Winchester 1895

[Drydock]

So I'm at a SASS match last sunday, shooting my Spencer, and one of the guys walks up and wonders if I'd be interested in his 1895, chambered in .30-40. Was going to put it on Gunbroker, but knows I like this kind of stuff.  Made 1922, 28",  bore looks virtually unshot.  He bought it, never shot it, decided he'd rather have another 1892.  Somewhere along the line its been refinished, aftermarket wood, recoil pad, etc.  I'm thinking, I know where to get the Carbine stock, musket forearm and handguard. . .

So, I've got another project.  Lets just say the price was a major selling point!  Life is good.  One can never have too many Krags, or at least things chambered in .30 US!

[Delmonico]

My lust is a 1885 High Wall in that round.

[Niederlander]

Nice find, Chuck!  Has it been cut down or did it come with a 24" barrel?  I've got an original rifle in .30 U.S. that came with a shotgun butt with a recoil pad.  I had to replace the pad, as it was a replacement that rotted out.  Love that thing!

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[Drydock]

Arrgghh!  I have carbines on the Brain.  Its a 28" barrel, and what I will do with it is put on a Musket forearm and handguard.  I'm thinking carbine because the musket uses the carbine buttstock.  This has a shotgun butt.  The Russian muskets used the 28" barrel, I'm not sure about the American ones, but I'll make it work.   Not good for a Skirmish run, but that barrel makes me think it might be a good long range shooter. 

[Niederlander]

According to Madis, the .30 U.S. Muskets had thirty inch barrels.  Of course, they didn't have stripper clip guides as the Russian ones did.  I won't tell anyone you're missing two inches of barrel if you want to shoot it here!

[pony express]

Drydock, can you load the original by just pushing the rounds straight down, or do they have to be pushed back and in, like the repro that Cletus was using before? That would seem to be a problem for skirmish use.

[Drydock]

Ya gotta go back and down, so no, not a good skirmish rifle.

[Pitspitr]

Hey Dale Didn't the sport shed have a carbine in .30 US?

[pony express]

Ya gotta go back and down, so no, not a good skirmish rifle.

So I guess the one you would need is a Russian one, since it has charger guides. I guess they must have re-designed the receiver other than just adding the guides.

Besides, 7.62X54 is your other favorite caliber....

[Niederlander]

The local gun shop has (or at least had) a Russian musket that had been totally butchered.  I should look at it to see how they made the stripper clips work.  Normally the '95 is kind of hard to load.  (It's really too bad about the one they have here.  The barrel has been cut and the stripper clip guide taken off.)

[Bat 2919]

Congratulations, nice find.   When Jerry first started talking to me about making a muster my thoughts immediately went to my 1895.  I have a saddle ring carbine chambered in 30-06.  Everything appears to be original to the gun but I think it’s been refinished.  It didn’t take me long to recall just how slow that thing is to load so I went in search of a Krag.  I saw my first Russian musket (with the clip guide) in the Imperial War Museum in London but I’ve never had the opportunity to load one.  How did Winchester make that work, has anyone used one?

[Drydock]

Besides the clip guides bolted to the receiver, there are some internal changes as well.  The changes delayed the project several times for Winchester, along with fractious and incompetent Czarist inspectors.

[Drydock]

Now its interesting: I've got an old M.D. Waite American Rifleman article (1972) that says the US Muskets of 1898 had 28" barrels, with Winchester ladder sights, to expedite production.  It says it was the NRA target musket of 1904 that had the 30" barrel!  The NRA Musket was also equipped with Springfield M1901 sights.  Could this have caused some confusion?

[Niederlander]

Want to add to the confusion?  Madis says the NRA muskets had 24" barrels!  Sounds like you'll be fine whatever you decide to do with it.

[Drydock]

Waite says there were two muskets for the NRA, a 30" of 1904, and a 24" of 1908,  It says that the National Board for the Promotion of Rifle Practice authorized the 2 muskets, with the condition that they have the same barrel and cartridge as the existing Issue rifle.  In 1904 that was still the 30" Krag, but by 1908 it had become the 24" Springfield.  Thus the 24" Muskets are chambered for .30-03 and .30-06.

At least, that's what the article says, I'll have to bring it sometime.  I may have to make some copies and mail it to you, see what you think.  I know in my on line searching I have found sources claiming one or the other barrel lengths!  I suspect surviving Winchester 1898 Issue muskets are so rare that finding one to put a tape measure on may be a problem!

Found the article if you want to look:  http://www.ebay.com/itm/1972-WINCHESTER-Model-1895-Musket-lever-rifle-3-Page-MAGAZINE-ARTICLE-gun-v3564/371080625058?_trksid=p3984.c100018.m2045&_trkparms=aid%3D333008%26algo%3DRIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D24143%26meid%3D8363071661360003390%26pid%3D100018%26prg%3D10240%26rkt%3D4%26

[Drydock]

Note the description from the 1911 Winchester catalog, that says the difference between this and the earlier US Musket is that it has a 30" as opposed to a 28" barrel!

[Drydock]

Hoorah!  Scored a complete set of Musket wood off Ebay!

[Mean Bob Mean]

My lust is a 1885 High Wall in that round.

There is one on Gunbroker that was bored out from 30-30, it's an Uberti.  Reasonably priced as I recall.

[G.W. Strong]

Hoorah!  Scored a complete set of Musket wood off Ebay!

Now we know Drydock has wood

[Niederlander]

Get your mind out of the gutter, Doug!  Seriously, all this talk about '95's makes me realize I need to finish fitting the recoil pad to mine and get it shooting again.  I NEEDED just one more project!