In addition to other changes, the model fired the.22 Long Rifle cartridge. This cartridge was more popular than the.22 Winchester Automatic cartridge, and was demanded by customers. The Model 63 was first available for purchase in 1933 and remained in production until 1958. Production totaled approximately 126,000 Model 1903 rifles and approximately 175,000 Model 63 rifles. Design and Features. The Model 1903/Model 63 featured a 20-inch (510 mm) round barrel. How can the answer be improved?
Contents HistoryThe design origins of the Model 63 goes back to 1901 from a patent dated 1901 by T.C. Johnson, a longstanding employee of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company. The weapon that became of this patent was the Model 1903, the first semi-automatic firearm commercially sold by the company and was also the first semi-automatic rifle design that was offered for commercial sale in North America. The rifle enjoyed modest commercial success.In the 1930s, however, the Model 1903 was falling out of popularity mainly due to its use of a proprietary cartridge which was the only cartridge it could use for it to chamber properly.
As such, a replacement had to be made; this replacement was named the Model 63.The Model 63 enjoyed immediate commercial success, with steady sales throughout the 1930s. Production ended briefly in the 1940s as Winchester refocused their production lines towards the war effort; production resumed in 1946 after World War II had ended. The weapon was quietly discontinued in 1958 after production was getting increasingly expensive, with most other companies migrating to cheaper methods of production. Some 174,692 were produced over its twenty-five-year production run.
Design DetailsThe Model 63 was a simple blowback firearm with a balanced breech bolt, as was with all the Winchester self-loading rifles of the time. Ammunition was fed into the weapon via an internal tubular magazine; rounds are fed through a hole in the stock. The weapon's charging handle is a plunger located under the barrel that resembles a cleaning rod; this was intentional as the weapon was to have completely flat sides so nothing poking off the side would catch onto things. Post-1946 models include grooves for claw-type scope mounts. AmmunitionThe Model 1903 was chambered in.Gallery.