Roosvelts Big Medicine
Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2009 7:49 am
Few guns hold more mystique for American hunters than the 1895 Winchester rifle chambered for the .405 Winchester cartridge. That's what you get when the President of the United States calls his '95 rifle "Big Medicine" for lions and other dangerous beasts. Theodore Roosevelt used his '95 .405 on an African hunt with great success. The president hunted America's biggest game, such as moose, elk and bears, with his .405, too. At the time of its introduction, it was the most powerful commercially loaded round and rifle in the United States and remained so until Winchester chambered the Model 70 rifle for the .375 H&H in the late 1930s. Sure, the British made more powerful cartridges and rifles, but American makers did not, and Brit rifles were beyond the reach of all but the wealthy.
The 1895 rifle was the last and most powerful lever-action rifle designed by John Browning for Winchester. It would take the new rimmed and rimless smokeless powder ammunition and sharp-pointed bullets in a fixed box magazine. The magazine protruded below the receiver and gave the '95 its distinctive look. The magazine configuration also earned the rifle a reputation for being ungainly. Actually, few Model 95s were sold. Less than 133,000 were made for the commercial market during its 35-year production run. By comparison, Winchester had already made more than one million Model 94s during the same period. The vast majority of the Model 1895s--293,000-odd--were made for the Imperial Russian army during World War I and chambered for its 7.62x54R round. After World War I, returning servicemen were sold on the bolt action, and the 1895's sales, never particularly strong, drooped. The rifle lingered on but grew an undeserved reputation for catastrophic failure (many .30-06 '95s as well as '03 Springfields blew up when 8mm Mauser ammo was accidentally substituted). That, combined with the Depression and slumping sales, caused the '95 to be discontinued in 1931.
Roosevelt was a human dynamo. He was the 26th and youngest President of the United States. He was an avid hunter, a Nobel Prize winner, a wildlife conservationist, a war hero, a Life member of the National Rifle Association, the author of 39 books, a father of six and the most gun-savvy man to ever occupy The White House. When it came to gun knowledge or shooting skill, no chief executive, now or then was his peer.
When it came to firearms he wrote a number of times that his favorite was the Winchester. From his first Winchester, a Model 1876 he ordered when he was 22 years old, to his favorite Model 1895, last used an a river exploration just scant years before his death at the age of 60, Roosevelt's Winchesters are now legendary and priceless pieces of Americana. Roosevelt, who was fond of exquisite goods, had within his economic means the ability to own any rifle manufactured during the period. Fine English doubles were considered the apex of the sporting world yet Roosevelt choose an American classic or, perhaps, the rifles he chose helped make them classics. Roosevelt's poor eyesight may have been a mitigating factor in his fondness for the arms of Oliver Winchester and his Winchester Repeating Arms Co. He was quoted as saying that he didn't "know how to shoot well, but I know how to short often."
No gun of the period shot more often or as reliably as did the Winchester - some models were capable of holding as many as 16 cartridges. Roosevelt no doubt enjoyed the capability of having plenty of ammunition in the gun as well as having a firerearm that could easily bring each successive round into battery with effortless ease and remarkable reliability. To a man whose shooting skill was severely hampered by eyesight - nearsightedness and later blindness in one eye - the fact that a Winchester could be sighted and fired, and fired again without having to remove the gun from his shoulder would have been a welcome feature for this "Bull Moose" of a man.
Roosevelt's was in 405 win, mine is in a 30.06. It has gold inlaid engraving, a tang safety and an action that feels like it is on ball bearings. The magazine allows you to use spitzers versus blunt bullets in other lever actions where the magazine is a tube in the butt or under the barrel and where the point of one rests against that of the other and can potentially cause serious issues if it detonates the primer of the cartridge ahead of it.
Have never used lever actions for hunting but I can understand why they are so popular. Easy to carry because of its slim contours, quick to the shoulder and the lever could be as fast as or faster than a bolt action. Plus the nostalgia.
Glad I bought it as Winchester shut down. Have had it for around 10 years. Have the orignal box and everything else. Will gift it to one of the boys on their 18th birthday.
The 1895 rifle was the last and most powerful lever-action rifle designed by John Browning for Winchester. It would take the new rimmed and rimless smokeless powder ammunition and sharp-pointed bullets in a fixed box magazine. The magazine protruded below the receiver and gave the '95 its distinctive look. The magazine configuration also earned the rifle a reputation for being ungainly. Actually, few Model 95s were sold. Less than 133,000 were made for the commercial market during its 35-year production run. By comparison, Winchester had already made more than one million Model 94s during the same period. The vast majority of the Model 1895s--293,000-odd--were made for the Imperial Russian army during World War I and chambered for its 7.62x54R round. After World War I, returning servicemen were sold on the bolt action, and the 1895's sales, never particularly strong, drooped. The rifle lingered on but grew an undeserved reputation for catastrophic failure (many .30-06 '95s as well as '03 Springfields blew up when 8mm Mauser ammo was accidentally substituted). That, combined with the Depression and slumping sales, caused the '95 to be discontinued in 1931.
Roosevelt was a human dynamo. He was the 26th and youngest President of the United States. He was an avid hunter, a Nobel Prize winner, a wildlife conservationist, a war hero, a Life member of the National Rifle Association, the author of 39 books, a father of six and the most gun-savvy man to ever occupy The White House. When it came to gun knowledge or shooting skill, no chief executive, now or then was his peer.
When it came to firearms he wrote a number of times that his favorite was the Winchester. From his first Winchester, a Model 1876 he ordered when he was 22 years old, to his favorite Model 1895, last used an a river exploration just scant years before his death at the age of 60, Roosevelt's Winchesters are now legendary and priceless pieces of Americana. Roosevelt, who was fond of exquisite goods, had within his economic means the ability to own any rifle manufactured during the period. Fine English doubles were considered the apex of the sporting world yet Roosevelt choose an American classic or, perhaps, the rifles he chose helped make them classics. Roosevelt's poor eyesight may have been a mitigating factor in his fondness for the arms of Oliver Winchester and his Winchester Repeating Arms Co. He was quoted as saying that he didn't "know how to shoot well, but I know how to short often."
No gun of the period shot more often or as reliably as did the Winchester - some models were capable of holding as many as 16 cartridges. Roosevelt no doubt enjoyed the capability of having plenty of ammunition in the gun as well as having a firerearm that could easily bring each successive round into battery with effortless ease and remarkable reliability. To a man whose shooting skill was severely hampered by eyesight - nearsightedness and later blindness in one eye - the fact that a Winchester could be sighted and fired, and fired again without having to remove the gun from his shoulder would have been a welcome feature for this "Bull Moose" of a man.
Roosevelt's was in 405 win, mine is in a 30.06. It has gold inlaid engraving, a tang safety and an action that feels like it is on ball bearings. The magazine allows you to use spitzers versus blunt bullets in other lever actions where the magazine is a tube in the butt or under the barrel and where the point of one rests against that of the other and can potentially cause serious issues if it detonates the primer of the cartridge ahead of it.
Have never used lever actions for hunting but I can understand why they are so popular. Easy to carry because of its slim contours, quick to the shoulder and the lever could be as fast as or faster than a bolt action. Plus the nostalgia.
Glad I bought it as Winchester shut down. Have had it for around 10 years. Have the orignal box and everything else. Will gift it to one of the boys on their 18th birthday.
i must say your boys are very lucky.