Question for Winchester 1895 owner

[madsenshooter]

How wide is a Winchester 1895 receiver? Why do I want to know? I've got my eye on a peep sight that the owner says is for a rifle I have, but the gallows arm looks too long to me. I think it may be for a model 95. Thanks!

[LGS]

I got 1.360" at the front of the receiver. I have Browning 1895 made around 1981. I have a providence Tool Lyman copy peep sight. The length of the sight is 4". Hope this helps.

[405]

My originals also show 1.36" across the receiver. Not sure what type receiver sight you are looking at and not sure of what a gallows arm is? Most of the custom order receiver sights for those were the Climbin' Lyman (21/38) type. The mounting hole space for that type Lyman sight is critical and unique to the Win 95 since that sight was also used for the 92/94... but the 92/94 type had a shorter space between the mounting holes- 3 5/16". The Climbin' Lyman mounting hole space for the 95 should be very close to exactly 3.5". That allows use of one existing receiver hole in front and D&T tap of one extra in rear AND clearing all the Winchester patent & address markings on the receiver.

[madsenshooter]

Thanks guys, how about at the rear, where a sight would go? The gallows arm is that part of the sight that goes across the receiver.

[405]

"gallows arm"- got it.
I measured my originals (4) at the rear where a normal receiver sight would be mounted and the measurements are all 1.36".

[madsenshooter]

I would never had known that term myself if not for super shooter Bob S. It would've remained just "that arm", or a whatchamacallit.

[madsenshooter]

Thanks men, we did some measuring on the old Redfield. Measuring from the inside of the base to the zero mark on the gallows arm is exactly half the width of a model 95 receiver, so it would be quite a bit to the right on my model 14. Redfield must have used the same base for all the flat sided receivers, varying the length of the gallows arm to accommodate different receiver widths.

[405]

That'd be a most likely deduction. Looking at a lot of different older receiver sights many could be grouped into general categories of fit- even though many were coded with different numbers (a lot of the Winchester/Lyman combos are that way). About a year ago picked up a dandy older Redfield receiver sight (cheap!) for right side mounting- took a chance. Looked up the code and not listed for an early commercial FN I had. No matter- good sight and cheap even if it didn't fit. Presto, perfect fit.

[BenT]

Williams fool proof for the 1886 is the right width. That is what I put on mine. Late model 1895's are tapped for it.

[muskeg13]

Interesting question, and you didn't say how much $$$ the sight owner wanted. A longer "gallows" windage arm is not a bad thing on a Winchester Model 1895. If the sight is a Lyman Model 38, which has a fully adjustable windage wheel/knob, the "gallows" arm has to be long enough for the windage wheel to clear the right side of the receiver at low elevation. This may not be the case for a Lyman Model 21 or Providence Tool M21 sight which provides windage adjustment via small set screws. Unfortunately, it is not the case with the Model 38 "Parts Unknown" , aka Red River, aka Ukranian, reproduction I purchased a few years ago from Buffalo Arms. I don't believe this sight is available anymore. Since the PU "gallows" arm is too short, the windage wheel of the PU sight is positioned right over the top right of the bolt. Fortunately, I need considerable elevation, so the windage wheel clears.

My rifle specs are:

Original Winchester M1895 manufactured in 1921 with a Lyman Model 38 sight:
Receiver: 1.350" measured forward of the receiver near the bolt face. Don't want to remove the rear sight to get an accurate measurement there. Sorry
Gallows/windage arm: 1.562"
L Side mount screws (center to center): 3.440"

New manufacture USRAC/Miroku M1895 with a Parts Unknown M38 sight:
Receiver: 1.360"
Gallows/windage arm: 1.275"
L Side mount screws (center to center): 3.440"

Morale of the story: I wouldn't pay the $225 I paid new for a used PU sight, given the work you'll have to do to make it work on your rifle. There are other out of spec problems too, like the position of the set screw. If you have a real (not Marlin) Model 1895, the longer windage arm of a real M38 sight works fine, just like it was designed to.