The Winchester Model 1876 Rifle (original) (raw)

The Winchester Model 1876 Rifle

©2002

By Bill Hockett

The Winchester Model 1876 Rifle was Oliver Winchester�s attempt to offer a large caliber repeating rifle specifically designed for big game hunting. In 1875, Winchester�s only products were the Model 1866 rifle (.44 rimfire) and Model 1873 rifle (at this time only available in .44 Winchester Center Fire or .44 W.C.F.). A Winchester factory advertisement noted that �The constant calls from many sources, and particularly from the regions in which the grizzly bear and other large game are found, as well as the plains where absence of cover and shyness of game require the hunter to make his shots at long range made it desirable to build a still more powerful gun than the Model 1873.� 1Winchester had been working to make a high power, big bore repeating rifle since 1866. The design that culminated in the Model 1876 was not an outgrowth of the Model 1873. Instead, it was the natural evolution of engineering designs and prototypes.2 After the Springfield Model 1873 rifle with its .45-70-405 government cartridge became standard within the military, Winchester engineers worked to find a way of using that cartridge in a repeating rifle. The toggle-link system, in use since the Volcanic and Henry rifles, could not handle the length of the .45-70-405 cartridge, without a long and massive receiver. The answer was to make the cartridge bottle-necked and shorter. The resulting .45-75 W.C.F. held 75 grains of powder, used a 350 grain bullet and fed reliably through the 1876 action. Winchester felt they had a winner and the rifle entered the market in 1876. It had its premier at the Philadelphia Exposition (honoring the nation�s centennial), so the new Winchester became known as the Centennial Model.3 In its standard sporting rifle configuration, it was offered with a 28 inch round or octagon barrel (octagon barrels were optional but much more popular), straight stock, full-length magazine, and crescent buttplate. Carbines were offered with 22 inch round barrels and a full-length forearm. Muskets were offered with a 32 inch round barrels and also had full-length forearms. The sporting rifles outsold carbines and muskets by a wide margin. Like all Winchester rifles, the Model 1876 had many options for the buyer. Set triggers, special barrel lengths and weights, custom wood and metal finish, special sights, engraving, pistol grip stocks, different buttplates, etc., were among the extras offered by Winchester. The set trigger proved a popular option and was ordered on the Centennial Model more often than any other lever action Winchester. Extra-long barrels 30 inches or longer were sometimes ordered, as were handy 26 inch barrel short rifles. Collectors generally accept three major production variations of the Model 1876. First Models, up to serial numbers in the 5,000 range do not have dust covers. First Models are often called �Open Tops� although many early rifles were later fitted with dust covers at the Winchester factory. Second Model rifles are in the serial number range up to about 25,000. They have dust covers with the guide rail secured to the receiver by screws. The dust cover may be of either the �thumbprint� type or one with serrated edges. Third Models continue until the end of production and have a dust cover rail integral with the receiver.4 Collectors soon find out, however, there are exceptions to every rule when it comes to antique Winchester rifles. Winchester never discarded useable parts; so late serial numbered guns will sometimes have early parts. Early serial numbered guns are also found with parts that were produced later. Collectors believe that parts were often dumped into bins for use, so early parts sometimes ended up in the bottom of the bin. A production worker probably would not dig through the bin, but use the part on top of the pile. There are other production features that changed over the life of the rifle. See the references for additional information. Many rifles were returned to the Winchester factory, and in some cases the factory records, will note, �Returned & Repaired.� Winchester was disappointed with the sales of the Centennial model. No military sales were made and the rifle was not popular with foreign sales either, with a couple of exceptions. The most famous group to use the big Centennial Model was Canada�s North West Mounted Police and they purchased over 1600 carbines. From 1878 until 1914, the Model 1876 Carbine was in use with the Mounties as well as the Alberta Provincial Police. It proved a reliable and popular arm with the Mounties. The other group known to use the Model 1876 in some numbers was the Hawaii Territorial Guard, which acquired muskets for use by the militia. The Model 1876 was mainly popular with people on the frontier looking for a powerful repeating rifle that was handy enough to carry on a horse. Famous and infamous westerners known to have used the Model 1876 include Teddy Roosevelt, Johnny Ringo (Tombstone), Charlie Bowdre (Lincoln County War), Major Frank Wolcott (Johnson County War) and Granville Stuart (Montana rancher and vigilante). Teddy Roosevelt was photographed with one of his 1876 rifles. He liked the 1876 better than English double rifles. In the movie �Tom Horn� Steve McQueen uses a Model 1876 in .45-60, but I cannot find any historical reference of the real Tom Horn ever using one. In the recent TNT movie �Crossfire Trial,� actor Tom Selleck uses a refinished and engraved Model 1876 carbine in caliber .45-60. The Model 1876 is the only repeating rifle that had successful, documented use in the northern plains buffalo slaughter. Earlier repeating rifles such as the Henry, Spencer, and Winchester Models of 1866 and 1873 may have seen limited use, but only the Model 1876 was considered by hunters as powerful enough to do the job against the big woolies. The strength of the Model 1876 rifle and the .45-75 W.C.F. cartridge was tested by Winchester in the late 1870s. The factory conducted tests on the strength and reliability of the action to answer concerns by customers. These tests will astound collectors and shooters who have stated the Model 1876's toggle link action is "weak." In response to a letter sent to the company by Charles Hallock, Esquire, Oliver Winchester responded by telling about the tests the factory accomplished on the 1876 rifle. He indicated that engineers first started the tests by removing one of the toggle links and fired 20 rounds (this was with .45-75 W.C.F. cartridge with 350 grain bullet) with no effect. They restored the missing link then went through 6 more trials starting with a charge of 105 grains of black powder, behind a 700 grain bullet! The comment "worked well" is noted. They then increased the charge of powder to 165 grains behind 3 bullets (1,150 grains) and that "worked well." From there, they increased the powder charge to 203 grains and added more bullets until they reached 1,750 grains of lead (five 350 grain bullets. This also "worked well." Finally, they added one more bullet, bringing the total weight to 2,100 grains, and things began to happen. The comment was, "Breech pin slightly bent. Arm working stiff." The seventh and final test was again 203 grains of powder but this time six Martini bullets weighing 480 grains each (2,880 grains) were used. "The charge bent the breech pin, blew out the side plates, split the frame and otherwise disabled the arm," was the comment. Oliver Winchester noted that in this seventh trial, the shell had burst into fragments and the escape of gas at the breech "did all the mischief."5The big Centennial model was known for its excellent accuracy and is reputed to have been the most finely made of all the early Winchester lever action rifles. The original chambering in .45-75 W.C.F. was supplemented in 1879 by two others, the .45-60 and .50-95 Express. Up on the northern plains, the Model 1876 in .45-60 became known as the �Montana Bear Gun,� while the .50-95 Express proved popular with dangerous game hunters in Africa and India. Winchester created the Express Rifle designation for guns chambered in .50-95. It was the least produced caliber for the Centennial model and the most sought after by collectors today. In 1884 Winchester added the .40-60 to the lineup. It used a 210 grain bullet in a very tapered case. This round with its light bullet puzzles some collectors today, as it was not better than anything it replaced. It is analogous to a super .44-40. In any case, it reached a certain level of popularity, and was the third most popular chambering in the 1876 after the .45-60 and .45-75. Winchester�s competitors for the Model 1876 included the Marlin Model 1881, the Colt Burgess rifle, the Colt Lightning rifle, and the large frame Whitney-Kennedy models. In terms of sales and use on the frontier west, the Model 1876 beat them all. Winchester also produced a prototype Model 1878 rifle, which used the standard .45-70 government cartridge.6 This rifle competed in military trials against other magazine guns, including the Winchester-Hotchkiss bolt action rifle. The Hotchkiss rifle was recommended by the board members conducting the trial, and was purchased in limited numbers by the government. The prototype .45-70 Model 1878 was the only one ever made. It's receiver exists today in the Cody Firearms Museum at the Buffalo Bill Historic Center. By 1885, Winchester had concluded an arrangement with John Browning of Ogden, Utah for the manufacture of a new lever action rifle. This Browning design became the legendary Winchester Model 1886. Winchester finally got the rifle it wanted � a lever action capable of handling the .45-70 government cartridge. The new 1886 essentially ended the life of the older Model 1876, and production of new parts soon ended. However, parts continued to be on hand for years afterward, and Winchester completed the last Model 1876 in 1898. Total production was 63,803 guns, making the 1876 the rarest of the early Winchester lever rifles.7For modern day shooters, the only option for shooting the Centennial Model is an original. No reproduction Model 1876�s have been made. It is doubtful that will happen, as the special cartridges needed are not currently being made by any ammunition manufacturer. For those collectors and shooters lucky enough to have one though, the old Centennial Model loaded with black powder produces a crowd pleasing boom with plenty of knock-down power for any targets out to around 300 yards. The Model 1876 is a winner today just as it was in the days of the old west.

Endnotes

1 George Madis. The Winchester Book (Brownsboro, Texas: Art and Reference House, 1961), page 211.
2 Herbert G. Houze. The Winchester Model 1876 "Centennial" Rifle (Lincoln, Rhode Island: Andrew Mowbray Incorporated, 2001), page 6.
3 Souvenir of the Centennial Exhibition: Or, Connecticut's Representation at Philadelphia, 1876 (George D. Curtis; Hartford, Conn.: 1877), pages 88-89.
4 Madis. The Winchester Book, page 213.
5 Winchester Repeating Arms Company Catalog, 1879.
6 Houze. The Winchester Model 1876 "Centennial" Rifle, page 165.
7 Winchester Repeating Arms Company, Model 1876 Serial Number Registers, Volumes 1-7. Winchester Arms Collection Archives, Cody Firearms Museum, Buffalo Bill Historical Center.

Figure 1. Winchester Model 1876 Rifle with 26 inch barrel, caliber .45-60

Figure 2. Close up of Model 1876 receiver

Figure 3. Winchester Model 1876 Carbine, caliber .45-75