SAW. What rifles are these?: US sailors with mausers?

[A. F Medic]

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[Bruce McAskill]

I think those are Lee Navys.

[BruceV]

From what I can tell, they rifles do not look to be Mauser pattern. Given the uniforms and the ship, Lee Navy's sounds about right. JMHO. Sincerely. BruceV.

[1886nut]

Those look like Winchester Hotchkiss rifles to me. The Winchester Lee had a dog-legged bolt handle, not a straight one.

[1886nut]

Scuze me...I meant to say the Remington Lee, not the "Winchester Lee". But I am pretty sure those are Winchester Hotchkiss 1883 model rifles:

[1886nut]

Scuze me...I meant to say the Remington Lee, not the "Winchester Lee". But I am pretty sure those are Winchester Hotchkiss 1883 model rifles:

BRAIN FART AGAIN!

I did mean to say Winchester Lee after all..the REmington Lee had a turned down bolt handle and the familiar box magaizine sticking out the bottom like the later Lee Enfields. The Winchester lee was the straight pull with the dog legged handle like a 1917 Enfield (though it was not stepped back like the 1917s)

[VET70]

I think Winchester-Hotchkiss is correct. It's hard to see, but it looks like the distinctive magazine cutoff on the stock above the trigger guard.

[Jim K]

Vet70 is correct; the rifles (technically muskets) are Winchester-Hotchkiss, caliber .45-70. That photo and a couple of others apparently taken aboard the same ship have been used to "prove" that the U.S. adopted the Mauser rifle.

The Navy only purchased 2473 in two versions; it is believed that the muskets were actually assembled at Springfield Armory, using receivers and some other parts procured from Winchester. The quantities ordered appear odd, until it is realized that both the Army and the Navy of the time usually purchased or ordered small arms based on the amount of money available, not on some arbitrary even number.

Jim