Winchester Model 1876

About the Winchester Model 1876

The Winchester Model 1876, or 'Centennial Model,' was a larger, heavier evolution of the toggle-link Model 1873, scaled up to handle far more powerful cartridges for big-game hunting and frontier defense. Introduced at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition, it was the most powerful lever-action repeater Winchester offered until the Browning-designed Model 1886 replaced it. Chambered originally in the bottlenecked .45-75 WCF and later in .45-60, .50-95 Express, and .40-60, roughly 63,800 were produced from 1876 to 1898 in sporting-rifle, carbine, and musket configurations.

Theodore Roosevelt carried an engraved Model 1876 on his Dakota Territory hunting expeditions and praised it lavishly in his writings, cementing the '76 as an icon of the American West. Its adoption by Canada's North-West Mounted Police made 'Winchester' a household byword for the trusty repeating rifle.

Winchester Model 1876 specifications

The toggle-link action, though scaled up from the Model 1873, was never quite strong enough for the largest cartridges and limited the power the rifle could safely contain. Barrel and magazine capacity varied by configuration; carbines held roughly 8 rounds.