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US patent No. 549345 would be the last John Browning lever action design produced by Winchester, as the model 1895. Practically, it was a unique combination of features seen in previous Browning designs. Conceptually, it was the culmination lever action design at Winchester. After the model 1895, Winchester’s lever action line would not see any major innovation for nearly sixty years.
While each feature is unique, a clear evolution can be seen with similar features in Browning’s previous designs. This design centers around a fixed single-stack box magazine. The magazine accommodates rimmed or rimless bottleneck cartridges, as well as those using spitzer bullets.
The model 1895 is the only Winchester lever action rifle successfully marketed to a military. Throughout Winchester’s history many designs were developed for military cartridges but almost none reached production. Initially the 1895 saw only limited sales and production was nearly ended in 1914. With the onset of war, Russia found itself desperately short of rifles. While Russia was waiting for other US-based companies to tool up production of their bolt action service rifle, Winchester seized the opportunity to pitch the sale of the 1895. Chambering the 1895 for the standard Russian 7.62x54r cartridge required no modification to the design and Winchester claimed full scale production could begin within two weeks. Seventy percent of all Winchester 1895s produced would be under Russian military contract. Those sales would allow the rifle to remain in commercial production until the 1930s.
Inventor: John Browning
Assigned: Winchester, Nov. 1894
Patent Attorney: Earle & Seymour