Reeder Custom Guns - I have a terrible yearning for a 1895 Winchester

of some sort. I admit I don't have a real use or direction other than the romance. However bought right, I cannot imagine one losing much money after keeping it a while.

In my youth I read a piece from John Wooters in Outdoor Life. He spoke about sneaking out his Uncle's .405 and shooting it as a boy. It really resonated with me. So the fanciful idea goes back 50 years or so. History is rife with the use of the 1895 on all sorts of expeditions from Africa, South America, to the North Pole. The Roosevelt expedition had several in .30 cal. as well as the .405 which Mr. T seemed to favor. I guess it is a lot of power in a handy package to keep in hand. They are not cheap, but nice things seldom are. It's getting a bit difficult to find an antique one that is serviceable and the new generation runs are thinning out. You know you can't take it with you!

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if that gator twitched. Oh by the way that young lady is typical of all the camp cooks in Africa. The girls that clean up our tents look just like her too.

Also I have probably posted this before but here goes again.
On one of our safaris there was a young man who was afraid of everything in Africa. The tents are big things holding 2 or 3 hunters with a shower and toilet in the back.. The mornings were cool so Puffy and I told this young man that around 6 AM one of the camp girls would come into his tent and crawl into his bed to keep him warm. We told him about 6 AM he would hear the tents big zipper go down and one of the camp ladies would come in real quietly and crawl into the tent to keep him warm and they never turned the lights on as they were on generators but the ladies could do their warming up things in the dark. That scared hell out of him. Truthfully one of the girls would come into the tent and bring in coffee and some cookies and sit them on the table by each man's bed but that's it..
Early that morning when that big zipper zipped the fly open and one of the girls came into the tent with Puffy's coke (no coffee for Puff) and leave. They brought the morning coffee for each of us every morning. When we heard the zipper I heard the young man get covered up and Puffy started making sounds like he was getting the full package. The young man was scared shitless and kept mumbling "I don't need any. I'm OK".
I heard the maid bringing the coffee and cookies for the young man. As soon as she set his coffee and cookies on his table he jumped up and ran to the back of the tent where there was a toilet and shower. He kept yelling at Puff and I to tell her he didn't need anything. Puffy kept telling him it was a special African way of starting the day and how good looking this young girl was (she actually weighed probably 300 LBs and was friendly but not that friendly.
Finally we couldn't hold it in and started laughing. He was pissed off at us for a couple of days.

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What a hoot that must have been. I remember seeing pics of a tent safari set up. The semi-permanent type, a remote bush station.

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there were only a few times that we stayed in actual housing. The 3 man tents had all the things we could need on a safari. If you don't like African pics, skip this section.
Our 2 Man tent
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Our tent in Zululand. Not the small tent.
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inside one of the 2 man tents
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there are 6 tents there
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the 3rd tent was ours
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Ever wonder why they call them "Blue Balls Monkey"
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our dining tent
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my first African animal, a Genet cat
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This was our Land Cruiser for the first hunt. I really liked this old cruiser, just like in the 50s and 60s. I expected Clark Gable to be our PH.
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Here is the current Land Cruiser.
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Recognize this old gentleman?
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I will have to explain this to you...GNR in a hole
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The old gentleman again
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Most of these next few pics were on our first safari and a few odds ones I threw in. If you are one of the Misfits you might recognize them. If you aren't one of the Misfits, shame on you
.A record book Blesbok...378 GNR
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a little Steenbok
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a big Eland...450 GNR
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one monkey to another...22 Mag
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warthog...44 Auto Mag
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Colleen with a monkey...30-06
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that old gentleman again...John Taffin
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Kase taking a nap...378 GNR
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Zebra stallion...450 GNR
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Colleen's Zebra...300 Win Mag
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An old fellow...338 GNR
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Nyati...338 GNR
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Kudu...450 GNR
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eland...378 GNR

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Black Wildebeast...the one in the hole
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a big Bongo
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monster Steenbok...378 GNR
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you've warned
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Black Wildbeast
I said I would explain this one. We were hunting the Orange Free State which is much like Montana or Wyoming. We had spooked a big Black Wildebeast and I finally got a shot at him. H was running and it was all guess work. I was up on a bluff and figured it was my last chance. Just as he got to a big brush pile I took the shot. At the shot he flipped end over end. We walked down to him was in this big brush pile we could see him lying on his side. We managed to get into the brush and found the Wildebeast lying on the lip of a big brush. Behind him was a sheer drop off. The roots of the brush was all that held him and kept him from dropping farther down. John took his flashlight an shined it on the animal. He told me to be still and not move as if the animal fell on down he would take me with him.
John was anxious to get the animal out for more reasons than one. He was tangled up but past that was a sheer drop off and John said below him and me was about a 50 to 60 foot drop off and below me was a big patch of white sand and large cat tracks in the sand. John got on his radio and called some of the trackers in. They had just finished tracking a big Eland for one of the hunters so they hauled ass to where we were. With the help of 6 trackers an skinners we finally managed to get the Wildebeast out along with me.

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excited was Sean, but we won't tell that story.

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- No text -

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When they first came out around 2004. They are nice. I was surprised on how heavy they are. It shot great. I sold it a few years later to fund my Megabeast.
I thought I was going to like it as much as the model 71 I had in 450 Alaskan but it was not as fast handling as the 71. The 450 Alaskan would shoot a 400gr to 2150fps out of the 18” barrel and was wonderfully accurate

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As mentioned it seemed very popular when it came out and well into the 1930's. The 1886 (basically the M71) was out at the same time and while encountered, does not seem as popular. Was it the chamberings? I had a Jap Winchester '86 in .45-90 and did find it very cumbersome.

The '95 is a chunk, but looks so slim and handy in all those historical photos. If I were back then I'd probably choose a Lee Enfield bolt gun in .303. I have always liked them and what firepower for the day. For a bush beater I like them better than a Mauser or copy. I think I still have a "Jungle Carbine" .303 someplace. Today, the little 16" lever carbines Jim is so fond of, really make a lot of sense. I have a couple of those in .429 GNR and .357.

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WB
I don’t post her much but 1895 caught my eye
Great guns
Do look for an original you won’t be disappointed
I have 6 and always seeking more
Most unusual I found is in 30-03 caliber
405 is great but tha one is unique
Interesting teddy Roosevelt connection to 30-03 is he and his son had 1903 spriengfields to tak to Africa they were in fact in 30-03
He couldn’t get them to Target correctly with 30-06 which they will digest but not so well
He sent rifles back to Springfield armory and they did what was the fix when army witched to 30-06 pull barrels turn one thread off ad run 30-06 reamer in
Voila new gun
Not too many original 30-03s still out there
Ammo costs $300 a box if you can run across it
Cheers!

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My model 71 was rebarreled to 450AK and only 18” The shorter barrel and the 45 cal hole down it made it more lively and better handling

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The only one I remember was a military version with top wood, .30-03, .30-40, and the 7.62x54R.

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I have a terrible yearning for a 1895 Winchester

I wonder how high that young boy would jump

Oh that’s rich! I can just see Puffy’s mirth.

We stayed in 2 or 3 man tents most of the time and

The above story was true and the only one that seemed to get

I try to stay out of trouble when in Africa.

I bought the take down model in 405

Your views on the '95 are very interesting to me

1895 winchester

It is likely do to the barrel length

I think almost all sporting ‘95’s have longer barrels