Rifleman Q&A: Winchester .22-Cal. Single-Shot Military Rifle

Q. Could you please help me find information on this rifle. It is chambered in .22 Short.

A. Your rifle is called by collectors the 3rd Model Winchester Winder Musket, caliber .22 Short, and is based on John Browning’s 1879 single-shot patent. First manufactured in 1918, the Winchester catalog states they were “Designed especially for military Indoor Target Shooting and Preliminary Outdoor Practice.” For some unknown reason, the Winchester factory referred to it as the Model 87 training rifle during manufacture but did not use that designation in its retail catalog.

From one of your photos, I can see the U.S. and the Ordnance flaming bomb government-ownership stamps just aft of the hammer. Your rifle was used to train military members during World War I. A distinguishing feature of the 3rd Model rifle is that it comes equipped with a Lyman Model 53 receiver sight.

Apparently, the factory made approximately 13,000 of this model for the U.S. military and an additional 2,000 for NRA competition in addition to offering them to the general public. In 1919, the government canceled its order for 32,616 of these rifles, and I have not found the exact amount of guns the government received.