Winchester Model 1915

History of the 1915 Winchester Model

When the Russian Empire was mobilized for World War I in 1914, it lacked a stockpile of military rifles for the millions drafted into the war. For this reason, a government "procurement committee" was sent to the United States to ensure that all types of rifles were available for the coming war.

Eventually, contracts were signed with the likes of Remington (among others), and the famous Winchester firm was asked to produce an improved version of their Model 1895 Sporting Lever Rifle - the ultimate lever action by famed gunsmith John Browning design. Winchester agreed, and the new gun was named the "Model 1915" and became one of the few lever-action rifles used in World War I (1914-1918).

Type 1895/Type 1915 is generally classified as a "lever" by requiring the operator to operate a pivot lever assembly under the receiver that doubles as a trigger guard. Behind the trigger ring is an elongated ring on which the servant adjusts the fingers of the firing hand to apply the necessary downward pressure on the lever.

The resulting action is used to clear the firing chamber of the spent grenade casing and insert a new cartridge from the one-piece 5-blade casing under the receiver (in front of the lever). A pioneering concept in the 18th century, leverage is used much less in the new century.

Repeated shots are possible with this weapon, although the weapon is still limited to single shots and requires manual control of the lever for each subsequent shot.

As expected, the Russian specification calls for certain modifications to the existing Type 1895 design - primarily the chamber for the 7.62x54mm R-rimmed rifle cartridge. As the Russian Army relies on standard ("de-clip") loaders for its existing line rifles, the Type 1895 receiver is properly equipped with guide ribs to properly load magazines that support the Russian 7.62mm format (these additions are clearly identified the protrusion on the top of the handset). Additionally, a new length of wood was added above the exposed barrel at the bottom for a harder end product (and to protect the operator from the heat from prolonged firing of the barrel). The development of the rifle took place in 1914 and the model was officially adopted by the Russian Empire as the Model 1915 - or M1915. The Army procured about 293,000 to 300,000 examples, the first of about 10,000 used with the rare 8-inch "blade" bayonet and the rest with the more popular 16-inch long "sword" variant.

The delivery was completed in 1917, when the Russian Empire was plunged into internal turmoil and eventual civil war - leading to the rise of the Soviet Union, which would go through decades of World War II and the upcoming Cold War.

It is said that by the 1930s there were enough Model 1915 rifles in circulation to ship stocks to Spain to support the Nationalist Army during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939).

The M1915 has an overall length of 1,160 mm (45.65 in) and a barrel length of 712 mm (28.05 in). The rifle can be fed by the aforementioned charger or by loading a single round, allowing the shooter some tactical flexibility. Muzzle velocity is rated at 2,690 feet per second.

Slings are optional but helpful for marching and transport.

While the Russian Army relied primarily on their trusty Mosin-Nagant 1891 bolt-action rifle during World War I (or even World War II), the M1915 remains a rather forgotten contribution to the Russian Great War effort .

Specification

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