Winchester Model 1887/1901

The Winchester Model 1887 and Winchester Model 1901 were lever-action shotguns originally designed by famed American gun designer John Browning and produced by the Winchester Repeating Arms Company during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Overview
Considered the first truly successful repeating shotgun, the lever-action design was chosen at the behest of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company, best known at the time as manufacturers of lever-action firearms such as the Winchester Rifle. Designer John Browning protested that a pump-action would be much more appropriate for a repeating shotgun, but Winchester was a lever-action company and felt that their new shotgun must also be a lever-action for reasons of brand recognition. To Winchester's credit, however, they later introduced Browning's pump-action shotgun design as the Model 1893 (which was itself later modified and produced as the Winchester Model 1897), after the introduction of smokeless powder in the closing years of the 19th Centry.

Shotgun shells at the time used black powder as a propellant, and so the M1887 shotgun was designed and chambered for black powder 12-gauge shotshells, with a 10-gauge chambering being offered soon afterwards. It was soon realised that the action on the M1887 was not strong enough to handle the smokeless powder shotshells that were being introduced in the late 1890s, and so a redesign was undertaken, resulting in the Winchester Model 1901, which was designed to chamber 10-gauge smokeless powder shotshells. No 12-gauge chambering was offered, as Winchester did not want the Model 1901 to compete with their hugely popular and successful 12-gauge Model 1897 pump-action shotgun.

Although a technically sound gun design, the market for lever-action shotguns waned considerably after the introduction of the Winchester 1897 and other contemporary pump-action shotguns; Model 1887 production totaled 64,855 units between 1887 and 1901, with 79,455 Model 1901 shotguns being manufactured before it was discontinued in 1920.

Reproduction
Over the years, a number of gun companies tried to produce Model 1887/1901 shotguns that could chamber modern, smokeless shotgun shells—largely for the cowboy action shooting discipline—but with little commercial success. Recently, however, two firearm companies have successfully produced viable models:


 * ADI Limited of Australia, produced a small trial run of modern Model 1887/1901 shotguns, chambered for modern smokeless 12-gauge shotshells. Commercial production on this firearm by ADI was anticipated for 2007, following several years of delays due to distribution issues, but this has not yet eventuated.


 * Chinese arms manufacturer Norinco currently produces the Model 1887 shotgun chambered for modern smokeless 12-gauge shells, a version of which (featuring a 20" barrel) is manufactured for American firearms firm, Interstate Arms Corporation (IAC) and exported for sale in the USA, Canada and Australia. As the only legal repeating shotgun (besides the unpopular and awkward Mossberg bolt-action shotguns) for non-Primary Producer firearms owners in Australia, it has proven very popular with hunters and sporting shooters alike. U.S. and Canadian sales, however, have been largely focused on cowboy action shooting participants, owing to the ready availability of affordable pump-action and semi-automatic shotguns in most parts of the U.S. and Canada.