Winchester Repeating Arms Company

Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 40. Chapters: Winchester Repeating Arms Company cartridges, Winchester Repeating Arms Company firearms, Winchester rifle, Winchester Model 52, Winchester Model 70, Winchester Model 1897, .30-30 Winchester, Winchester Model 67, Winchester 1200, Winchester Model 1894, Winchester Model 69, Winchester Model 1895, .308 Winchester, Winchester Model 1912, List of Winchester models, Winchester Model 1907, Winchester Model 1911, Winchester Model 68, Winchester Model 1892, Winchester Model 1887/1901, Winchester Model 1885 Single Shot Rifle, .405 Winchester, Winchester Model 1910, Winchester Short Magnum, Winchester Model 71, Winchester Model 1905, Winchester Model 54, .401 Winchester Self-Loading, .351 Winchester Self-Loading, .38-72 Winchester, .33 Winchester, .40-72 Winchester, Winchester Model 1890, Winchester Model 1903, Winchester Model 100, Model 1900 Bolt-Action Single-Shot .22 Rifle, .70-150 Winchester, .22 Winchester Centerfire, List of Winchester Center Fire cartridges, Winchester Model 21, Winchester-Hotchkiss. Excerpt: In common usage Winchester rifle usually means any of the lever-action rifles manufactured by the Winchester Repeating Arms Company, though the company has also manufactured many rifles of other action types. Winchester rifles were among the earliest repeating rifles; the Winchester repeater is colloquially known as "The Gun that Won the West" for its predominant role in the hands of Western settlers. In 1848 inventor Walter Hunt of New York patented his "Volition Repeating Rifle" incorporating a tubular magazine, which was operated by two levers and complex linkages. The Hunt rifle fired what he called the "Rocket Ball," an early form of caseless ammunition in which the powder charge was contained in the bullet's hollow base. Hunt's design was fragile and unworkable; but in 1849 Lewis Jennings purchased the Hunt patents and developed a functioning, if still complex, version which was produced in small numbers by Robbins & Lawrence of Windsor, Vermont until 1852. Volcanic pistolHorace Smith and Daniel Wesson of Norwich, Connecticut acquired the Jennings patent from Robbins & Lawrence, as well as shop foreman Benjamin Tyler Henry. Smith made several improvements to the Jennings design, and in 1855 Smith and Wesson together with several investors formed a corporation, the Volcanic Repeating Arms Company, to manufacture Smith's modification of the Hunt-Jennings, the Volcanic lever-action pistol and rifle. Its largest stockholder was Oliver Winchester. For the Volcanic rifle Smith added a primer charge to Hunt's "Rocket Ball" and thus created one of the first fixed metallic cartridges which incorporated bullet, primer and powder in one self-contained unit. While still with the company Smith went a step further and added a cylindrical copper case to hold the bullet and powder with the primer in the case rim, thus creating one of the most significant inventions in firearms history, the metallic rimfire cartridge. (Smith's cartridge, the .22 Short, would be introduced comm