Original subtitles

In the minds of the public, the histories of the West and of guns are

interlinked. The 50 years in which the West was won, between 1850 and 1900, are

closely linked to the evolution of individual firearms.

Two names literally transcend these 50 years, Colt and Winchester.

Winchester, the rifle that conquered the West, according to the manufacturer's

slogan, was a true commercial success.

Did you know that Oliver Fisher Winchester, the creator of the famous

Winchester, the man who presided over the destiny of the company until his

in 1888, was originally a shirt seller?

Mr. Winchester holds a special place among famous gun makers.

Winchester's genius lay not in being a gunsmith, but in using brilliant

inventors who developed his model and brought him enormous success, both

technically and commercially, in the USA and all over the world.

Winchester picked the right moment to hire brilliant inventors to back their

innovations and thus enable Winchesters to constantly improve and define mass

appeal.

Winchester invested in firearms, a promising sector at the time, via

companies whose names have vanished.

Most notably, the Volcanic Company, originators of the trigger guard lever,

immortalized in the Winchester rifle.

Another short -lived firm was the New Haven Company.

But he would truly enter the realm of classic guns when he hired a man named

Nelson King, inventor of the loading gate that allowed side loading, unlike

impractical previous models that had to be loaded from the front with individual

cartridges. Another huge advantage of the King patent at that time was that

ammunition that was used, relatively low -powered rimfire cartridges, was

superseded by centerfire cartridges.

They started to appear around that time.

So he had a gun that, as a repeating rifle, had a high firing capacity plus

relatively powerful ammunition.

Winchester, who had interests in various companies through which he sold his

guns, now formed his own company.

Now he was no longer a shareholder. He was the boss and owner.

The company, known by aficionados by the acronym RACO, the Winchester Repeating

Arms Company, would soar and make the Winchester name world famous.

Rako's two legendary weapons were first the 66 and later the 73, or to the

layman, the Winchester 1866, followed by the Winchester 1873.

The first had a case made entirely of brass.

It enjoyed instant phenomenal success.

It immediately appeared in the Wild West, and Indians accorded its spiritual

power, dubbing it Yellow Boy, because of its yellow brass case.

It was quickly followed by the 73 model that had a more solid steel case from

which more powerful cartridges could be fired.

The 73 is the famous rifle of the movie Winchester 73.

It was also one of the first prestige guns.

Winchester's genius, aside from hiring inventors and investing in original

models, also lied in brilliant promotion of his weapon.

The 73 was the object of a cult series, the 1 -100 and the 1 -1000.

Much prized at the time, and even more so now by collectors.

These guns were hand -picked, specially selected, and finished to a truly luxury

standard for the period.

One 100 and one 1 ,000 meant one gun in every 100 or 1 ,000 off the production

line. Strange as it may seem, the Winchester, which enjoyed great

success and went down in history, was never adopted by the U .S. Army, despite

being an American invention.

The U .S. Army, up until the end of the century, stuck with hardy, single -shot

weapons that were regarded as more suitable for military use.

And yet Winchester sold his repeating rifles all over the world.

Far -flung governments equipped their armies with Winchesters. For example, in

Turkey, several South American countries, and also in Russia.

One of the most famous stories from this period tells how Winchester signed a

deal with the anti -government revolutionary fighter Juarez during the

Revolution.

Winchester, via one of his agents, sold arms to Mexican rebels who, of course,

settled up in cash, specifically in gold.

The salesman returned with the gold on an epic journey that lasted several

He had the crates of gold beside him, and it seems he stuck needles in his

so he wouldn't fall asleep.

Such tales forged Winchester's reputation.

Another character trait that added to Winchester's standing was his innate

of what we now call marketing.

Back then, he had the idea of producing specially engraved weapons of

unprecedented luxury for well -to -do people, his very best clients, what we'd

now call VIPs. The models contributed to the success of the brand name and now

delight any collector lucky enough to have one.

The next great step in the Winchester story was the arrival of a man named

Moses Browning. The same Mr. Browning, known by all for having designed the

celebrated Colt 1911, the Colt 45, the famous 1143, had his work recognized by

Winchester from the very start.

He was involved with Winchester models from 1886, with a specific design that

enabled Winchester rifles to fire high -powered cartridges.

The story began in the 1870s, when buffalo hunters in particular needed

weapons. But the Winchester wasn't powerful enough.

Their mechanism was not suitable for the larger cartridges required by hunters.

Browning's 410 and bolt mechanics made the gun sturdier, more reliable, and

to fire very large cartridges.

A success then?

Yes and no.

By the time the first model was launched in 1886, the buffalo had all but

disappeared from North America.

But the mechanism was employed again on the next two models, the 1892 and the

1894, with similar success.

But the ultimate success for Winchester was the 94.

To clarify for non -purists, that's the Winchester 1894 model, made according to

an original Browning design and still on sale today.

This rifle has had an uninterrupted production run of 110 years, with great

commercial success.

It's a best -seller that's still in the Winchester catalog.

No household appliance or automobile has been manufactured to the same design

for 110 years.

What has become of Winchester now?

The famous RACO, Winchester Repeating Arms Company, no longer exists in its

original form.

It was swallowed up, like so many other companies in the industrial era, by a

huge holding company, USRAC, the U .S. Repeating Arms Company.

It has many other activities, and in the midst of all those activities,

Winchester, in essence, has lost its soul.

So much so that the fans of the Winchester no longer recognize the

when compared to the original, even though it is identical.