A Blast from the Past: the 35 Winchester
Dr. John Woods 02.25.20
Ever hear of the 35 Winchester? Me neither, until an episode of the Last of the Alaskans, a popular wilderness survival show of which Ray Lewis, patriarch of the Lewis family, his wife, and his three daughters were regular cast members.
I’d watched the show on a regular basis and knew Lewis was using a well-worn Winchester 1895 lever action. It was not until he was leaving for a moose hunt that I learned it was chambered for the 35 Winchester.
I originally thought that was incorrect, but I knew it could not be the 35 Remington, because that popular cartridge is not powerful enough for moose work. Naturally I had to do some background research on that cartridge as it was unknown to me.
Lo and behold, he was right. The 35 Winchester was indeed loaded in the 1895 Winchester. Lewis alleged that the 35 Winchester was Theodore Roosevelt’s favorite round in his 1895, but I believe he erred on that; Roosevelt’s fave was the 405 Winchester.
The 35 Winchester was developed specifically for the heavy duty Winchester 1895 rifle. The round was introduced in 1903 and discontinued in 1936 when the excellent Winchester model 1895 basically ceased production. This load was more powerful than the 33 Winchester, but fell short of the 348 and 358 Winchester rounds. It gained a strong reputation for close range medicine on moose, elk, and even big bears.
Incidentally, 35 Winchester cases were developed with the 30-40 Krag as its parent case. Factory loads for the 35 used bullet weights of 200 grains to 250 grains, mainly in soft point hunting type bullets. It generated velocities of 2190 fps up to 2480 fps. This put the round’s energy rating at 2670 to 2920 foot pounds. It was definitely a bone crusher at short ranges.
Although the Winchester 1895 was officially discontinued in the 1930s, rifles continued to be made from left over parts until about 1940. Some 426,754 rifles were made in a wide variety of versions, models, features and calibers as was the practice with Winchesters in those days. The 1895s were chambered in ten different cartridges, some only available by special order like the 30-03. Winchester had hoped the 1895 would be picked as the U.S. Government’s new service rifle, but that never materialized.
Winchester 1895s are still available for purchase, including originals in 35 Winchester. These are collector items and are therefore pricey.
The ammo is still available too if you search long and hard, at well over $100 a box. I wonder how Ray Lewis maintains a stock of them?
