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Title:	RIFLE, MILITARY -  WINCHESTER-LEE RIFLE MODEL 1895 STRAIGHT PULL "NAVY MUSKET" 6MM SN# 7876
Maker/Manufacturer:	LEE, JAMES P.
Date of Manufacture:	1895-1902
Eminent Figure:
Catalog Number:	SPAR 4191
Measurements:	OL:121.2CM 47 3/4" BL: 71.1CM 28" 8.31 lbs.

Object Description:

WINCHESTER-LEE RIFLE MODEL 1895 STRAIGHT PULL "NAVY MUSKET" 6MM SN# 7876
Manufactured by Winchester Repeating Arms Co., New Haven, Ct. - Standard bolt-action (straight-pull) with 5-round clip-fed box magazine located beneath the receiver. Blued finish; full length pistol grip walnut stock with handguard. Two iron bands. Iron block blade front; "U" notch, with leaf pivoted to rear of sight base, rear sight. 5-groove rifling; left hand twist. Weapon not equipped with magazine cut-off. 6-groove, Metford rifling. Muzzle velocity of 2,560 fps with M1895 ball cartridge. Weapon weighs approximately 8.31 lbs. unloaded. On 6/28/33 Winchester gave the Springfield Armory a new stock and handguard to replaced the one destroyed in the 1931 Museum fire. Adopted by the U.S. Navy in May, 1895. The Navy first ordered 10,000 of these rifles on October 23, 1895 and received delivery in June, 1897. An additional 5,000 were ordered in 1898. Cartridge: 6mm Lee Navy Ball; commercial designation, 6mm Lee Navy.

Markings:
Receiver: MANUFACTURED BY THE WINCHESTER REPEATING ARMS CO./NEW HAVEN CONN. U.S.A. PAT. OCT.10.93. JAN.30.94. OCT.8.95.
Top: U.S.N./Anchor/NO. 7876/N.C.T. NCT = Lt. Nathan C. Twining, USN. Twining inspected the 1st Navy order of 10,000 Winchester-Lee M1895 rifles.

Weapon transferred to the Museum from Rock Island Arsenal, Rock Island, Il. on 16 March 1912.

Army #843 - "6-28-33 - New stock and hand guard presented to Springfield Armory by Winchester Repeating Arms to replace those parts burned in Museum fire.

Springfield Republican, October 15, 1895 - "THE NAVY'S NEW SMALL ARM. Requirement for the Manufacture of the Lee Magazine Rifle. The naval ordnance bureau at Washington has arranged for the manufacture of 10,000 new magazine rifles invented by James P. Lee of Hartford, says the Times of that city. Last week George Lee, the son of the inventor, and James L. Lockwood of this city, son of Capt. William H. Lockwood, sailed for Europe on the new fast steamer St. Paul, and will visit Paris with the new Lee gun. Mr. Lee's mission is to secure the adoption of the gun by the French government. This gun is suppose to be the best of the small caliber-arms yet invented. The caliber of the gun will be .236. The material of which the barrels are made will be forged or rolled steel, oil tempered, and then annealed, and showing on two-inch specimens of standard form an elastic - limit of at least - 80,000 pounds per square inch, and an elongation of at least 20 per cent. This material will be of uniform quality free from slag seams, hard spots, and all other defects, and will be inspected during manufacture and tested for acceptance by the government's inspectors. The above requirements can be met by an open-hearth steel containing about 4 1/2 per cent of nickel, and such steel will be preferred, but any steel meeting the requirements may be used. The barrel forgings will have no further heat treatment after acceptance.
The material of the bolts and receivers will be of the best quality, and samples of it, selected by the government's inspectors will be tested physically, and must show on two-inch specimens of standard form an elastic limit of at least 40,000 pounds a square inch, and an elongation of at least 20 per cent when annealed. the rifling will consist of six equal grooves, having a uniform twist of one turn in 7 1/2 inches. The depth of the grooves will be .004, and their form that of the Metford rifling. The stocks will be of the best quality walnut and finished in the proper manner. The butt stock will be of shotgun pattern with half pistol grip, and the fore stock and barrel cover will be excavated in wake of the barrel, so as to be in contact with it only on annular ribs covered with asbestos.
The butt plate will be of aluminum checked or roughened and with a sliding cover over a pocket in the butt. A steel butt plate may be used if sufficiently light and strong. The bands will be of steel, as light as is consistent with proper strength, and fastened with screw pins. They will be fitted with swivels forThe pattern of rear sight not having been decided upon, the cost of its manufacture will be the subject of future agreement, but the making of the front sights and the attaching and adjusting of both sights must be done by the contractor, and at his expense. The barrels will be properly browned, and the bolts and receivers either browned or case-hardened as hereafter determined upon as the better. All parts requiring durability are to be properly hardened. One rifle from each lot will be fired not about 100 rounds, with standard ammunition furnished by the department, and defects developed in any part by this firing must be remedied by the contractor. The government will hold the contractor harmless against any suits on account of any infringements of patents in the prosecution of the manufacture of the rifles required."

Springfield Republican, February 3, 1897 - "ALLEGED DEFECTS IN RIFLES. A Resolution in the House Calling for Investigation - Question of Advantage Over Springfield Rifle. Mr. Sherman of New York introduced in the House yesterday a resolution directing the naval and military committees of the House to investigate the reason for the adoption of ammunition of different kinds and calibers, and rifles of different calibers and systems of construction for the use of the army and navy and whether said rifles and ammunition have any advantage over the Springfield rifles, with which the army and navy have heretofore been equipped, and to report to the House the result of their investigation, together with such remedial legislation, if any, as may be necessary to secure unification of arms and ammunition of the army and navy, etc. A preamble to the resolution says that the adoption of one style of rifle by the army and another by the navy is a reflection upon one another and that it is rumored that both arms are more or less defective."

Springfield Republican, March 8, 1898. THE QUESTION OF CALIBER. How the Differences in Army and Navy Rifles Affects the Question of Ammunition (From the Army and Navy Journal). A high official of the ordnance department of the army, in discussing the proposition to provide interchangeable ammunition for the army and navy small arms, said to a Journal representative: 'The Army is perfectly satisfied with its improvement of the Krag-Jorgensen rifle and the navy is apparently well-pleased with the Lee-Metford. The changing of the caliber or the abandonment of either arm in order to utilize interchangeable ammunition would seem to be unwarranted unless some other good results than that convenience merely are to be accomplished. There has never been a time when the army and navy have been in a position where it was necessary to call upon each other for ammunition, and such a time seems now very remote. A careful investigation of the adaptability of either arm to the service in which it is not now used would have to be made before an intelligent opinion on the matter could be given.
It has been frequently stated that the navy before adopting the Lee-Metford rifle examined and discarded the Krag-Jorgensen rifle used by the army. This is not true, as the present army rifle is not the original Krag-Jorgensen, but an improvement of the fifth gun made by these people. It has never been used by any naval experts, and no opinions of its naval uses can now be expressed. Neither has the navy rifle been tested for its adaption to ordinary military service. I do not think the interchangeable ammunition idea will be popular with either army or navy officers, and to arise at a compromise would be like trying to reunite the branches of the Christian church. Any attempt to establish uniformity of caliber in the army and navy weapons will only result in a great loss of money to the government, and injury to the professional standard of the service whose arm will have to beee and the Krag-Jorgensen and will have to arbitrarily select one or the other arm. A board of army officers composed of some of the brightest ordnance experts in the service, carefully tested a large number of weapons submitted to it, and as a result of that competition adopted the Krag-Jorgensen as the arm for the military service. After the time of the adoption of the Krag-Jorgensen rifle, the Lee weapon was improved, and a board of naval experts, Comdr. G.M. Converse, a most efficient officer, among them, selected the Lee straight pull. At the time of the adoption of this rifle we ordered 10,000 and this order has been supplemented by 5000 more. If Congress were to direct the abandonment of the Lee, the government would lose about $400,000 in arms and ammunition.'
We print this statement as we receive it, but it is a specimen of very fallacious reasoning. There is no use to which naval small arms can be applied in these days of quick-firing artillery, which requires any difference of caliber in the arms of the army and navy. There is no possible argument, that we can see, except that of poverty and necessity, in favor of having three different calibers, one for the army, another for the navy, and a third for the state troops. Excellent as it may have been in its day, the Springfield arm is now out of date. A simple comparison of its trajectory with that of more modern weapons will prove this. It is cruel to compel raw troops to face an enemy armed with superior weapons, covering a danger space far in excess of that possible to the Springfield. To give these arms to the militia may be a matter of necessity, but it is impossible to justify such action upon theoretical grounds. In case of extremity we should no doubt be able to supply ourselves with the best weapons from abroad, as the Union armies and the confederates did during the war of the rebellion, in spite of the prohibition upon the exportation of contraband of war. Hence the necessity of understanding in advance the actual facts of the situation instead of suffering ourselves to be misled by false theories and old-time prejudices."

Springfield Republican, March 10, 1898 - "The war department is arranging to secure a large supply of the most modern rifles, sufficient in time of emergency of arm 500,000 men. The need of these modern guns has long been apparent. It was stated by high officials of the department yesterday that no board was necessary to inquire into the merits of the various guns on the market, but that the department would turn to the best sources of supply. These, it is said, are ample within the United States to turn out rifles of the most approved pattern as fast as the government wants them. It is not unlikely, however, that the demand will require the army to turn from the Krag-Jorgensen rifle now in use, and adopt, in part at least, one of the American-made guns. Gen. Miles strongly favors the 'straight pull gun.' It is of the American make and has been adopted by the British government as the standard arm, a million being now in the hands of British soldiers. Gen Miles recommended its adoption 18 years ago, when a member of a board for the choice of a rifle, and his view will have much weight. This gun is used by the United States nay and this is being urged as another point in its favor, as the reserve supply would be available for either branch of service."

Notes: A SMALL ARMS FOR THE NAVY. The Navy is to be shipped with a small arm which the naval experts consider the finest in the world. It is known as the Lee magazine rifle, is 6mm. in calibre, has extremely small bore, and will be fitted with many improvements. In fact, this weapon is considered as the highest development in small arms manufacture.
The board, consisting of Comdr. George A. Converse, Prof. Phillip R. Alger, Lieut. Lincoln A. Karmany, U.S.M.C., and Ensign N.C. Twining, upon whose recommendation the arm was adopted, made its report to the Navy Department u'Washington, D.C. May 20, 1895
The Naval Ordnance Bureau has awarded a contract to the Winchester & Repeating Firearms Co. for the manufacture of 10,000 stands of the new Lee rifle at $17.60 each. The manufacture will immediately commence and the arms will be ready for delivery to the Department next summer." - 25 May 1895, source unknown.

"James Paris Lee (1831-1904) was a talented inventor who worked in the second half of the 19th century. His greatest triumph was the box magazine which subsequently appeared in different forms in practically every military rifle in the world, but he also designed and patented many other projects. In the early 1890s he produced a design for a straight-pull bolt action that circumvented existing patents and offering what was hoped would be a faster action than the contemporary turnbolts. The United States Navy adopted the idea in 1895 in 6mm (.236in) calibre, and the manufacturing contract was awarded to Winchester, under license from the Lee Arms Company who owned the rights.
The bolt in the 1895 Lee rifle does not rotate; it is locked by cam action into the receiver and is operated by a small movement of the cam lever, which lies downward along the right side of the receiver and looks very much like a conventional bolt handle. By pulling the handle to the rear the cams unlock for their recess in the receiver, allowing the rear end of the bolt to move upwards, after which further pulling on the handle draws the bolt back and opens the action; it sounds easy, but is, in fact, not quite so easy to operate on first acquaintance. Perhaps the U.S. Navy found the same thing, for their original order of 20,000 was not completed, and of the 19,658 rifles which were made, 1,245 of them were never issued but were sold off as surplus. Winchester then tried the design as a sporting rifle but it made little impact." - Ian Hogg & John Weeks

"Through more than 30 years of perseverance, James Paris Lee rose to the forefront of American arms design. Beginning with his 1862 patents for a laterally swinging, single-shot breechloader, Lee had sought to interest the military, but all for nought. His 1862 patent had elicited a government contract for military carbines, but a misinterpretation of the instructions had caused a refusal of the completed arms. Another single-shot breechloader, patented in 1871 while Lee was still attempting to salvage what he could of his Milwaukee, Wis. operation, was tested unconclusively at Springfield Armory in 1874....With Remington's failure in 1888, the company's assets were acquired by the Union Metallic Cartridge Co. and Winchester. Lee moved to the latter, and during the early 1890s developed yet another box magazine rifle, a modified bolt-action 'straight-pull' design that would finally be accepted by the American military in significant quantity. At first glance the repeater appears to be a standard bolt-action rifle. Unlike the standard, however, Lee's design was not contingent upon a rotating piston secured by a handle lug that locked into the receiver or frame. The piston traveled back and forth within the receiver without any turning motion. Instead of a lug-like handle, a knob on the right side of the receiver locked into a milled recess. Pulling this handle up and back released the piston and closed the breech for reloading the chamber and reversing its direction. Although the mechanism was both strong and simple, only the U.S. Navy adopted it, and only for a brief interlude. The true bolt-action so dominated martial ordnance circles as to preclude general acceptance of any other design until the development of the semi-automatic gas-operated rifles of the 20th century." - Madaus

"...As Browning's relationship with the Winchester company worsened, increasing reliance was placed upon the firm's own designers, who proved to be more than capable of handling any task assigned to them. In addition, independ
"Although an additional 5,000 Lee rifles were ordered in 1898, only a small quantity were delivered to the Navy in time for the outbreak of hostilities in Cuba. The majority of these rifles were inspected by Lt. John N. Jordan. Markings on the receiver ring are similar to the earlier rifles, with the exception that the initials J.N.J. replaced N.C.T. There are also an undetermined number of Lee straight-pull rifles, mostly in the 11,xxx serial range, which were inspected by Lt. William B. Whittelsey (W.B.W.). Lt. Whittelsey was an inspector during the 1898 year at the American Ordnance Company in Bridgeport, and did not normally inspect small arms. However, he was assigned small arms inspection duties for a brief period during early 1898, and inspected both the Lee straight-pull rifles and the M1895 Colt Navy revolvers, during the same time frame. This would suggest that some number of the second contract Lee straight-pull were actually issued in time for hostilities. In the case of the rifles in the 11,xxx serial range, an undetermined number were issued to Marine Corps personnel and ultimately turned in at the Pensacola Navy Yard." - William J. Urick III, THE GUN REPORT, April, 1998

"Proceedings of a Board of Officers convened by the following order: Post Order No. 16. Springfield Armory, Mass. April 29th, 1897 - ...The merits and demerits of this rifle as an arm for the U.S. Military Service are as follows:
Merits - High initial velocity and consequent low trajectory. Direct motion of bolt and consequent high rate of fire as a repeater. Light weight of rifle.
Demerits - Small caliber. Light weight of bullet, consequent lack of 'shock effect' and great deviation of bullet by wind. Marked decrease of penetration and accuracy with increase in range. System of rifling and very short life of barrel. Unserviceability of extractor, extractor spring and sear-fly. Abnormal heat developed in firing and consequent destruction of stock and barrel cover and drawing of temper of spring. Interference of extractor with charging Magazine and with loading as a single loader. Lack of a device for cutting off the magazine when charged enabling single loader fire to be used with the magazine held in reserve, and permitting the passage from one kind of fire to the other at will.
As the number and relative value of the demerits of the U.S. Navy Magazine Rifle, Model 1895, greatly exceed its merits, the Board finds that it is not a suitable arm for the U.S. Military Service."

"In your letter of August 28, 1897, giving a list of reports and papers from your armory during the fiscal year which you state that in your judgment it would be well to publish as appendices to my annual report, there is included your report of examination and test of the caliber .236 magazine rifle adopted by the United States Navy some two or three years ago.
The matter of its publication has been carefully considered and in consequence of your recommendation I write to inform you that it has been decided not to publish the report, for the following reasons:
Although the report is an excellent one and contains information of interest and value to officers of the Army, its facts and conclusions show very clearly the inferiority for military purposes or any rate for our Army service, of the Navy rifle to our service magazine rifle, and as this rifle was adopted by a Board of Navy Officers sometime after our riIn pursuance of this duty, as the Navy rifle had received the approval of an important board of officers as superior for the Naval service to our rifle, it was plainly desirable that the Navy rifle should be thoroughly tested, in order to ascertain whether its merits required any change by the Ordnance Department of the arm that should be issued.
Your tests and reports having shown distinctly that this is not the case, no further action in the matter by this Department should be necessary.
The publication of the report might produce some antagonism. - General D.W. Flagler, Chief Of Ordnance, Letter to Springfield Armory, October 22, 1897

"In 1893, the U.S. Navy convened a board of officers to address the need to replace the large and heavy .45 caliber rifles then in use. The board was called the Caliber Reduction Board and was headed by Commander George A. Converse. The board recommended that a cartridge of caliber 6mm (.236 inch) be used. The Secretary of the Navy approved the recommendation two months later and work to develop a rifle began. In 1895, the Lee rifle was adopted by the Small Arms Board for use in the U.S. Navy." - David R. Hughes

"With a view to adopting a uniform caliber for small arms and machine guns and of a standard and uniform small arm cartridge for the use of the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps, a combined board of Army and Navy officers was appointed in November, 1898, to investigate and report upon this subject.
The board reported that no sufficient reason existed for any difference in the caliber of the guns used by the two services and recommended that the caliber of the Army rifle, .30 of an inch, be adopted for the Navy and Marine Corps. The Lee straight-pull rifle adopted by the Navy belongs to the class of arms that practically require the use of a clip, since the gun is not intended to be used as single-loader, but relies entirely upon the cartridges delivered from the magazine. For the sake of close packing a cannelured or rimless cartridge is used.
The fourth conclusion of the board was as follows: 'In considering the standard cartridge the board recognizes that the cannelured case is a suitable one for small arms and machine guns, and that its use in the naval weapon of these classes has been satisfactory; it is further of the opinion that if found practicable at moderate cost to adapt the present Army rifle to the use of such a case, a cartridge conforming in other external form and dimensions to the present Army cartridge should be adopted as the standard and uniform small-arm cartridge for the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps." - Report to the Chief Ordnance, 1899

James Paris Lee was granted the first of a series of patents for straight-pull bolt-action rifles, improved clip-loaded magazines, and a special cartridge lifter arm. In October of 1894, at the U.S. Navy's Torpedo Station located in Newport, R.I., the Navy was convinced of the merits of the .236 straight-pull Lee. It was adopted in May of 1895, and contracted to Winchester.
Winchester manufactured approximately 19,658 of these arms for the Navy from 1896 to 1898. 1,245 of these arms were never issued and were sold as surplus.

"American Marines carried one of the most curious rifles ever issued to U.S. troops, the M-1895 Lee. This gun, the brainchild of James Paris Lee, featured what was popularly called a straight-pull action, but was, in fact, more correctly a camming one. When the bolt handle was pulled to the rear, it rocked backwards,

"The Lee rifle was adopted in May 1895, with 10,000 being ordered from Winchester. It had a conventional one-piece pistol grip walnut stock, a single barrel band and a special nose band with a bayonet lug on the right side. The fixed magazine, which protruded from the stock ahead of the trigger guard, had a distinctively curved base. The extractor/ejector, the firing-pin lock and the bolt-lock actuator all gave constant trouble and production ceased in 1899. Most of the U.S. Navy service rifles were replaced by Krag-Jorgensens in the early 1900s." - Walter

"Also ahead of its time was the 6mm (.236 caliber) Lee Straight Pull rifle adopted by the U.S. Navy in 1895. Superior in many ways to the .30 caliber Krag adopted by the Army three years earlier, it never received the attention that it deserved, and the Navy was reluctant to oppose the Army over rifle designs. Both weapons were superseded in 1903 by the Springfield." - Tompkins

Bannerman's - 1933 Cat. Page 227 No. 12 - Also see Page 229. - "Model of 1895. Based on the patent of J.P. Lee. This rifle was adopted by a board of Naval Officers sitting at Newport in May, 1895. The shape of the stock, fittings, sling strap and bayonet were all determined by the board. The Winchester Company got the contract to make the first 10,000. This rifle is distinguished by the fact that it was the first U.S. Clip Loader, it was also the smallest calibered military rifle ever made (i.e. 6mm or .23 caliber) and also had the shortest knife bayonet, the blade being but eight and one-half inches long. The arrangement of the sling was copied from the Model 1888 of Germany. Great fault was found with the bolt in actual service. The length of service of this Lee was short as they were soon displaced by the Krag after 1900."

Winchester attempted to make a sporting version of this rifle, but it was not successful.

WINCHESTER-LEE 6MM U.S. NAVY RIFLE
1896 1-1917
1897 1918-10512
1898 10513-11718
1899 12003-13700
1900 13734-14979
Rifles with serial numbers 13734 to 14979 were not issued but sold as surplus between 1901-1908.
Total production: 14658

References:
Flayderman, Norm. FLAYDERMAN'S GUIDE TO ANTIQUE AMERICAN FIREARMS...AND THEIR VALUES. 8th Ed. Krause Publications. Iola, Wi. 2001.
Hallahan, William H. MISFIRE: THE HISTORY OF HOW AMERICA'S SMALL ARMS HAVE FAILED OUR MILITARY. Charles Scribner's Sons. N.Y., N.Y. 1994.
Hogg, Ian & John Weeks. MILITARY SMALL ARMS OF THE 20TH CENTURY. 6th Ed. DBI Books, Inc. Northbrook, Il.
Houze, Herbert G. WINCHESTER REPEATING ARMS COMPANY: ITS HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT FROM 1865-1981. Krause Publications. Iola, Wi. 1994.
Hughes, David R. M16 RIFLE AND ITS CARTRIDGE. Armory Publications. Oceanside, Ca. 1990.
Madaus, H. Michael. THE WARNER'S COLLECTOR'S GUIDE TO AMERICAN LONGARMS. Warner Books. N.Y., N.Y. 1981.
Tompkins, John S. THE WEAPONS OF WORLD WAR III. Doubleday & Company. Garden City, N.Y. 1966.
Schwing, Ned. STANDARD CATALOG OF FIREARMS. 7th Ed. Krause Publications. Iola, Wi. 1997. UNITED STATES MARTIAL & COLLECTOR ARMS. Military Arms Research Service. San Jose, Ca. 1971.
Walter, John. RIFLES OF THE WORLD. DBI Books, Inc. Northbrook, Il. 1993.
Walter, John. RIFLES OF THE WORLD. 2nd Ed. Krause Publications. Iola, Wi. 1998.