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Oliver F Winchester. When the Volcanic Repeating Arms Company of Norwich, Conn., of which Winchester was a shareholder, became insolvent in 1857 he bought it. It became the New Haven Arms Co, formed in about 1857 by B Tyler Henry and Oliver F Winchester. Makers of the Henry magazine repeater, patent 30446 1860. The company was dissolved in about 1866 to be reforms as the Winchester Repeating Arms Company, one of the organizers being B Tyler Henry of the Henry Repeating Arms Co. As a memorial to Henry, all rimfire cartridges of Winchester manufacture bear the initial 'H', on the shell head. In 1869, the company took over the Fogerty Repeating Rifle Company and the American Repeating Rifle Company. In 1870 the Spencer Repeating Arms Co. was added and in 1874 th Adirondack Arms Co. From 1878 to 1884 the company bought guns from W & C Scott & Son in the UK. The company made Model 1875 carbines for the Canadian Northwest Mounted Police and these are now very rare. They also made Winchester 66's in carbines and muskets, and Hotchkiss 6 shot, magazine carbines, US Model 1883. They also supplied Browning automatic rifles, Model 1817 rifles, Winchester trench guns during World War I. This self loading shotgun functions with the gas pressure in the barrel and not on long recoil like Browning’s A5 and Double Automatic. All gas action shotguns cycle by the actuation of a piston that moves in a chamber below the barrel. The Winchester use a smaller gas piston with a longer stroke. The differences in the actions lies in the way the piston is connected to the action-bar in the receiver that carries the mechanisms to extract and eject the casing before chambering a new round from the tube magazine below the barrel. When a round is chambered the action has to lock before firing. Different companies use different ways to do this. The block also cocks the hammer but the trigger mechanisms are another interesting aspect in these guns. This Winchester’s action then differs from the well known Beretta A300 gas actions in the design of the lever that actuates the slide, the lock-up, safety and the trigger mechanism design. The shotgun is well finished like most products from this old and colorful firm. (Ref: Dictionary of Guns and Gunmakers p560 by John Walter, Internet Gun Club)

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