User Panel
Posted: 4/3/2006 8:37:32 AM EDT
Dumbasses.
Jean-Louis Doublet The famous Winchester rifle glorified in American Westerns may have fired its last shot as a plant where it had been manufactured since 1866 closed its doors last week. One hundred eighty-six employees of the United States Repeating Arms Company plant located in New Haven, Connecticut, were thanked for their work on Friday, two days after the facility stopped all manufacturing activity, said Catherine Sullivan-DeCarlo, a spokesperson for the city government. She told Agene France-Presse that the mayor's office has been searching for an investor, who would take over the plant, but has to overcome several obstacles on the way to achieving this goal. US Repeating Arms Company and its New Haven plant belong to Belgian manufacturer Herstal, which has purchased from US firm Olin the right to use the famous brand name. "Herstal owns US Repeating Arms and Olin owns the license to the Winchester name so they own the brand name," Sullivan-DeCarlo said. "We've been talking to different gun manufacturers, and at the same time the mayor has been talking to Olin about possibly keeping the name Winchester here for whoever comes in the factory," she continued. "Because otherwise, our fear is that the Winchester name will end up overseas." That would be a rough turn for the celebrated lever-action 1873 gun that made rapid reloading and fire possible and helped conquer the West. It was Oliver Fisher Winchester, who in 1853 founded New Haven Arms Company, which in 1866 became known as Winchester Arms Company. The Winchester rifle was in fact based on the Henry rifle that was used during the Civil War. Pioneers heading West adopted the rifle, and near-mythical personalities like Buffalo Bill made it their weapon of choice. Western movies and television series had helped maintain the gun's celebrity status long into the 20th century. Josh Randall, a character in the miniseries Wanted: Dead or Alive played by actor Steve McQueen, used one of these gun with a sawed-off barrel. James Stewart used the 1873 model in Winchester 73. The rifle had been modified several times and was used by US troops during World War II. To keep the plant in New Haven, the city government would like to be able to offer a new investor the possibility of keeping the Winchester trademark and is negotiating this option with Olin. "We have asked that Herstal not renew the Winchester license now, or for a term of not less than 10 years," New Haven Mayor John DeStefano told the City Council in mid-March. There is concern that Herstal will keep the brand name to manufacture the rifle at its other plants outside the United States. It is already happening with several other Winchester rifles, but they are not based on the 1894 model, a derivative of the 1873 model. A total of six million such rifles have been manufactured since the end of the 19th century. If this proposal is not acceptable, the mayor is offering to have Herstal transfer its interest in the facility, the inventory and the intellectual property to the city for a symbolic amount of money in exchange for a waiver of the financial obligations owed to the city and the union. "If Herstal is willing to do this, it would help the city move ahead smoothly in finding a new user for the site," DeStefano said. "We have several interested companies." "Winchester has operated in New Haven for 140 years, and is an American icon," added the mayor, fully aware of the fact that if the eventual new owner is not allowed to used the name Winchester, the property would not pack the same bang for the buck. - Sapa-AFP |
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what would the french know about fighting WWII? they were out of the game in the first quarter
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How would they know? |
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fixed |
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According to the cover of the Great Raid, we also used a Berreta 92.
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I believe, however, that the Russians did use a lever action winchester to supplement their forces in WWI. I was a magazine fed version to allow the use of spitzer bullets.
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Winchester got a Military contract in WWII for the mod. 94 It was used in the US for guard duty, Possibly out West.
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In addition I'm sure many did end up in non conventional military roles. Beyond that Winchester certainly made Garands.
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That and the Glock 20 wound up in WWII after the USS Nimitz went back in time and tried to stop the attack on Pearl Harbor. |
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Just another news article written by an uniformed reporter too lazy to research the topic.
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This it totally untrue. The French did a fair amount of fighting in World War 2. Just happened to be on the German side. See: Operation Torch, and the Naval engagements related to it. |
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I'm betting that the guy thinks that Win = lever gun and discovered that there were umpteen million Winchesters used in WWII, all of which were in actuality either M1s (?) or shotguns (for sure).
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I found it interesting that some Colt Single Action Army pistols were sent to Great Britain through Lend Lease.
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Not sure about that. I'm sure a few got used in unconvential roles. However none were procured through normal channels and none were ever even listed as "substitute standard". |
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In all fairness they did fight a lot more on the allied side. Tunisa. Italy. Normandy. Southern France and a little in Germany. However they did it will OUR equipment and as Patton said. "I'd rather have a German division in front of me rather than a French one behind me." |
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Regardless, he is still un bête francais. |
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IIRC
The Winchester Model 95 was used by a few countries in the early 20th century. Russia I know purchased a bunch and some other countries may have also. I'm not even sure if the ones the Russians ordered were actually delivered or not and may have been sold to other countries. By the time WWII rolled around they may have only still been in use in remote colonial locations. |
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IIRC, the Mod 95 was chambered in 7.62x54R. |
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The Frenchman is right. The Winchester Garand is no longer being produced.
It would be cool to have a Winchester Garand. |
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If they still made M1Garands and M1 carbines along with the 1897 they might still be hanging on.Maybe not.
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But he was talking about lever actions. |
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Yup! I wonder if any of those still exist anywhere? I'd love to have a russian military contract Winchester 1895 in 7.62X54. I heard rumors that any that were sold here in the domestic market were quickly rechambered. |
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The US military did use a small number of lever action rifles during the First World WarThese, I understand, were brought over by a few doughboys and were liked for the firepower they provided up close.
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30' 06 Winchester!
Whoa! you learn something new all the time. I never EVER thought the lever action could handle the hard hitting bolt action cartridges. Note however the heavily reinforced receiver. But as usual using a lever action in the prone position can be annoying and the Bolt action eclipsed it. |
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Sheesh. They did not have Glocks aboard the Nimitz. |
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But he said "The rifle had been modified several times and was used by US troops during World War II." |
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I have a Guns & Ammo laying around here somewhere where they actually fired one in 7.62 Russion. Reportedly had quite a kick, but was well-made and effective. It even fed ammo through the top from stripper clips. |
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What they should've said perhaps is that the Winchester lever guns provided more effective fire than French rifles of either world war.
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Not sure, but there may have been lend/lease winchesters sent, or taken as personal arms by troops, or already there and used by the resistance. |
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On this page are pics of the military 1895s, to include the Russian edition:
http://world.guns.ru/rifle/rfl25-e.htm |
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After doing some in depth research in my references.
I found the US forest Service had a contract for .30 .30 Winchester M94's during WWII. They even had the orndance bomb on them. I WANT ONE!! But the USFS is not the military. |
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Russian bought quite a few Win 95's in 7.62x54r,something like 200,000? They were of the Musket variety. Long barrel(28") with full length forearm. Also was issued with a bayonet. the rifle go for in the area of $1500 if the seller know what he has. The French did purchase quite a few other rifle in WW1, the Winchester SLR in .351 and .401 Winchester. They were issued to aircrews, they might also have bought some lever guns. I'll have to check. |
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Stalin sold many of the Russian M95s to his Commie brethren in Spain during the Spanish Civil War of the late 1930's. This and many other arms deals are detailed in the excellent book "Arms for Spain."
It is not unlikely that the Red Army used some early on in WWII. The Win95 was rejected by the US Army and to my knowledge was never an issue weapon. I saw a Russian contract one in a Texas pawn shops several weeks ago. The metal was uncut, but the stock was sporterized and some of the bands, etc were gone. I think they had it prices at $2700.00. These sold for about $50 a few decades ago. There are still M95's in Russia. They have all be heavily reworked. Because of the Clinton Executive Order and the price the Russians are asking for them, they may never make it here. |
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Sure they did! Standard issue sidearm for the space-shuttle doorgunners... You DO know that they operated the space shuttle off of the Nimitz right? lol |
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Similarly, In Commonweath use the Winchester 95 in 303 British was trialed, even pressed into use in Home Guard Units around the world. But never frontline. You can buy Broad arrow marked 303's from time to time. [Broad Arrow Mark is a commonwealth military acceptance stamp] |
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Due to the high loss rate the Russians had, they placed many orders for off-the-shelf weapons, as well as contracting here in the US for M91 Mosin-Nagants to be made in the USA.
To quickly get rifles in the hands of troops, the Russians ordered the Winchester 1895 in 1915. It was chambered in 7.62x54R, used stripper clips, and the sights were graduated in Arshins (1 Arshin=0.71 meter). The barrel was 28 inches long. 293,816 of the rifles were delivered. Some were reported to be captured on the Eastern front by German troops as late as 1942. There have been some that reportedly were captured in Korea. The US Army's handbook that cataloged weapons used by the Viet Cong included the Winchester 1895, though I don't know if any were verifiably captured in Vietnam. Considering that the Soviets almost never disposed of anything until it was completely worn out and unrepairable, it's not too hard to beleive they were around that long. There's one dealer around here who has one for sale for a couple grand. It is all original, but there's no finnish, some pitting, and the wood isn't all that great looking either. He's had it for years and it hasn't sold. I think a good condition one would be VERY hard to find, but I think the Winchester 95 in 7.62x54 would be a pretty neat rifle to have. |
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That's classified. |
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Splash the Zeros!!! |
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