Guns of the Old West – August 2019

“The Winchester

,which

is

stocked and

sighted

tosuit

myself,

is by all odds

thebest

weapon

I

kind of game with it...

[It] is deadly, accurate and

handy...

stands very rough

usage and is unapproachable

for the rapidity of its fire.”

To Theodore Roosevelt and

other hunters in the late 1800s,

“Winchester” meant a lever-act

ion

rifle. Roosevelt bought his first

two Model 1876s in .50-95 when

he was 22. A t

rip to the Da

kota

Territory fe

d his zest for the out-

door life. Arriving in dress that

by his own later admission made

himout to be a “cowboy dandy,”

he impressed the ranchmen

whose skil

ls and resourcefu

lness

he so admired with his enthu-

siasm. He shot a bison with an

1874 Sharps in .45-90 and invest-

ed in the Maltese Cross Ranch.

Roosevelt’s return to New

York was attended by t

ragedy.

In February of 1884, he lost his

mother to typhoid. The same day,

his wife, Alice, died of Bright’s

disease after giving birth to a

daughter. “TR,” as he was known,

found solace in the West, add-

ing to his Da

kota stake with the

Elkhorn Ranch. Alas, a ferocious

blizzard in 1886 would claim up

to 90 percent of the livestock on

the northern plains. Roosevelt’s