Good evening everyone,
My name is Scott Jamieson and I'm working towards a full length book about the Evans Rifle Company and very recently my attention was kindly drawn to your web site.
I have published BULLARD ARMS in 1988 and BULLARD FIREARMS in 2002 that detailed the work of James H. Bullard and his Bullard sporting rifles that were produced from 1883 to 1891. During the time from 1974 when I began research on the Bullard company I also began research on 2 other gun makers that intrigued me. The Babbit/Adirondack Firearms Company which produced the designs of O.M. Robinson from 1870-74 when Winchester bought them out and of course the EVANS rifle. My manuscript for ADIRONDACK ARMS is nearly complete and when it goes to the publisher I can start my EVANS work in earnest. I have already collected much data and photographs but much more remains to be done. You may contact me via email if you wish to fill out a survey sheet on your EVANS for my book, please provide a mailing address.
In the meantime for anyone who wishes to know more about the EVANS rifle I can highly recommend Dwight B. Demeritt, Jr.s book MAINE MADE GUNS AND THEIR MAKERS which has been revised and reprinted. His book has a wealth of info on the company itself therfore my book will focus more on the guns themselves, how they worked and all their internal details and numbers manufactured as I have no interest in reinventing the wheel.
The OLD MODEL did indeed have immense fire power as it held 34 rounds in the buttstock (had the term assault rifle been coined back then it surely would have qualified). However the OLD MODEL had only one buttstock that was attached to the upper portion of the magazine leaving a lot of cold steel to rest against the cheek on a cold winter's day which is why I believe the TRANSITIONAL MODEL or improved old model was produced. It had wooden butt stocks on both sides of the magazine to eliminate the cold steel problem on the shooters face but beyond that only detail changes were made to the guns. The biggest drawback to the rifles was (as far as the military was concerned which was the market the Evans brothers had originally hoped to sell to) the slow loading cycle. The various military branches that looked at these rifles feared that with the slow loading times of the EVANS rifles, entrenched positions could be over run by the enemy and taken. Both the OLD and TRANSITIONAL rifles are serial numbered which makes research much easier, the NEW MODEL is not serial numbered. The NEW MODEL in my opinion came about for several reasons; by increasing the dimensions of the receiver the gun was able to handle a longer cartridge giving it more velocity and shocking power (The NEW MODEL now held 26 rounds). By adding a sliding cover over the ejection port the rifle could be single loaded easier through this port with the magazine held in reserve.
I know of NO TRANSITIONAL MODEL Evans rifles that can handle the NEW MODEL cartridge-I do not believe it to be physically possible as the N.M. round is 1/2 inch longer than the O.M. round.
All in all these are very interesting firearms and they deserve to be better known than they are. I believe many saw service in South American conflicts in the 1870-80's. Ballistically they were every bit as good as the Winchester Model 1873 was and given the great number of EVANS rifles in the Winchester Museum in Cody, Wyoming the Winchester Company feared them as aggressive competitors with a very saleable product. Any questions I can answer for anyone I wll try and do so-just be patient as my work load at the moment is high.
Best regards,
G. Scott Jamieson