Rifles by Annie Oakley
"Annie, get your gun" - a frame from the American film-musical
“Fools, if you want to find the bullet of a skilled shooter in the local forests! You must look for it in the subject itself, and not around it.
"The Last of the Mohicans", J.F. Cooper
"The Last of the Mohicans", J.F. Cooper
stories about weapons. And it so happened that the simple American girl Annie Oakley, who had a difficult, half-starved childhood, gained worldwide fame due to her marksmanship skills. Moreover, marksmanship gave her not only fame, fame and money, but also family happiness, because she married the same marksman. And she, along with the show "Buffalo Bill's Wild West", traveled all over the world (at least all of Europe, not to mention the USA) and met with many crowned persons of her time. That is, her fate was more than successful and still serves as an example for many American girls. However, the topic of today's material will not be her biography (there was already an article about her on VO), but about the weapon that she used to shoot so accurately.
It would be very strange if, having such a “shooting Cinderella” at hand, the Americans would not insert it into the musical! Shot from the movie "Annie Get Your Gun"
Annie with her artistic props: a Stevens pistol, a Stevens rifle (in her hand), a double-barreled shotgun (due to the abundance of stamps and outward resemblance, it was not possible to identify it) and a Colt Lightning with a sliding forearm. Photograph 1886
Annie pictured with an M1897 Marlin rifle
Here she is also with "Marlin"
Buffalo Bill show promotional poster featuring Annie Oakley
Well, to start a story about the weapon from which she fired, perhaps, it is best to start with a Stevens small-caliber rifle. By the way, it was Buffalo Bill who advised her to start shooting at the performance with small-caliber weapons. Because the performance was always attended by many children, including small ones, and very loud sounds of gunshots could frighten them.
A typical Stevens rifle. Photo rockislandauction.com
It so happened that, together with investors W. B. Fay and James Taylor, instrument manufacturer Joshua Stevens founded the D. Stevens & Co. in 1864 in Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts. The company's first pistol was a single-shot, bolt-action pistol designed by Stevens. Although Stevens was not an engineer, he worked with arms manufacturers such as C. B. Allen, Eli Whitley, Samuel Colt and Edwin Wesson. In fact, it was Stevens who helped Samuel Colt make the very first revolver in his little shop in Hartford, Connecticut. Stevens, in 1887, also invented the most popular cartridge in the world - .22 Long Rifle. Moreover, their production volume today is from 2,3 to 2,5 billion cartridges per year. At first, most of the company's income came from the manufacture and sale of tools, but Stevens' business soon grew into one of the largest firearms manufacturers in the country.
Stevens rifles. Top .22 caliber. Photo rockislandauction.com
Stevens began production of rifles in 1880, and equipped them with the simplest vertical bolt. Attention to the quality of parts led to the fact that it cost much less than the Winchester rifle, which made this gun very popular. For 12 years, the company "D. Stevens & Co. has sold over 3,5 million bolt action shotguns.
In 1896, the company was bought by its accountant, I. H. Page, along with his partners, and Stevens retired and moved to Meriden, Connecticut. However, he did return to Chicopee Falls to advise and oversee production.
1908 Stevens "Tip-Up" rifle in .32. Photo gunsinternational.com
By 1902 "D. Stevens & Co. was one of the leading manufacturers of firearms in the world. By 1915 the company had opened offices in New York, London, Australia, the Caribbean and Latin America. And in 1920, it merged with Arthur Savage's Savage Arms. In 2014, the legendary arms company D. Stevens & Co. celebrated 150 years of manufacturing high quality firearms. Now a subsidiary of Savage Arms, it still manufactures shotguns and rifles under the Stevens name.
The receiver of a .32 caliber rifle. Photo gunsinternational.com
As a rule, these are single-shot rifles chambered for rimfire cartridges from .22 to .44 caliber. Available in 24", 26", 28" or 30" barrel lengths. The bolts, as well as the trigger guards and butt plate are nickel-plated. Blued barrels, walnut two-piece stocks. There is a shotgun version. The quality is very high. However, otherwise Annie would not have taken this rifle.
Golden "Marlin" Annie Oakley M1897. Right view. Photo rockislandauction.com
This rifle had such a plate on the butt. Photo rockislandauction.com
Golden "Marlin" Annie Oakley M1897. View from the left. Photo rockislandauction.com
One of the firearms that Annie used in her performances was the lever-action M1891 Marlin Rifle. And she got her so effectively that in 1903 the company decided to give her the Marlin M1897 in a luxurious performance. So Annie became "the lady with the golden gun." True, two years earlier, it happened that Annie and her husband Frank got into a train accident, where she received serious injuries, and therefore decided that it was time to stop touring. But this did not affect her popularity in any way. Instead, she began giving shooting lessons to women at shooting clubs and actively advocated for women to learn how to shoot. And Frank became an advertising spokesman for the United Metal Ammunition Company, and he and Annie continued to put on shooting shows promoting the company's ammunition.
"Golden Rifle" M1897. Receiver. Photo rockislandauction.com
As for the M1897 Marlin rifle given to Annie in 1903, it was the work of master engraver Konrad F. Ulrich, Jr., who later went to work for the Winchester company and produced several fine engraved rifles there as well. Ulrich's engraving on Annie's rifle consists of a vine leaf and vine motif, and game scenes depicting a doe and deer in the woods on the left side and a squirrel in a tree on the right. Everything is done with taste, and, no doubt, Annie appreciated this rifle.
Annie Oakley was a very nice girl without rifles. What's so cute, in this photo she's just a beauty!
The Rock Island auction described the condition of this rifle before it was sold:
“Exceptionally good quality, retaining 70% of the original gold plating with a smooth dark brown patina on some details. The engraving is clear. The wood is excellent, with scattered slight traces of processing and clear cuts in general. Mechanically works great. A true work of high art. Gifted to famed shooter Annie Oakley, this Marlin firearm would make a great addition to any lever action rifle collection. Infrequently we catalog historical firearms that belonged to such great Western legends!”
Annie also knew how to shoot revolvers, but she usually did not perform with them.
The lever-action rifle became the most popular rifle of the Wild West era in America and was so etched into the minds of manufacturers like the Winchester that they simply didn't believe there was a market for a bolt-action rifle. But, as it turned out, there was a demand for them. For example, the first model of the Colt Lightning, introduced in 1884, was chosen by the San Francisco police, who bought 401 of these rifles.
Colt Lightning - "Express with a large frame", caliber .45. Photo rockislandauction.com
"Colt Express" ("with a large frame"), 12-gauge. San Francisco Police. Photo rockislandauction.com
It was developed by Dr. William H. Elliot, and the company's employees appreciated his project. Moreover, one of its advantages included a capacious tubular magazine under the barrel, as in popular rifles with a lever mechanism. Therefore, in their own tradition, a new rifle was also made in two styles: a standard rifle with a 26-inch barrel and a 15-round magazine and a carbine with a 20-inch barrel by 12. Barrels of other lengths could be made by special order. The rifle chambered for .22 Long had a 15-round magazine.
Following small-caliber rifles, the time has come for large-caliber pump-action shotguns of the same system. Colts appeared in .38, .40, .45, .50 calibers, and already smooth-bore shotguns. But Annie never used such large-caliber samples.
In any case, Annie Oakley did what she liked, and at the same time used those "tools" that she considered most suitable for herself. Interestingly, she advocated that women could shoot, and it is believed that during her career she taught shooting skills to about 15 women. One day she said:
"I wish every woman knew how to handle guns the same way they know how to handle children."
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