I remember when 'Russian' Model 1895 Winchester military rifles began showing up in the 1960s through "Hunter's Lodge" and at gun shows.

IIRC - They sold for around $65.00 and were in very rough condition. (At the time, dirty & beat up Krag rifles sold for around $40.00. Good 1903 Springfields sold for $35 to $50. My Parents were buying a house and raising a family on $6,000 a year).

I suspect the M-1895 Winchester rifles must have come from Spain (Spanish CW surplus), since we were in the heart of the 'Cold War' and things were not imported from the Soviet Block.

This 1963 William's Gun-sight - "How to Convert Military Rifles" shows the fate of some of these rifles.

(p.s. - As a young collector, I would occasionally see some Winchester - .236 USN rounds in a Rimmed version. Does anyone know what rifle these were intended for)?

As a young lad in the 50's, I also saw a few of the .236 Navy rimmed rounds.  My high school English teacher had a second job as the Collectible Cartridge Editor of the old Gun Report, so I asked him.  Here is what I was told:

In the early 1890s, about the same time that the Krag cartridge was being developed, the European military establishments (and Mexico) were investigating very small bore, smokeless cartridges with jacketed bullets.  A lot of experimental work was done in Germany & Switzerland; Bore sizes ranged from 5.5 mm to 6.5 mm.  That is where the 6.5 Mannlicher cases came from (Dutch, Rumanian & Carcano), and also the 6.5 x 55. 

Winchester did most of the developmental work that led to the 6mm Navy cartridge. The original cases were rimmed.  A very few (<5) Winchester single shot actions were used as test rifles for cartridge development.  There was (probably) a Gatling and a Browning "potato digger" machine gun made up for test purposes.  There are also some .236 rimmed cases made by Remington, with different shoulders. Remington was trying to keep on top of the new trends.  Remington made a few of their No. 5 rolling block rifles to test ammunition.

When the USN decided on a rimless case and the straight-pull action, developmental work on the rimmed cases stopped.

Winchester advertised their 1885 High Wall Single Shot and the 1895 in .236 Rimmed, but I think only a few developmental rifles were made.  After the rimless Navy cartridge was standardized, Winchester developed a rimless cartridge extractor for the High Wall and sold a few rifles in 6 mm USN caliber.

The Spanish-American War demonstrated that the 6mm Navy cartridge was out-ranged by both the Krag and the 7x57 Mauser cartridges.  That is why it was abandoned.

There were (at least) two rimmed versions of the .236/6mm.

One, a fatter cased version was known as the .236 Remington Sporting, and is quite rare.

The .236 Navy rimmed was - I believe - one of the chamberings in the M1899 bolt-action.

The teacher mentioned must have been Frank Wheeler. I corresponded a bit with Graham Burnside, another early writer and cartridge collector when I was in high school in the 1950s.

madsenshooter wrote on Mar 28^th, 2016 at 3:50pm:



I think I have it figured out but I will need a llama, a roll of duct tape , and a midget with a pipe wrench to see if it will work.

Later in life (ca. 1992) I had the pleasure of meeting Graham face-to-face. Quite a guy.

One of my trips to UL in Chicago, in connection with testing the line of bullet-resistant doors my employer was producing, chanced to fall on the weekend of his annual hog-roast, which proved to be a blast. Frank Mallory drove out from MD for the event, as well. Good memories! Somewhere (I hope) I have a picture taken with the three of us in front of the barbecue spit.

Here's a clip that kept the rims stacked in order, the Parkhurst.  That may or may not be necessary, wish I had a model 95 in hand.  The Mosin and .303 clips don't necessarily keep them stacked in order.  Fellow that was shooting an Enfield from my point experienced a case of rim lock that left him with a very low rapid fire score.  I found .303 clips a bear to get the rounds out of.

A Spanish Civil War '95 Winchester, supplied by Soviet Russia.