classic “pump”, which was started by the Winchester M1897, will for a long time be the conscious choice of many hunters, police officers and military personnel.
They started talking seriously about repeating weapons only in the second half of the 19th century. True, back in the 17th century XVIII centuries artisans sometimes made guns and pistols that fired, as the inscription on one of them says, “many times in a row.” But these were rather piece products, because before the advent of unitary cartridges there was nothing to even think about mass production multi-charged weapons.
Christopher Spencer
It all started with the American Christopher Spencer from Boston, who on March 6, 1860, having saved normal look weapons and their usual dimensions, patented the world's first sample repeating rifle 52 caliber (13.2 mm) chambered for a metal circular ignition cartridge. Two years later, he founded a gun company in Boston, and in 1865 he created an improved rifle and carbine chambered for 50-caliber (12.7 mm) cartridges, which were widely used in the American Civil War.
Spencer's store
Spencer's rifle magazine held seven rounds and consisted of a metal tube inside the buttstock, into which another was built - something like the current clip with a feeder and a coil spring. When loading, they lowered the barrel, took out the clip, inserted cartridges into it one by one, inserted it into place and closed the butt.
The design of the Swiss infantry rifle of the Vetterli system, model 1868.
When the swing-type bolt, equipped with a lever in the form of a trigger guard, was turned, the cartridges were alternately fed into the barrel - as in the Sharps system. Lowering, the bolt grabbed the cartridge, sent it into the barrel, and the combat larva securely locked it. After the shot, the shutter was opened, spent cartridge case was thrown out, and a new cartridge was immediately captured, sent into the barrel, and the combat larva securely locked it.
The design of the French infantry rifle of the Gra-Kropachek system, model 1874/1885.
T. Cullen
They tried to reduce the reload time by increasing the magazine capacity. Thus, the Americans T. Cullen in 1869 and V. Evans in 1871, picking up Spencer’s idea, proposed magazines consisting of several tube-clips combined into a bundle. In particular, there were four of them in Evans' carbine, each containing 6 rounds, and there was also one in the feeder and in the barrel.
V. Wilson's store
No less interesting was V. Wilson's store, created in 1864. It consisted of five compartments. The cartridges were placed one after another and pushed into the pipe by a spring, and from it, along a rack and pinion transmission (when the bolt was pulled), they went into the breech. Wilson's system contained almost a record amount of ammunition for those times - 30 rounds of ammunition.
The design of the Austrian infantry rifle of the Mannlicher system, model 1895.
Joseph Schulhof
For about two decades, gunsmiths have been improving butt magazines. The most successful in this was the Austrian Joseph Schulhof, who in 1889 made a long magazine with 10 rounds for converting single-shot Mauser, Gras and Wetterli rifles. However, fatal shortcomings of such devices have already emerged.
Hollow stocks
First of all, the elongated, hollow butts turned out to be fragile; the neck of the stock, where the magazine tube passed, often broke. In the army version, this was aggravated by the fact that the infantryman was deprived of the opportunity to use weapons in hand-to-hand combat. There were often misalignments of cartridges in the feeding mechanism, and in general they were too complex and expensive.
The design of the German infantry rifle of the Mauser system, model 1889.
Walter Hunt
However, already in 1848, the American Walter Hunt patented a multiple charger with a similar magazine located under the barrel. The design was far from perfect, but the idea turned out to be fruitful. Hunt's system was soon improved by engineer Lewis Jennings, and then Smith and Wesson got involved.
In 1854, they organized a company in New Haven for the production of repeating weapons and, after the young engineer Benjamin Henry suggested improving Hunt's system, they appointed him production manager. However, three years later the company went bankrupt, and then Oliver Winchester entered the arms market.
Winchester
He was not a firearms specialist and did not have an engineering degree. Carpenter and later owner construction company, Winchester simply acquired a stake in the company and at first produced Volcanic pistols created by Smith and Wesson. When Henry created the famous gun in 1860, it brought fame not to him, but to the new owner of the company. Henry used 44-caliber (11.2 mm) rimfire metal cartridges fed by a coil spring. The bolt was a sliding type with a convenient bracket attached under the neck of the stock so that the gun could be reloaded without lifting the butt from the shoulder.
The bolt, impact and feed mechanisms, which were based on a steel rod, were very simple and consisted of only 14 parts. When the bracket moved downwards, the rod was moved back by two pairs of connecting rod levers, at the same time the trigger was cocked and the feeder with the cartridge removed from the magazine was raised. The reverse stroke of the staple directed the rod forward, pushing and locking the cartridge in the barrel. But all 15 rounds had to be placed one by one in the under-barrel magazine from the muzzle and locked with a lid. This drawback was eliminated by Nelson King, who proposed installing a side window in the bolt box with a spring-loaded latch and filling the magazine through it.
The design of the American infantry rifle of the Spencer system, model 1865.
In 1866, Winchester purchased a patent from King, reorganized production and renamed the company Winchester Repairing Arms. (By the way, the creator of the famous “Winchester 1866” Henry unexpectedly left it.)
"Winchesters"
“Winchesters” were liked by hunters, cowboys, and travelers who appreciated their rate of fire, reliability and accuracy of combat. The popularity of “Winchesters” was so great that they were sometimes respectfully called “sovereigns”, emphasizing the analogy with a gold coin. But they did not take root in the army, mainly due to insufficient range.
The design of the American carbine of the Evans system, model 1871.
The simplicity of the device and the reliability of the under-barrel magazine made a strong impression on European gunsmiths. The Swiss were the first to take the overseas model as a model, adopting for their army a repeating rifle with a caliber of 10.4 mm, created by the director of the arms factory in Neuhausen F. Vetterli. Its long forend contained a tubular magazine with 11 rounds of ammunition. The feed mechanism was similar to the Winchester one, but the bolt was horizontally sliding, with a handle.
When it was turned, the firing pin was cocked; after retraction, the feeder removed the cartridge from the magazine and, when moving forward, sent it into the barrel. When reloading, the spent cartridge case was thrown out, the magazine was filled with cartridges, like a Winchester, through the side window (11 in the magazine, one each in the receiver and barrel), which could be fired in 40 seconds. The disadvantage of the Vetterli system was its heavy weight and low-power cartridge, which prevented its distribution in other armies.
Late 70s
Only at the end of the 70s, Austria-Hungary and France began to use under-barrel magazines, remaking single-shot infantry rifles. The French, for example, equipped the Gra rifle with a similar tubular magazine designed by the Austrian artillery officer A. Kropachek, who, among other things, also provided a delay device to prevent distortions of the cartridges as they entered the breech from the magazine.
Wilson's applied magazine design. 1864
P. Mauser.
In the same year, the German P. Mauser made an under-barrel magazine for eight center-fire rounds for his rifle, but it turned out to be too heavy (4.5 kg without cartridges and bayonet).
Humiliated by defeat in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 - 1871, France hastened to rearm the army modern weapons, but only in 1886 she equipped it with a rifle created by the director of the shooting school Lebel. Designed for an 8 mm cartridge with smokeless powder, in other respects it was not much different from other systems with under-barrel magazines. Having remained in service until the First World War, this rifle became the last in a series of similar designs.
Indeed, at the end of the century, their shortcomings became obvious: as the magazine was emptied, the center of gravity of the weapon shifted, which negatively affected the accuracy of shooting, the arrangement of cartridges one after another made them sensitive to shocks and impacts, and the feed mechanism often jammed.
The design of the Austrian rifle of the Schulhof system, model 1883.
But the middle store, located under the shutter, did not have these “diseases”. It was first created in 1879 by the American inventor and businessman J. Lee. It was a metal box that held five rounds with a spring at the bottom that pushed them up. The design improved after the Austrian F. Mannlicher added a cut-off device, which eliminated distortions of the cartridges.
P. Mauser
In 1888, P. Mauser offered the Belgians a small-caliber (7.65 mm) rifle with a middle magazine for 9 rounds (the tenth in the barrel), also filled with smokeless powder. It served as the prototype for subsequent models of the company, produced by it on orders from Turkey, Spain, Sweden and Brazil. The most perfect infantry rifle model 1898.
Its barrel rested in a wooden fore-end, which did not burn the shooter’s hands during frequent shooting, the bayonet was of a dagger type, the stock had pistol grip, the magazine was located inside the forend and was loaded from a 5-round clip. The high rate of fire, up to 25 rounds per minute, was ensured by the Mauser bolt, the handle of which was at the back, which made it possible to quickly move the hand from it to the trigger without changing the position of the weapon.
The design of the American Winchester carbine, model 1866.
Mauser rifles
Mannlicher's products equipped with direct action bolts successfully competed with Mauser rifles. When reloading, they were simply pulled back and immediately sent forward. Mannlicher expected to get the maximum rate of fire, but the complexity of the mechanism and its frequent failures caused complaints from the soldiers.
Under the bolt, in front of the trigger guard, the Austrian inventor placed a metal box-type magazine, into which 5 cartridges were placed in the original packaging, which was thrown away after the ammunition was used up. At first, Mannlicher settled on 11 mm cartridges, then switched to 8 mm caliber, after which he converted the rifle to chamber smokeless powder. But best option"Mannlicher" appeared only in 1895.
The British in 1889
In 1889, the British preferred the 7.69-mm Metford rifle, equipped with a Lee system magazine, from which it was possible to fire at a distance of up to 3.2 thousand m. The cartridges in the middle magazine were arranged in two rows, and it had to be equipped separately from the weapon , so the infantrymen carried several pre-prepared stores in their pouches.
Three years later, the British Army received improved rifles chambered for smokeless powder cartridges in double-stack magazines. Subsequently, its weapons underwent only minor design changes, while three Lee-Metford systems and the same number of Lee-Enfield systems were produced simultaneously. Since 1903, the shortened Lee Enfield has become uniform for the British armed forces.
France stubbornly, until 1916, remained faithful to the Lebel rifle of the 1907 - 1915 model and only during the First World War adopted new rifle with a middle magazine for 5 rounds per pack - “Mannlicher” type.
In the USA, Remington factories produced Lee rifles, and in 1893 they switched to the better, Danish Krag-Jorgensen system. It was produced in Springfield, at a state enterprise, where in 1903 an improved model was created, which became common for American army. This rifle was almost identical to the Mauser type "98".
There is probably no person who has not heard of the Winchester rifle. This weapon is a legend that is firmly entrenched in the history of development firearms. This rifle is often called “the weapon that conquered the West,” but if you look at it, its distribution in the United States is greatly exaggerated, mainly thanks to literature, and subsequently cinema. When watching films about brave cowboys, one gets the impression that other models of rifles simply did not exist at that time, but this was far from the case. Nevertheless this weapon can safely be called revolutionary, since it brought the rifles of that time to a completely new level new level by rate of fire. Advertising at the time claimed that a shooter could fire 10 shots in less than 15 seconds with the first Model 1866, a rate of fire that was truly impressive for a hand-loading weapon.
The secret of the rifle lies in the original design of the safety bracket, which is also a reloading lever. As often happens, the first model was not developed by Winchester at all, but by inventor Henry in 1861, who introduced a new weapon with a fundamentally different, previously never used manual reloading system. Winchester became interested in the invention, bought all the rights to this weapon and started production of the first model of the 1866 model, calling the weapon after itself, and the name of the inventor is mentioned only in the name of the reloading bracket. The first model was fifteen-round, and loading was carried out from the front of the rifle, this significantly slowed down the speed of its loading. Winchester upgraded the weapon to cut its ammunition capacity to 12 rounds, but loading was carried out through the side window, which was much more convenient and faster in comparison with the first version. With the beginning of the proliferation of cartridges with a central ignition primer, rimfire ammunition lost its relevance. It was necessary to modernize the weapon so that it could be fed with new ammunition, and this is how the Winchester model 1873 appeared. In addition to adapting to new ammunition the weapon has undergone a much more thorough modernization than it might seem at first glance. Firstly, the quality of the barrels has increased significantly; it should be noted that the first samples had extremely weak barrels made of very low quality steel, which is why they were not widely used. Secondly, the reloading mechanism has undergone changes; it has been debugged and configured in such a way that jamming, which had previously been quite frequent, especially if reloading was carried out while moving, completely disappeared. Finally, thirdly, the brass reloading bracket was replaced with a steel one, since the first one had a very bad property of bending and subsequently breaking.
As you can see, the first model of the rifle was not the best, if not disgusting, this explains its low distribution. However, all the shortcomings were eliminated, and a new model of 1873, reliable as a Swiss watch, appeared on the market. It’s impossible to say that people immediately rushed to buy it. On the contrary, remembering the first model of the weapon, they tried to avoid the new product and treated it with a degree of skepticism. Back then, weapons were bought not for a year or two, but actually for life, and accordingly the price for them was not the smallest. Nevertheless, good example weapons could not remain unnoticed all the time and gradually, gaining momentum, their sales began. In the end, even the most inveterate skeptics recognized the perfection of the new weapon, but the understanding of what was what came too late; in addition to this rifle, other models of weapons appeared on the market that could successfully compete with it, but still from 1873 to 1926, when it was produced the second Winchester model, more than 900 thousand weapons were created and, accordingly, sold. This figure only seems so huge, in fact, over a period of more than 50 years, for the huge population of the country it is nothing, especially considering that more than half of the weapons produced were exported.
One of the most common misconceptions about this rifle is that it was in service with the US Army. This never actually happened, despite the fact that the armed forces at that time experienced an acute shortage of weapons and refused to adopt the rifle. The reason for this, paradoxically, was the high rate of fire of the weapon. Interesting fact is that the word "Winchester" in modern world The new generation associates computers not with weapons, but with a hard drive, an information storage device. This name was attached to the device due to the fact that the first non-separable hard drive had two modules each with a capacity of 30 megabytes, and inside the company it was called 30-30, and one of the project managers for the development of this device noticed the similarity with the name of the Winchester model of 1894.30 -30 Rifle? Hence the name was attached to this device within the company, and widespread The name was given thanks to the PR department, which compared the new drive in terms of reliability with the model of a weapon in an advertisement.
Thus, the Winchester rifle of the 1873 model, and subsequent Winchesters, owe their fame not only to the original reloading method, which is much more convenient than juggling the bolt bolt, but also thanks to books, cinema, and such a successful comparison with the first hard drive. Many compare this weapon with great cultural figures, nodding to the fact that the rifle gained its glory only after death. However, it is wrong to talk about the death of the Winchester rifle as a whole without specifying the model; the Henry brace is the main hallmark The Winchester is still used, but in modern weapon models.
hunting rifles, carbines and shotguns of the Winchester brand. The first rifle was created at the O. Winchester company in New Haven in 1860 by the engineer and director of his company B. Henry. It had an under-barrel magazine for 15 rounds of rimfire and a vertically sliding lever bolt in the form of a bracket, designed like the bolt of a Volcanic pistol. This bolt made it possible to fire without lifting the rifle from the shoulder, which sharply increased the rate of fire, and the large-capacity magazine provided a greater density of fire. The first model was called the Henry gun. The weapon gained wide popularity and was used during Civil War in the USA in 1861 - 186 5. The Henry system was improved in 1866 (a side window was introduced to fill the magazine) and in 1873 (the bronze box was replaced by a steel one and center-fire cartridges were used). After these changes, the gun was called "Winchester". Model 1873 was used by the Turks as a military model during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878. In the future, hard drives with rifled barrel and under-barrel magazine were used as civilian weapons- hunting, target, for self-defense. It was liked by hunters, cowboys, and settlers who appreciated the rate of fire and reliability of the hard drive. For military weapons, its cartridge was low-power, and the under-barrel magazine was not suitable for the pointed bullets that appeared in the 1890s. However, the company (O. Winchester himself died in 1880) continued to produce hard drives, popular in America. Subsequent models 1886, 1890, 1892, 1894. differed in design (rifle, carbine), magazine capacity, which could be the entire length of the barrel (9-12 rounds) or up to the middle of the barrel (4-8 rounds), and calibers from 22 to 50. Weapon 1886 - the only one large caliber rifle, with which they hunted in Africa, since it used powerful Express cartridges of 45 and 50 calibers. In the 20th century "Winchesters" with a lever bolt and an under-barrel magazine continued to be produced, models 53, 55 (1924-1932), 64 and 65 (1933-1956), 88 (1955-1973) were produced. They differed in calibers (from 25 to 30), magazine length, capacity and quality of finish. From 1964 to the present, models 94 ( large caliber- 30th, 44th, 357th) and 9422 (17th and 22nd caliber). A special model was the 1895 Winchester, which had a lever action but had a mid-magazine. It was initially intended to be chambered for 405-caliber safari cartridges, and was later used as a military model (participated in the Boer War of 1899-1902), but it turned out to be extremely complex and expensive. They remembered it in 1915, when the Russian government ordered the Model 1895 from America, converted to the Russian 7.62 mm cartridge. In Russia, this rifle was used little in the war, but later it was popular among hunters. In the 1980s the company resumed production of the 1895 model in caliber 30 and 270. V19OZ -1906 models created self-loading carbines with an under-barrel magazine chambered for blunt bullet or 22-caliber rimfire cartridges. In 1907 and 19Yug. self-loading calibers .351 and .401 appeared, the first was made before 1957, the second - until 1936. After 1933, self-loading 22 calibers were already available in models 63, 74, 77 with a magazine in the butt or with a middle magazine. Since the 1920s The company also produced ordinary double-barreled shotguns, among which the 23 model was considered the best, as well as side-flip guns, for example the 101 model. A real revolution in hunting weapons was produced by Winchester shotguns with reloading with a movable fore-end (pump-action). Participated in their creation famous designer J. Browning. He released the first pump-action shotgun under the Winchester brand in 1893. After a significant redesign in 1897, the shotgun became very popular. It was produced in 12 and 1b calibers with a 5-round magazine. In pre-revolutionary Russia, this pump-action shotgun was also sold. It was made until the mid-1950s, then it was replaced by the 1200 model, and currently by the 1300 model. No less famous are hard drives with longitudinally slidingbutterfly valve Mauser. The beginning was made in 1925, when models of calibers 52.54, 56, etc. began to be produced. Now the model 70 is very popular. It is produced in a wide variety of versions chambered for cartridges from 7 mm Remington Magaum to .338 Winchester Magnum. . Considering great interest Americans to their past, the production of shotguns with reloading with a bracket called “Model 9422”, but of a small caliber, was resumed. Since the 1970s. Part hunting weapons firms are produced by various Japanese enterprises. Military weapons The company also produced during hostilities: small quantity Hotchkiss and Lee guns at the end of the 19th century, Browning machine guns model 1917 and military rifles mod. 1917 chambered for 30-06 "Springfield" in the First world war. At the beginning of World War II, the Winchester company designed the famous 30-M1 carbine and produced over 800 thousand copies. It also produced Garand rifles.
After the death of its creator O. Winchester, the company changed its name more than once. Currently known as U.S. Repiting Arm Company Inc. However, her weapons are sold under the Winchester brand. All shotguns and rifles of the company are retained famous name for a century and a half now.
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