Should the Winchester Hotchkiss be added
- Yes
- No
The Winchester-Hotchkiss rifle was first conceived by Benjamin Hotchkiss in 1875, and by 1877 he had four US patents on the design (numbers 99898, 169641, 184285, and 186566) which he sold to the Winchester company in early 1877. Winchester was able to have three sample rifles constructed in time to submit to the 1878 Ordnance Board trials for the US Army, which were tasked with investigating the possibility of adopting a magazine rifle. The Hotchkiss did remarkably well in the trials, proving itself to be one of the fastest rifles tested (in close competition with the Lee turnbolt design), and also passing the sand, rust, and defective cartridge tests. If suffered a broken bolt in the final test (overcharged cartridges), due largely to a manufacturing defect. Winchester remedied the problem, and at the end of the trials the Board recommended adoption of the rifle. The US Secretary of War appropriated $20,000 for manufacture of rifles for more extensive field testing.
Winchester was not satisfied with just preliminary interest from the US military, however, Immediately after the US trials concluded, Winchester also made a series of sample Hotchkiss rifles chambered for the .577-450 Martini Henry cartridge for testing by the Turkish military (this effort would fail when Turkey chose the Peabody-Martini rifle instead). They also exhibited the rifle at the International Exhibition in Sydney Australia in early 1879. This would prove to be a fruitful marketing event, as made Asian nations had delegations and Winchester received orders for 500 Hotchkiss rifles for Japan, 100 for Siam (for the King’s bodyguard), and 1,000 rifles for China.
The US Army order consisted of 500 rifle and 500 carbines, and the last of these were delivered in July of 1879. A sample rifle sent to the US Navy resulted in an order for 1,500 rifles for that service (the US Army and Navy at that time purchased arms and equipment independently of each other). Winchester also marketed the gun as a sporting and target rifle, and while it did make some sales in this vein, they were less than anticipated.
It was not long after the US Army order was delivered that some weaknesses of the design became clear – primarily that the stock was weakened by the magazine cutoff lever and prone to cracking there. By January of 1880, company engineers (William Wetmore and Thomas Bennett) had redesigned the magazine cutoff and wrist of the gun to strengthen it. This became known as the “New Model” or “New System” Hotchkiss, and it went into full scale production in June of 1880. In addition, 506 existing guns were converted to the improved pattern for the Army – but another 2,449 were made to the original design after production began of the new model (these were guns for a Chinese contract already underway). In total, 6,396 of the first pattern of Hotchkiss rifle were made by Winchester – 5,199 military pattern muskets, 812 carbines, and 563 sporting rifles.
With the introduction of the New Model, civilian interest increased slightly, and military marketing efforts continued. Several samples were made in .43 Spanish caliber for sales efforts in Central and South America (areas dominated by the Remington Rolling Block in most military forces at the time). The sporting orders received a bit of boost when George Albee (a veteran of Berdan’s Sharpshooters) used a New Model Hotchkiss to win the Lorillard Gold Medal for rapid fire accuracy at Creedmore in 1882. However, the vast majority of New Model rifles (11,000+ of the 13,332 muskets made) were purchased by China in 1882 and 1883. Another 1,000 went to various buyers in Central and South America, and 981 to the US Navy. In total, Winchester built 16,117 New Model Hotchkiss guns.
The final iteration of the Hotchkiss was the Model 1883, which was developed in an effort to alleviate continued complaints of stock breakage. The redesign this time involved a significantly reshaped receiver, and the use of a two-part stock (a buttstock and a separate foreend) in place of the one-piece stocks used on previous models. The safety and magazine cutoff levers were moved back to the sides of the receiver similar to the cutoff placement on the original 1879 design, where they were now supported by the steel receiver instead of a wooden stock. Samples were ready in time to submit to the US Army’s 1882 magazine rifle trials, where they once again performed well enough to merit a contract for field trials. The design had been finished in the summer of 1882, but Winchester delayed putting it into production until Congress approved the Army contract, using the time to build New Model rifles from the existing stockpile of parts already in inventory. Only on January 1t, 1884 did Winchester announce the new rifle to the public.
Unfortunately for Winchester, the results of Army field trials were not in their favor (nor in favor of any other magazine rifle) – the commanders of the companies in the trials overwhelmingly preferred their Trapdoor Springfield rifles to any of the new repeaters. This was often for reasons more associated with parade than actual combat – one common complaint of the repeaters was that a commander could not easily ascertain their cocked or uncocked status in troopers’ hands at a glance, which the large hammer of the Trapdoor did allow.
At any rate, US military rejection did not hamper sales of the Hotchkiss elsewhere. Winchester ultimately sold 59,446 of the Model 1883. Of these, 56,504 were military muskets (going to countries including Bolivia, Mexico, Morocco, and most of all China). A further 1,669 were carbines and 1,273 were sporting rifles. The numbers of Hotchkiss rifles sold (about 84,500 of all models combined, with the last rifle made in 1904) were not particularly significant compared to other Winchester products like the Models 1892 and 1894 lever action rifles and the 1897 shotgun, they did establish Winchester as a significant player in the bolt action rifle market.
While the US/ Allies have two excellent HC bolt action rifles the Winchester would be a great addition. In consideration for military contact the WH fell victim to the march of progress. The Internal magazine and stripper clip were superior in prolonged rate of fire. The WH suffers from a slow reload but is helped by the bolt action accuracy and damage of bolt action rifles. This weapon at BR2 could added some much-needed variety to the US arsenal and make any event more eventful.
