Winchester · Rifle
Winchester 1895 Russian
Lever action · 7.62x54mmR · introduced 1915
Also known as Winchester Model 1895 Russian Musket, Russian Contract Model 1895, Winchester-Browning M1895
About the Winchester 1895 Russian
The Winchester 1895 Russian is a military-contract variant of John Browning's Model 1895 lever-action rifle, produced for the Imperial Russian Army during the First World War. Chambered for the rimmed 7.62x54mmR Mosin-Nagant cartridge, it used a box magazine ahead of the trigger guard to safely feed the era's spitzer ammunition, and was unusual among lever guns in accepting Mosin-Nagant stripper clips via a charger guide. Russian contract rifles were fitted with a longer musket barrel, an extended forestock and a bayonet lug. Roughly 300,000 were delivered between 1915 and 1917.
Browning's last lever-action design, the Model 1895 was robust enough for full-power smokeless military cartridges. When the Russian Empire ran short of Mosin-Nagants in WWI, it turned to Winchester for hundreds of thousands of stripper-clip-fed lever guns in its own 7.62x54mmR caliber.
Winchester 1895 Russian specifications
General
- Type
- Rifle
- Action
- Lever action
- Firing mechanism
- Hammer-fired
- Trigger
- Single action
- Calibres
- 7.62x54mmR
- Magazine capacity
- 5 rounds
- Magazine
- Fixed box
Dimensions
- Barrel length
- 711 mm (28.0 in)
- Overall length
- 1170 mm (46.1 in)
- Weight (empty)
- 4.20 kg (9.26 lb)
Barrel
- Rifling twist
- 1:9 in (240 mm)
- Rifling
- Right hand
- Grooves
- 4
Materials
- Barrel
- Steel
- Receiver / frame
- Steel
- Stock
- Wood
- Finish
- blued
Performance
- Muzzle velocity (typical)
- 840 m/s (2756 fps)
- Muzzle energy (typical)
- 3387 J (2498 ft·lb)
- Effective range
- 550 m
History
- Introduced
- 1915
- Discontinued
- 1917
- Production status
- Discontinued
- Country of origin
- US
- Designer
- John Browning
Features
- Stripper clip guide
- Bayonet lug
- Extended forestock
- Box magazine
- Musket handguard
Safety
- Half cock notch
The single largest contract in Model 1895 history; Russian deliveries accounted for the majority of total 1895 production. Many rifles later saw service in the Russian Civil War with both Red and White forces.
Similar models
Aero Precision SOLUS Hunter
Bolt action · 6.5mm Creedmoor
Automatgevär m/42 (Ljungman)
Gas-operated (direct impingement) · 6.5x55mm Swedish
Armaguerra Mod. 39 (OM-44)
Short recoil (semi-automatic) · 7.35x51mm Carcano
Armscor TM22 Lever Action
Lever action · .22 Long Rifle