Thread: Winchester 1895
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Old 08-09-2018, 07:59 PM
2152hq 2152hq is offline
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The original Winchester Model 1895 in 30-06 can develope headspace problems. What happens is that the face of the bolt itself indents (for lack of a better word) in the round shape of the case head from the cartridge being fired.
Surplus military ammunition was the common blame all the time. Maybe it had something to do with it, I don't know.
It started being a problem right around the same time as the fracturing Low# 03Springfields were being recalled . Some of their problems was heaped onto the Military ammo of the time also.

Anyway, the breech face either being too thin for the force applied,,or the metal too weak.
(heat treat,,these bolts & frames were charcoal blued at 850*F, so at that temp it would be considered a pretty good annealing to the metal).
Maybe a combination of things.

The 'fix' back in the day was to shim the bolt face to bring it back up to spec. That seemed to satisfy things. The bolts did not further set back on their locking lugs or the lugs into the frames.

Not every one of the 30-06 rifles suffered the problem, but enough of them did that the 'word' was not to shoot MilSurp ammo in them.
30-06 was the only caliber effected.
303 or 30 Krag didn't seem to suffer the fate, nor did the 7.62 Russian Muskets

My 30-06 Model 95 from 1915 or '16 (IIRC) is still OK in the Hd/Space dept. I have put a few rounds through it of milsurp variety. But very few. Not much in the accuracy dept with the stuff either dispite the nice bore.
Mines a restock by John Oberlies, Dayton Oh. Done in the 1930's most likely, Maybe the 1920's.

I had one of the Russian 1895 Muskets for a while and sold it. Fun to play with. Ammo was cheap at the time!

Failed to move quick enough one time on a Deluxe Grade 1895 Carbine in 30-03 caliber. I always regret not snagging that one.

The repop 1895's are made of modern steels and HT. No problems for the cartridges they were chambered in. IIRC 270Win and 30-06 were a common chambering for many of them. They handle them just fine.
The older bigger bore rimmed rounds like the 35WCF and the 405 generally are pretty low psi cartridges when compared to the '06 and 270.
I've seen a few of the repro '95's rebored to 9.3x62Mauser and 35 Whelen by their owners and they worked just fine.
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