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CHARACTERISTICS The original Winchester Rifle was famous for its rugged construction and Lever-action breech mechanism that allowed the rifleman to fire a number of shots before having to reload: hence the term, "repeating rifle". The first model, the Model 1866, was nicknamed ''Yellow Boy'' because of its brass receiver. The Model 1873 was Winchester's next design. The Model 73 was much more popular than the 66 because of the Steel frame which allowed it to take the newly designed and more potent center-fire .44 WCF (.44-40) cartridge. The 1873 is often referred to as ''The Gun That Won The West''. The 1866 was only available in Henry's .44 Rimfire cartridge at first, and the more modern Centerfire cartridges were added to the production line later. The Model 73 was available .44 WCF, .38 WCF (.38-40), and .32 WCF (.32-20) calibers, most of which were also available in Colt , Remington and other Revolver s. WCF simply denotes "Winchester Center Fire", to distinguish a cartridge from the earlier rimfire cartridge. Having a common center fire cartridge used in both revolvers and rifles allowed the owner to carry two firearms, both using the same ammunition. It is worth noting that the original Model 73 was never offered in the military standard .45 Colt cartridge; only modern reproductions are offered in that caliber. PREDECESSORS The idea of a repeating rifle had been the subject of many inventions since the use of firearms began, but few of these had proven to be practical, mainly because the modern cartridge, which made repeating arms practical, had not yet been developed. Repeating revolvers were popular in the mid 19th Century . One of these revolving pistols, the Colt, was very successful, and a rifle version was produced, but it was not widely popular. The more successful Spencer Rifles and Carbine s of the American Civil War were a notable step forward, but were not completely satisfactory in various respects. The ancestor of the Winchester rifles was the Volcanic Rifle of Horace Smith and Daniel B. Wesson . It was originally manufactured by the Volcanic Repeating Arms Company , which was later reorganized into the New Haven Arms Company , its largest stockholder being Oliver Winchester . The Volcanic rifle used a form of "caseless" ammunition and had only limited success. Wesson had also designed an early form of Rimfire cartridge which was subsequently perfected by Benjamin Tyler Henry . Henry also supervised the redesign of the rifle to use the new ammunition, retaining only the general form of the breech mechanism and the tubular magazine. This became the Henry Rifle of 1860, which was manufactured by the New Haven Arms Company and was used in considerable numbers by certain Union Army units in the Civil War. DEVELOPMENT After the war Oliver Winchester continued to exercise control of the company, renaming it the Winchester Repeating Arms Company , and had the basic design of the Henry Rifle completely modified and improved to become the first Winchester rifle, the Model 1866, which fired centerfire cartridges and had an improved magazine and, for the first time, a wooden forearm. From 1883, John Browning worked in partnership with the Winchester Repeating Arms Company, and designed a series of repeating rifles and shotguns, most notably the Winchester Model 1887 and Model 1897 shotguns and the lever-action Model 1886, Model 1892, Model 1894 and Model 1895 rifles, all of which are still in production today. PLANT CLOSURE A January 18 2006 article in the Washington Post reported that the manufacture of Winchester lever-action rifles will be discontinued due to the closure of the U.S. Repeating Arms factory in New Haven, Connecticut , U.S.A. TRIVIA
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