BR, thanks for your expert input on this subject. I suspected some of the answer you have given, but didn't have any background on the Lee designs.

So what I see here is that General Miles, head of the U.S. Army at the time, had a very strong opinion of what gun the Army should be using. There was a board to select and "recommend" a magazine gun, which made the Krag-Jorgensen their pick. It was adopted under much consternation by many, partially due to it's pedigree. General Miles' voice on the subject wasn't given much credence, which had to upset Miles quite a bit. The leader of the Army that was overruled by a board that he likely felt had less experience/knowledge than he had. Why would he want to change rifles with a war on the horizon if he hadn't either felt strong about his convictions or was just sore about the events? So yes, as we know, the Krag-Jorgensen had a rocky start on its acceptance. Coupled with the Russel-Livermore charges of patent infringements (that went to the Supreme Court and lingered there for a few years) Flagler had side issues. Yet he persevered with the Krag-Jorgensen design.

So back to the 1895 Winchester. It was dropped because of it's "inferior design" as labelled by the Ordnance Department. It was just surprising to see that it was one of the "go to" rifles up to a month or two before the SAW. Somehow it had rapidly fallen from grace. This I am trying to look into a little more.