FOREST AND STREAM 
619 
Rebuilding Your Rifle To Suit Yourself 
Perhaps some of your readers may be inter¬ 
ested in a hunting rifle which has stood satis¬ 
factorily the test of several years big game 
hunting 
The rifle started out by being the regulation 
model 1895 Winchester, using the .35 calibre car¬ 
tridge. 
The model ’95 Winchester is considered by 
many to be an extremely efficient gun, the only 
objections I have heard being that the box mag¬ 
azine makes it awkward to carry, the balance of 
tne gun being at this magazine. If carried over 
the shoulder the box feels uncomfortable unless 
the rifle is carried with one side down. Another 
objection, which is more fancied than real, how¬ 
ever, is the fact that the action is so open when 
the lever is thrown down, because of the link 
in the bottom of the frame opening in order to 
give the necessary leverage to withdraw the bolt 
a sufficient distance to handle the long cartridge 
that dust and dirt will get into it. I believe no 
complaints have ever been made regarding the 
strength or functioning of the action. I might 
say in passing that my favorite action is the 
1886 Winchester because of the shortness of the 
throw of the lever, but unfortunately the Win¬ 
chester people will not make this action to handle 
such long cartridges as those used in the model 
1895- 
After a great deal of study I decided that the 
.35 calibre Winchester cartridge for the model 
1895 rifle was ideal for the big game of America, 
and the next point was to get a rifle that would 
suit my peculiar ideas, and if possible to im¬ 
prove upon the regulation product of the Win¬ 
chester factory. Despite the fact that most of 
us rifle cranks are always trying to better Win¬ 
chester and other rifles, we frequently find it 
hard to do so—Whether I have succeeded in this 
instance I will leave to your readers. 
Wanting a rifle to balance further forward I 
ordered from Francis Bannerman, of New York, 
the great dealer in military and second-hand 
supplies, a 30 inch rifle barrel which had been 
intended for the United States Springfield rifle. 
The barrel, however, being only 30 calibre and 
fitting the Springfield action, it was necessary to 
have the breech turned down, rethreaded and 
fitted to the Winchester action, then rebored and 
rifled to .35 calibre and chambered to use that 
cartridge. There was only man in the vicinty of 
New York who could do such work to my satis¬ 
faction, so I took the action and barrel to my 
friend, Mr. H. M. Pope, of Jersey City. He 
is well known to all riflemen for the excellence 
of his work and the accuracy of his barrels. 
In due time Mr. Pope finished the job; also 
arranging the barrel by means of a pin, which 
you will notice on the frame, so that it may be 
removed by hand, thus making it a take-down 
for the purpose of carrying on long journeys to 
and from the hunting territory. This pin is 
fitted friction tight and makes a secure take¬ 
down system without removing any unnecessary 
metal. 
While this take-down arrangement is ordinarily 
too slow to permit of cleaning from the breech 
any wear on the muzzle of the barrel is avoided 
by a little cap made of brass and steel, which 
By E. F. Watson. 
is fitted over the muzzle. This cap looks a little 
like the false muzzle of the old fashioned 
muzzle loading rifles. There is a hole through it 
about three inches in diameter through which the 
cleaning rod can be inserted and thus the rod 
never touches the rifling and cause it to be marred 
or worn. One can make a similar attachment 
for his rifle out of wood from a spool by boring 
half-way through the spool lengthwise, so that it 
will fit tightly over the muzzle. The one on this .35 
rifle was originally part of a loading outfit which 
is furnished by the Smith & Wesson people for 
loading revolver cartridges, I having discovered by 
accident that it was just the thing for the muzzle 
of the rifle because of its snug fit over it. 
When the rifle is standing in the gun cabinet 
this cap is a well greased flannel patch inside it is 
rear and a Lyman semi-jack ivory bead became 
the front sight. The breech bolt was smoothed 
by means of the finest flour emery, and as I 
like a rifle without any drag to trigger I ham¬ 
mered an ordinary pin flat and inserted it, from 
the inside, through the link in front of the trigger 
so that nearly all the play in the trigger was taken 
up. 
With the fancy walnut stock the rifle weighs 
8% pounds, and with a plain walnut stock check¬ 
ered and well finished it weighs 8 % pounds. The 
30 inch barrel gives a long distance between sights 
and its accuracy is beyond belief. 
You will notice from the cut a peculiarity in 
the shell in that it seems to have two shoulders. 
When Mr. Pope undertook to chamber the bar¬ 
rel he found that the chamber for the .30 United 
States Springfield cartridge was larger for some 
distance—to be exact inches- than that of the 
.35 Winchester, while, of course, the front end 
of the cartridge was larger than that of the 
Springfield. As a result I can now fire the re¬ 
gular .35 calibre Winchester ammunition, but 
after it has been fired the shell assumes a some¬ 
what different shape and it could not be used in 
any other .35 calibre, although I can reload it 
for use in my own rifle. 
In preparing for a hunting trip, on which I 
always use shells of my own loading, I fire the 
Winchester shell with a light powder charge so 
that it will be expanded to fit the chamber. This 
enables the use of 3 grains more than the re¬ 
gular charge of .35*95 powder with which the 
left on the muzzle, thus keeping the barrel practic¬ 
ally airtight and so preventing rust. 
In removing the regular military rear sight 
from the barrel a shoulder was disclosed, and in 
order to give the barrel a proper smooth appear¬ 
ance Mr. Pope fitted a short jacket, which you 
may observe in the picture. This adds a little 
strength, although it is not needed. Then the 
rifle was sent to the Winchester people, with re¬ 
quest that they fit a fancy walnut checkered 
stock with cheek piece, the stock to be 13^ 
inches long from the centre of trigger to middle 
of butt-plate and to have -kj inch more drop 
than regular. They were also requested to fit 
a long forearm, checkered, to match the stock, 
and by means of which, plus the extra length 
of barrel, the weight of the rifle was to be so dis¬ 
tributed that it would balance, for carrying pur¬ 
poses, just forward of the box magazine. The 
barrel not being of their own make they would 
not make the forearm, but kindly sent me, for a 
very nominal sum indeed, a piece of wood out 
of which Mr. Dannefelser, the well-known New 
York gunsmith, made the forearm. The cheek 
piece seemed a little too full and so I had Danne¬ 
felser cut it to about one-half the original thick¬ 
ness. A Lyman receiver sight was put on the 
■■■■■ 
Winchester people load their shells, and by rea¬ 
son of the extra 6 inch in the length of the 
barrel and this extra 3 grains of powder the 
velocity given the 250 grain soft point bullet is 
probably over 2,400 feet, and the power obtained 
over 3,000 pounds. 
With this rifle I killed a moose in New Bruns¬ 
wick at a distance of between 400 and 500 yards 
(estimated), the first shot striking just behind 
the shoulder, and the moose taking about two 
steps quartering a second shot struck him 6 
inches further back and probably crossed the 
line of the first shot in the moose’s body. A 
friend of mine borrowed the rifle and killed his 
moose with it. On another hunt, in Montana, a 
deer was shot in the breast when facing me, and 
was almost dressed as it stood, and an elk was 
shot through the heart, all being exceptionally 
clean kills. 
A soft point pointed bullet weighing 225 grains 
can now be obtained for this cartridge, and its 
lighter weight with the improved shape should 
add to its velocity. It seems to me that con¬ 
sidering the speed of fire, accuracy of the rifle 
and effectiveness of the cartridge it would be 
hard to improve upon this rifle for big American 
game if one is a lover of the lever action. 
