Winchester-Lee Model 1895 6mm Navy Rifle

Nice!

Sweet rifle there, IMHO was ahead of it's time.

Very cool! Straight pulls are always a fun change of pace. I loved my M95 until it became uneconomical to repair. What a shame propellant and bullet technology was insufficiently advanced at the time of adoption to exploit the Lee's potential.

Very nice!

Do not shoot... a very close friend of mine had the bolt come back thru the rear of the rifle after shooting one. The bolt went right thru his head and bounced off the back of his skull. He never regained conciousness and died soon thereafter. He was one of my mentors as I stared shooting and one of the most knowlagable firearms collectores I ever have known.

Beautiful rifle. Unsafe to shoot.


Willie

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Willie Sutton said:

Do not shoot... a very close friend of mine had the bolt come back thru the rear of the rifle after shooting one. The bolt went right thru his head and bounced off the back of his skull. He never regained conciousness and died soon thereafter. He was one of my mentors as I stared shooting and one of the most knowlagable firearms collectores I ever have known.

Beautiful rifle. Unsafe to shoot.


Willie

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Good grief Willie! How could you possibly know if vainn80s rifle is unsafe to shoot. Are you really saying all 1895 Lees are unsafe to shoot? If so, what evidence do you have to support that assertion? Other people owning Lees are shooting them and not suffering the fate of your unfortunate friend.

The Winchester Navy / Marine Corps Model of 1895 is a pretty cool design that was a bit ahead of US metallurgy at the time. It is a camming semi-straight pull action designed by James Paris Lee, of Lee Metford and later Lee Enfield fame.

Winchester actually had to increase the length of their testing rifle range for the 6mm Cartridge. They supposedly bought some property on Long Island so they could go out to 1,000 yards.

It saw service with the Navy and Marines during the Spanish American war of 1898, the Boxer Rebellion in China 1899 to 1901, the Phiilipine-American war of 1899 to 1902 and the Moro (Islamic) rebellion of 1899 to 1913.

The Navy and Marines also had machine guns chambered for the 6mm Lee Navy cartridge. They had some interesting requirements involving shooting through the sides of steam boilers used by river gun boats.

I remember reading about these rifles some time back. It seems that when they are disassembled the bolt can be replaced with a part reversed.The rifle will cycle and appear to work fine until it is fired,with the result described by Mr Sutton.I'm sure someone who frequents this thread can explain in better detail.

osprey176 said:

I remember reading about these rifles some time back. It seems that when they are disassembled the bolt can be replaced with a part reversed.The rifle will cycle and appear to work fine until it is fired,with the result described by Mr Sutton.I'm sure someone who frequents this thread can explain in better detail.

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I think you are mistaking the Lee for the Canadian Ross. Problems with the Lee were/are rather rare according to what I have read. I have to wonder if the "friend" Willie Sutton mentioned is not a guy named Glenn who made multiple errors when creating loads from .220 Swift brass, oversized bullets, overcharges, and not heeding the warning signs of dangerous pressures from his first shot. If it is "Glenn", he was killed by the second shot because of his mistakes not because the 1895 Lee is an inherently dangerous design.

Edit: Here is a link to the "Glenn" I mentioned.

http://www.msgunowners.com/t22036-a-firearm-accident-that-killed-a-friend

Nom,I believe you are right,I saw a straight pull and was thinking Ross.Thanks for the correction. At any rate,it a fine looking rifle.