I never thought much of the Winchester 1895, as it is kind of bastard child. Lever guns were a thing of the past, but it was still developed for a dying market. Find a nice one in 40-72 and the rules are changed.

I found this one and Mike already had the 405, just right for a comparative article and here it is...

I saw a decent one in .35 Winchester a while back for around a grand, but didn't have the cash at hand

Still have the one my grandfather bought in 1926, 30-06.

Good on ya!

Good to be exited about a good deal on a rifle!!!


Best,


GWB

That would have been a dream rifle!!!!! Great old cartridge. Wished I had known about it.

I just never cared for them and still don't. I had a co-worker in Canada whilst living there that was willing to sell his Father's 35 pretty cheap and it had been in a closet for 40 years. Darn fine condition but I passed.

I'm envious. I've only been mentioned a few times in print, mostly stuff about some ship sinking or sum such, nothing cool like a rifle I bought.

Heavy and ugly.....I find nothing special or alluring about them. It's hard to believe but there is something even uglier & heavier chambered for .348 cartridge. On the other hand old vintage .30WCF 1894 still makes wonderful woods deer rig.

Is that the current issue? I think they've screwed up my subscription.

as I understand, the most common caliber the 1895 was chambered in was the 7.62 x 54 Russian.... the Czar bought 300,000 of them for his troops in WW 1....

The vintage ones, I always thought were some pretty cool old rifles...

chambered in something like a 40/72 would be off the charts on the cool factor...

And for some reason I love them. Mine in 405 kicks like a mule yet puts a smile on my face.

That is the current issue, someone posted it already. I don't have a subscription to "Handloader" and I didn't find this issue on the news stand yet...

That's exactly how I feel about the much revered Model 70. . Prolly a good thing! As that way those do appreciate the 70 wil continue to conserve them. Us who like the 95 are probably a bit touched!

I am in total agreement with you on the 94! They are the nice woods rifle.

Well, the next installment will make you guys happy, Mike just finished an article on the 25-35. As far as 94's go, the cool factor of the 25-35 even beats the 30-30...

Interesting article on an ugly gun in two interesting chamberings. Thanks for your part in making it possible.

Saw the article, I have two 405s and I was able to obtain much better accuracy than reported by Mike using TSXs, Woodleighs and Hornadys using VV-N133 and RL-15.

I was a caliber Col. Whelen used in some of his early hunting..
Is this article in one of the current Rifle magazines?????

Beautiful gun or guns..

Thought I got to page 2.. My question was answered..

Shrapnel, your .25-35 coming up????

I'm pretty sure he gave his 25/35 to Ken Howell.

A takedown rifle and some critters killed with it...

Oh, real important stuff.

He will mention something about giving it to Ken Howell...

Shrapnel, I can't believe you don't have a subscription to "Handloader" but since you allowed Mike V. to use your rifle I guess I'll give yoou a pass.

When a LGS went out of business here there was an 1895 in 30/03 and so marked for sale and pretty cheap. I wish to this day I would have figured out a way to buy that one. It would have to be one of the more rare chamberings.

I kind of like them AND the model 71's but have never packed either around in the mountains... yet!

Echos my feelings - never had much interest in them until I bought one. Mine's a 405 (repro, not original) with Providence Tool pattern 21 sight. It gets your attention but shoots and carries great - probably my favorite lever...

Showed up yesterday, right after I called them. Apparently, all this Global Warming has slowed up the mail.

I've always had a hankering for one of those, but never ran into one at the right time ( when I had money). There has been a very nice .25 Remington pump carbine for sale nearby for a year or so, but it's just too hard to feed, and $1250 is a little rich for me. It IS, however, very cool.

I read the article, it is informative. Back in the '80's I bought a few of those Browning reproductions, including an 1895 in .30-06. It became my favorite lever action just because it's practical, ugly as me, and a bit clunky to operate - in fact it sounds like my spine and knees when I stand up - snap, clink, pop. Something about it brings to mind things such as a steam locomotive with a little too much connecting rod slop, a frayed leather drive belt slapping around, and a carriage horse about to throw a shoe. But the thing works, shoots pointed bullets, is accurate enough for what I expect it to do, and is always entertaining. If nothing else, holding it connects me with my father and grandfather, and a time I never knew, in places where adventures were real and men were doing things for the first time. It's a form of time machine, not bad for the price.

Before the 1895 gets beat up too bad, I will have to admit that it is extremely well made and the action cycles and feeds reliably and smooth. I don't see me getting rid of this 40-72 anytime soon...

The 1895 is like the plain girl with the hot body you would see sitting alone in the bar night after night. She always looked kinda interesting but for one reason or another you never got around to chatting her up, and then you here that a buddy did take the plunge with her and discovered she was a wildcat in the sack.

If I run into another 1895 I think I'll ask her out for a cuppa coffee...

shrapnel;

they should proof read more.
I doubt the 405 has a rim thickness of .71,nor does your 40-72 have a rim thickness of .51.

" Now enter Shrapnel ,a friend so nicknamed because some years back he blew up a couple of very valuable firearms in a short period of time."
1. What were these guns?????
2. I hope you have grown out of this practice for this 1895's safety...........
3. Do you have a picture of you and the .40-72 with anything harvested yet? Seems every gun you have you have at least a dead pd in a picture with them ........
4. Judging from what I seen here this weekend at a local gun show ,you must have paid a Princely sum for the .40-72.
5. Mike is lucky to have friends such as yourself to help him procure guns to write about. Thank you for that.

My 1895 405 WCF is always the first gun I grab when I head out the door hunting.

Also a nice .256 Newton article by Terry Wieland in Handloader #295, even if there are errors in it.

Never had a desire for any of those rifles and found the article boring. There, I said it.

I wish the article had more pictures of the rifle and more importantly the action, then how to make brass from a .270..... but being "Handloader" and not "Rifle" I undersdtand why they did this. If Newton was a better business man, things like the .256 and .30 Newton would have taken charge early. The .30 Newton was a magnum type cartridge before it was even a thing to be. It took Winchester and Remington until the 1950s and 1960s to fill in the gaps Newton did in by 1920.
His guns were a little over complicated and probably expensive to manufacture, but in their day were cutting edge..... Nowadays, all the cutting edge guns are just designs made to be cheap to produce.....

Newton was a poor and unlucky businessman. He originally contracted with Mauser to provide large ring actions, but only a few were made before August 1914 and the beginning of "The Great War". Next, he built them in Buffalo on the 1st Model Newton action like the one in Wieland's article. When Newton went bankrupt, the unfinished parts were assembled and sold under the "Meeker" brand. Newton's next attempt was the New Haven built Buffalo Newton, which is a dangerous action and one that I would never fire a round from and would never recommend that anyone fire a Buffalo Newton either. The triggers on the Buffalo Newtons are beyond dangerously unsafe.

I can't say that I knew Bruce Jennings well, but I knew him well enough to visit him and talk Newtons with him a time or two. Another guy who is a true Newton expert is occasional firearms author Jim Foral.

The guns were original Colt SAA in 38-40 and Winchester 1876 in 45-60. I am not the only person to ever blow up a gun, it just seems that I am the only one people keep reminding that it does and did happen.

The 40-72 didn't come cheap and especially in this condition, they get spendy, but it's only money. People that buy cheap guns have never shown me what they bought with all the money they saved by buying cheap guns.

There are several other articles coming with unique guns which I keep buying. He just finished an article on a 23-35 1894 takedown. It will be in the next handloader magazine. Others to follow.

I haven't seen the article, but there should have been a picture of the 1895 and a dead rabbit, something like this with the eyes blanked out...

Your eyes or the rabbit's?

Something like this, I don't know if they got the cigar right in the rabbit's mouth...

Is the 25-35 in the article the one you used on the Grizzly?

The one I used on the Grizzly was my fathers, this one is a gun I got more
recently...

Gotcha.

That's for sharing Shrapnel..... The cigar in the bunnies mouth is priceless.
I believe lots of people have blown up expensive guns.... they just do not carry a nickname as unique as yours.....

I really enjoyed the article. I have always thought the Win 95 was a cool looking rifle. One of the Local gun shops had a Winchester 95 in 405 hanging on the wall back in the 60's. It wasn't only out of reach for this teenager because it was mounted high up, the gun shop owner put a price on it that said loud and clear "it isn't really for sale." It did the job it was supposed to do though. It got me hooked on lever actions and I knew I would have one one day.

I found a Winchester 95 in 30/40 about 20 years ago with a busted butt stock that had been cut off to about a 10 inch length of pull. The barrel had been shortened to 24 inches and a new front sight installed. It was a butchered up clunker with a clean action, a very good bore and a low price. It left with me. A few months of TLC and it still looks like a clunker, but it has a new stock and it shoots great.

I like an old Winchester lever action, that is in good shape, but not really collectable. My 95 fits the bill and the price was right. It is slick operating, which really surprised me, but not very handy to carry. I have never carried it hunting, although I have shot it some. I might need to see if the rifle is still up to a deer hunt or two this fall.

Ain't got time to read or reload....he's usually buying guns or shooting stuff...

Been watching for this article, but haven't located the magazine yet.. Glad to hear there will be more coming..