Winchester 1895 Carbine

Bigcrigger

Bigcrigger

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Hey all! I took a bit of a break from this forum / the hobby for a few months. I’ve been working on bringing my old wagon back to its former glory, and of course now that I’m onto the expensive stages of that I found an 1895 saddle ring carbine come up for sale in .303 British. No chance I can let that opportunity slip, the 1895 is easily my favourite rifle of all time. At one time I had two in .303
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But I ended up parting with the bottom one a little while back, and having my pistol grip flatside reblued
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And the holes in the receiver have been filled with screws!
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Still gotta get the proper buttplate someday.

Anyhow I bought this today
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It’s definitely a little rough around the edges and it needs a little care and attention before it gets taken to the range but it’s an 1895 with ladder rear sights and an upper handguard. It’s also short! Looks like it would be an excellent little thing to haul around the woods!

Anyway the reason for this post is because I was wondering if anybody on here knows much about the 1895 carbines, i can’t find too much online about them. Once it’s arrived I’m gonna immediately get it lettered so I can learn whatever I can about the specific rifle but I’m really not familiar with where the 1895 Carbines stood on the totem pole of 1895s when they were being sold. Why were they made? I know it’s not an ex military rifle, so why the military style sights? Why the upper handguard? What was the purpose of the carbine and who was buying them? Is it common to see them in .303 or were the majority of them 30-40?

Thanks in advance guys. It’s good to be back :)
 
Lucky to find an 1895 carbine with the hand guard in tact. Most were broken trying to remove them the wrong way. Even the saddle ring is still there great find. 1895 carbines were quite popular with lawmen in the American south west. They were issued to Arizona Rangers. The rear sight is actually a carbine ladder style and not military although military in appearance. The idea behind them was a shorter, handier carbine for horseback hunting or close cover. The officers in the famous Rough Riders who charged up San Juan Hill, Cuba carried carbine 1895's in .30-40 Krag. Enjoy your carbine.
Darryl
 
madtrapper143 said:
Lucky to find an 1895 carbine with the hand guard in tact. Most were broken trying to remove them the wrong way. Even the saddle ring is still there great find. 1895 carbines were quite popular with lawmen in the American south west. They were issued to Arizona Rangers. The rear sight is actually a carbine ladder style and not military although military in appearance. The idea behind them was a shorter, handier carbine for horseback hunting or close cover. The officers in the famous Rough Riders who charged up San Juan Hill, Cuba carried carbine 1895's in .30-40 Krag. Enjoy your carbine.
Darryl
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Thank you very much for this!! That’s pretty damn neat!
 
Another thing to be aware of 1895 models in general. Though a strong action, post world war two .30-06 cartridges proved to much for the 1895 action. As a result most .30-06 chambered 1895 models will have developed head space. This is not so with the .303 British.
Darryl
 
The modern made Winchester and Browning miroku versions are made of better steel than the originals and they are able to handle modern factory 30/06 and 270 cartridges no problem.
 
I had one in .303 , 22" that I picked up for $125 and the guy threw in a USMC KBar. This is a few years ago of course. I always thought that it had been cut down, rather than having that barrel from the factory. Mine had quality carving on the butt stock and full brass pin trim. Good lord why did I ever sell that old beauty.... probably the coolest rifle I ever owned. Love the intact top wood on yours!
 
I think the browning 95 miroku s were produced starting in 1984 and the Winchester Mirokus were made in the 90s .The later Winchester versions were made versions with rebounding hammers and tang safeties.My miroku made carbine was made in 2000 I believe and it does have the rebounding hammer and tang safety .Some people don t like the safety or rebounding hammer but I don’t t mind them and the safety does come in handy .The early miroku remake 1886 rifles had a problem with the rebounding hammer with unreliable ignition do to soft primer strikes but they corrected that problem.The 95 miroku 95s never had that problem
 
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madtrapper143 said:
Another thing to be aware of 1895 models in general. Though a strong action, post world war two .30-06 cartridges proved to much for the 1895 action. As a result most .30-06 chambered 1895 models will have developed head space. This is not so with the .303 British.
Darryl
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This is good to know! I’ve been wanting a 30-06 1895 and was considering just getting a miroku one in the future. That’ll probably be exactly what I do, they seem to be very very well made from everything I’ve heard.
 
Suther said:
Any idea what general time frame this change in steel occurred?
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1990 and later, or thereabouts. All the newer winchester levers were made by miroku by that time. I had a 303 saddle carbine for a while. Was going to restore it but ran out of steam. Sold it to a fellow cgn'er a while back. - dan
 
Just guessing but perhaps they used same rear sight on the carbine as they used on the 1895 musket? Thus the handguard, which as on most military rifles was to keep the soldiers hand from bring burned on a hot barrel.
 
The vast makority were made in 7;62x54 and sent overseas to Russia. And, ironically that caliber is the rareist in North America.
A lot were made for the Canadian Market and I'm sure some were martial arms, but off the top of my head I can't remember
who would have used them.
They go for a pretty penny, unless it is an absolute worn out piece of rust, but even then they can go for several hundred, as there is
a sizeable collector market, especially in 303.
If memory serves correctly, your flatside is an earlier production model. They made the lightening cut a few years into production. Someone
correct me if i'm wrong.
 
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