At the height of the war effort the Winchester Repeating Arms plant in New Haven encompassed 3 million square feet of factory floor space and employed more than 17,500 workers. The following year the Enfield Pattern Number 14 bolt-action rifle in 303 British would constitute significant output, and nearly a quarter-million guns were soon to arm the British Army in the muddy trenches of France. Winchester also built nearly 300,000 Model 1895 lever-actions for Czar Nicholas II of Russia. Military ordered 10,000 Model 1895 muskets chambered in 30-40 Krag during the 1898 Spanish American War. With the start of World War I in 1914, Winchester devoted much of its manufacturing capacity to producing military rifles, ammunition and war material. This allowed the use of modern sharp pointed ammo and was designed with military applications in mind. The Model 1895 was the first Winchester lever-action that used an internal box magazine. Almost 270 troops were lost in the battle, and many reports indicated that the firepower advantage provided by the Indians’ Winchester repeaters over the soldier’s antiquated single-shot rifles was a decisive factor in their defeat.
The American public was stunned in July of 1876 by the defeat of George Armstrong Custer at the Little Big Horn River in the Montana Territory. France, Imperial Russia, Great Britain and the Ottoman Empire all made official or unofficial purchases of many thousands of Winchester guns throughout the last quarter of the 19th century and the first two decades of the 20th century. While the response from the American military was generally cool, many foreign governments found the rapid-fire capability of Winchester firearms very attractive. Building on the lessons Oliver Winchester learned during the American Civil War of 1861-1865, Winchester Repeating Arms offered numerous lever-actions, including the Models 1866, 1873, 1876, 1886, 1892, 18 for military sales.
The Winchester name has a rich military history, both in America and around the globe.