...Osa Johnson in Africa...

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A Country Boy Can Survive

Beeaaauuuttiful!! Both of them!!!

Now that's a gal I wouldn't want to tussle with...

Now that's a HAT!

If I had a hat like that, I could sell shade!

Wonder when that was taken? She definitely dressed for the occasion.

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Hue 68 noli me tangere

I have read of her and her husband's adventures.... That is a .405 Winchester with which she killed a lot of lions and other game to eat...

Her husband was not the shooter...she was...

Martin and Osa Johnson - Wikipedia

Bob

I suspect it was in the 1930s. That's when most of their adventures took place.

And I would buy some of that shade!

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Foster Positivity.

That Wikipedia link, Post #6, is well worth having a look at! Very interesting couple.
Steve W

The big hat is a no brainer. And My 1895 in 30 Govt is probably my favorite lever gun.

One of the very first books I ever read was the Johnsons' Over African Jungles. My father had it, and I must have read and re-read it at least a dozen times. Great stuff for a young kid.

Thanks to the OP for starting this thread and posting that photo. The 1895 is my favorite centerfire lever gun, in this case a 30.06 take down model with case colored receiver.

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BCCI Life Member #2068

...I have become a fan of the 1895 myself...beautiful example that you have there...

...Osa applying a little makeup...with her 1895 near by...



...Osa And Martin...Martin with the 1895 and a cheroot cigar...



...Martin with 1895 and Rhino...

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A Country Boy Can Survive

Teddy Roosevelt was a famous promoter of the Winchester Model 1895 in caliber .405 for big game. This picture of him with that gun and a rhino that he shot was taken while he was on safari in Africa in 1909.



The .405 Winchester cartridge is pretty impressive. Here it is compared with other popular cartridges. The Model 1895 could also be ordered in caliber .30-06.

John

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- Cogito, ergo armatus sum -

...Osa takes down a charging Rhino at 0:35 of this video...no professional hunter as backup...just her...

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A Country Boy Can Survive

...Osa Johnson..."Indiana Jane"...

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A Country Boy Can Survive

I once had a Winchester 1895 which had been re-barreled to .30-'06. I don't know what its original caliber was. The problem with that was that the .30-'06 bullets had to be very deeply seated to fit into the magazine. Factory-length loads were too long to go into it. I fired only lighter reloads with deep bullets because it has been stated that the 1895 action is too springy to use full-power .30-'06 loads. I sold that gun over 30 years ago, sort of wish that I hadn't.

Osa Johnson was along on George Eastman's (Eastman Kodak Co) African Safari in 1926..'Chronicles of an African Trip'
Don't know if she made the second trip a few years later.

Eastman wrote, and photographed much of the long safari and then self published it. The book is a very interesting read w/ many pics (yes ,, of Osa as well).
Reprints of the orig are very fairly priced.
Original copys are kind of rare. Probably not a lot of them printed. It doesn't mean they are necessarily valuable though.

(FWIW....Also along on the trip was Eastman's personal physician, Dr Audley D, Stewart.
He is of course shown in the book and was quite a story in himself.

The party bought 3 Model 1910 Mannlicher Schoenauer 9.5mm rifles in NYC before leaving for Africa.
Dr Stewart is shown posing with one in the book with a trophy animal.
I bought Dr Stewart's M/S rifle from his son A.D.Stewart, Jr. in 1992 when the latter brought it and a Marlin .22 rifle into a gunshop I worked in to sell both. The rifle was sold to the shop on paper, I bought it thru the shop as an employee before it could be put out for sale.
I still have the M/S.
There was supposed to be a leather 5 rd cartridge belt pk w/ Kynoch ammunition still in place in it to go with the rifle. But that never materialized. I was never able to re-establish connection to Mr Stewart Jr...)



My own '95 is in 30-06 and mfg in 1915 or 16.
It loads, feeds and functions with WW2 GI ammo fine.
I limit it's diet somewhat to that stuff. The '06 version has a track record of headspace problems developing.
What occurs is the face of the bolt itself sets back,,an imprint of the casing head of the 30-06 round.
Not seen as insufficient lock-up strength in the 95 action itself but rather the bolt face is either too thin or soft,,or both in some of the rifles.

It doesn't seem to happen with every 30-06 chambered orig '95 ever made and even though many of them have most likely fired a share of Milsurp GI ammo. The factory stuff is no fluff ball in the pressure dept either.

A fix used to be to plunge mill the face of the set back bolt out and solder in a new blank of steel. Then face that off to reset the headspace back where you need it using a Hd/Sp gauge.
Rarely done anymore I'd guess, liability, lawyers and lawsuits scare people away from doing stuff like this anymore.

The repro 95 is/was chambered in 270Win,,maybe other similar pressure rounds and with more modern steel and heat treat, the action is more than up to the challenge.

My '95 was restocked and marked as such by John Oberlies, Dayton, Ohio. Most likely in the 1930's.

Cool old pics in this thread. The 1895 is without question my favorite lever gun, especially in a Saddle Ring Carbine.

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Some Might Say.

"The '06 version has a track record of headspace problems developing. What occurs is the face of the bolt itself sets back,,an imprint of the casing head of the 30-06 round. Not seen as insufficient lock-up strength in the 95 action itself but rather the bolt face is either too thin or soft,,or both in some of the rifles."

That is the first time I have seen what the nature of the 1895 .30-'06 headspace problem was, although its existence seems well known. As I said earlier, I always used lighter handloads, also usually lighter bullets (130 grain) due to the magazine length problem, and additionally I don't think I had fired more than several hundred rounds through it. So I had no headspace issues. It was in pretty good condition except for the replaced barrel, and as I remember I didn't pay very much for it back in the early 1970s, maybe $150. I do remember thinking about having that barrel set back and rechambered to .308 Win, but I never did it. I was also thinking about having it rebarreled to .444 Marlin. I didn't do that either. At the time I would have had financial problems in doing anything like that.

Love the 1895 mine is 1921 DOM in 30-06

Attached Images

IMG_1133.jpg (125.5 KB, 23 views)

If I had been around back then I would not have minded a tussle. That there was a woman!

Since this thread is about the rifle rather than the wife I'll opine that the coolest '95 for North America is the .35 WCF. It is Teddy's .405 necked down to .358". In exchange for keeping my uncle supplied with .35 Win. reloads I got to hunt with his '95 and used it for casual target shooting. My hunting load was a 250 grain Hornady spire pt. at 2,400 fps. Unfortunately I did not get an elk with it. I also loaded 320 grain bullets that I cast in an NEI mold. At 1,800 to 1,900 fps it was similar to a cast bullet .45-70 load for a modern rifle but with a lower trajectory. My uncle bragged that he bought the rifle for $50 from a man who was too old to use it any longer. He bought it over 50 years ago.

Some of the '95s imported from Japan during the 1980s were chambered for .35 WCF but they were not wildly popular. The cartridge was not well known or promoted by advertising.

I went searching the web this morning for a downloadable copy of Over African Jungles.


Didn't find one, but project Gutenberg have a copy of another of Martin Johnson's books - Through the South Seas with Jack London, 1913.



Thought y'all might be interested.

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I always take precautions

An Oberndorf Mauser in cal. 9.3x62mm attributed to Osa Johnson surfaced for sale back in 2008. Here is a thread about it:

Forums.NitroExpress.com

I have a 1895 that's marked 30Govt06. No problem with any OAL. I don't know what other caliber 1895 was sold in that just a barrel charge would convert it. It was made in the various 30 cals leading to 3006 and 30/40 Krag. The biggest part of production was 7.62x54mm for Russia in WW1.The 30/40 and Russian 7.62x54 are close. They also made 303 Brit, 405 and a couple others that didn't catch on.

30-40Krag, 35WCF, 303Brit, 405WCF, 38-72WCF, 40-72WCF

All Winchester Model 1895 chamberings that all use the same cartridge case base size.

The last two (38-72 & 40-72) use a slightly smaller rim diameter than the others.which are the same.
But any of the bunch can be rebbl'd and converted to the others.

The 1895 Russian Musket in 7.62x54R caliber is by itself using a larger breech face and extractor dimension to accomodate that cartridge's big rim diameter. The others are no where near that large in dia.

Even a 30-06 can be converted to a 405WCF (which is the caliber everyone wants, lets face it!) w/a rebore and not too much extra trouble.

A 30-06 converted to 35, 375 or 400 Whelen is quite a power house and easy to do with a simple rebore and opening the chamber neck and throat.
So is a rebore to 9.3x62MM Mauser

But everyone wants a 405,,,and a hat like Teddy's!!

I had a Browning 1895 in .30-06. That was another one that I hated to sell.

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John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!

The Win 1895 is rated at 45000 lbs pressure, the original. I've not had a 405 but if I was going to wildcat I believe I would get a Brn remake 1895.