He didn't invent them, but having an eye for opportunity, Winchester assembled venture capital together with other stockholders and acquired the S&W division, better known as the Volcanic Repeating Arms Company, in 1850. By 1857, Winchester had positioned himself as the principal stockholder in the company and relocated to New Haven, changing the name to New Haven Arms Company.
Initially, the company was plagued by sluggish returns, which was in part attributed to the design and poor performance of the Volcanic cartridge: a hollow conical ball filled with black powder and sealed by a cork primer. Although the Volcanic's repeater design far outpaced the rival technology, the poor performance and reliability of the .25 and .32 caliber cartridges used in the pistol and rifle models respectively, was little match for the competitors' larger calibers.
Fortunately for Winchester, he inherited a brilliant engineer, Benjamin Tyler Henry, who would prove an invaluable asset. Henry sought to improve on the Volcanic repeating rifle, by enlarging the frame and magazine to accommodate seventeen of his newly redesigned, all-brass case, .44 caliber rimfire cartridges. This new cartridge put the new company on the map, and Henry's ingenuity was rewarded with a patent in his name October 16, 1860, for what was to become the famous Henry rifle.
Oliver Fisher Winchester acquired Smith & Wesson company which at that time was better known as the Volcanic Repeating Arms Company in June 1850. He then relocated the company to New Haven, Connecticut. He renamed the company New Haven Arms. He had a engineer named Benjamin Henry who redesigned the rifles they were producing. Benjamin Henry and Oliver Winchester came up with the "Henry Repeating Rifle" that was a .44 caliber rimfire(meaning the cartridge was struck on the rim by the firing pin). The patent was put in Henry's name on October 16, 1860. The company was then renamed the Winchester Repeating Arms Company. The first rifles made by the company with this name were the model 1866.
Henry
In 1866 by Winchester and Henry firearms
The Model 1866 (introduced in that year), chambered for the .44 Henry rimfire cartridge.
To the best of my knowledge, the Winchester company never made a production pistol. The New Haven Arms Company which was formed to continue production of the Volcanic pistol, designed by Horace Smith and Daniel Wesson, produced by Volcanic Repeating Arms Company was eventually bought out by Oliver Winchester and that company became Winchester Repeating Arms. Winchester went on to produce rifles and shotguns, but no pistols. About 700 of the small frame, .31 caliber Volcanic pistols were produced. If you have one of those, have it professionally appraised. In addition, there are numerous books on Winchester history that will discuss this pistol.
clardy was
Yes they contributed greatly to the union victory, while the union soldiers had access to repeating rifles the confederates did not which caused the subsequent decimation of the confederate soldiers at that engagment. Repeating rifles were not used during pickett's charge, only cavalry used repeating rifles. Confederate cavalry had repeating rifles.
There are many different models of Winchester rifles available for people to purchase. There are many different models of Winchester rifles, like the modles 1866, 173, 1876, 1886, 1892, and the1895.
The main reason he invented the repeating rifle was out of need for a gun to fire more than 1 round of ammo without reloading(muzzleloading rifles).With the invention of the repeating rifle a man could load up to 10 rounds of ammo,and provide a lot more firepower than was available at that time in history.this firepower was applied to the indian wars outwest,along with military applications.You must remember that we are talking about 1866-1870 time frame when most rifles were of a type that shot 1 round of ammo and then had to be loaded at the muzzle with blackpowder,then a patched roundball or minnie ball projectile rammed down the bore,and then capped with a musket cap.This took alot of time to do let alone while you may have been being shot at.
Marlin, Winchester, Henry, Sako, Remington The TYPES may include bolt action, pump, lever action, and autoloading as the most common types.
Yes they are very good rifles,I own 3 of them.
They had a lot higher rate of fire.