The Model 1873 was followed by the Model 1876 (or "Centennial Model"), a larger version of the '73, which used the same toggle-link action and brass cartridge elevator used in the Henry. These rifle families are commonly known as the "Gun That Won the West." The Model 1873 introduced the first Winchester center fire cartridge, the. Īnother extremely popular model was rolled out in 1873. The Henry and the 1866 Winchester shared a unique double firing pin that struck the head of the rimfire cartridge in two places when the weapon was fired, increasing the chances that the fulminate in the hollow rim would ignite the 28 or so grains of black powder inside the case. 44 caliber rimfire cartridges as the Henry but had an improved magazine (with the addition of a loading gate on the right side of the receiver, invented by Winchester employee Nelson King) and, for the first time, a wooden forend. Winchester had the basic design of the Henry rifle completely modified and improved to become the first Winchester rifle, the Model 1866, which fired the same. Oliver Winchester, hastening back from Europe, forestalled the move and reorganized New Haven Arms yet again as the Winchester Repeating Arms Company. In 1866, Benjamin Henry, angered over what he believed was inadequate compensation, attempted to have the Connecticut legislature award ownership of New Haven Arms to him. The Winchester rifle The Winchester arms factory in New Haven, Connecticut, 1891 Magazine advertisement from 1898 The Henry rifle ensured New Haven Arms' success, and together with the Spencer rifle, established the lever-action repeater in the firearms market. This became the Henry rifle of 1860, which was manufactured by the New Haven Arms Company and used in considerable numbers by certain Union army units during the American Civil War. Henry also supervised a new rifle design based loosely on the Volcanic to use the new ammunition, retaining only the general form of the breech mechanism and the tubular magazine. Īfter Smith's departure, Benjamin Henry continued to work with a Smith development project, the self-contained metallic rimfire cartridge, and perfected the much larger, more powerful. Davies purchased the bankrupt firm's assets from the remaining stockholders and reorganized it as the New Haven Arms Company in April 1857. Oliver Winchester and his partner John M. The company moved to New Haven (without Smith or Wesson) in 1856, but by the end of that year, it became insolvent. The Volcanic rifle had only limited success. Its largest stockholder was clothing manufacturer Oliver Winchester. In 1855, the Smith and Wesson partnership, in order to manufacture what they called the "Volcanic" lever-action rifle and pistol, sought investors and incorporated as the Volcanic Repeating Arms Company. Smith designed a much-improved rifle based on Jennings' design, and the partners also hired away Robbins & Lawrence shop foreman Benjamin Tyler Henry. Jennings' rifle was a commercial failure, and Robbins & Lawrence ceased production in 1852. Smith and Wesson acquired Lewis Jennings' improved version of inventor Walter Hunt's 1848 "Volition Repeating Rifle" and its caseless " Rocket Ball" ammunition, which had been produced in small numbers by Robbins & Lawrence of Windsor, Vermont. The ancestor of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company was the Horace Smith and Daniel Wesson partnership of Norwich, Connecticut (not to be confused with the famous Smith & Wesson Revolver Company founded later by the same men). The Winchester name is also used under license for firearms produced by two subsidiaries of the Herstal Group – FN Herstal of Belgium and the Browning Arms Company of Ogden, Utah. The Winchester brand name is still owned by the Olin Corporation, which makes ammunition under that name. The firm went into receivership in 1931 and was bought by the Western Cartridge Company, a forerunner of the Olin Corporation. The firm was established in 1866 by Oliver Winchester and was located in New Haven, Connecticut. The Winchester Repeating Arms Company was a prominent American manufacturer of repeating firearms and ammunition.
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