The Winchester Model 1895, serial number 23576 (top), was presented by Theodore Roosevelt to his friend and commanding officer during the Spanish-American War, Gen. Leonard Wood. As with most of all of his Winchesters, this rifle was embellished. It also has a gold plate engraved with “To Leonard Wood, Governor of Cuba, 12-29-99 from TR.” The Winchester Model 1895 in .405 Win. (bottom) was owned and used by Theodore Roosevelt, Jr.

Roosevelt used an 1895 in .405 Win. to take this remarkable rhinoceros during his famous safari of 1909-1910.

Roosevelt’s love of Winchesters carried over into his days with the “Rough Riders,” and he took a Model 1895 carbine in .30-40 Krag with him to Cuba. This rifle was carried by Tom Berenger when he portrayed Roosevelt in the movie “Rough Riders” and will be part of an upcoming exhibit at the National Firearms Museum.

Crates of Winchester rifles and ammunition marked with the president’s name were packaged for use on his safari of 1909-1910. They were shipped directly to the president’s steamship.

Pictured while on a Western bear hunt, Roosevelt is armed with a Model 1894 with a two-thirds magazine and a deluxe cheekpiece stock. He called one of 1894s his “little .30” and used it take an antelope at more than 180 yds. on one particular hunt. He also used a ’94 equipped with a Maxim silencer on varmints at his Sagamore Hill home in New York.

Theodore Roosevelt’s African safari of 1909-1910 was the president’s biggest and most publicized hunting expedition. Though he used Winchester Model 1895s in .405 Win. on the trip, he is pictured here holding a double rifle. His son Kermit (at TR’s left) is holding a Model 1895 chambered in .405 Win. It was after this trip that Roosevelt wrote in Scribners Magazine “The Winchester .405 is, at least for me personally, the medicine gun for lions.”

Roosevelt special-ordered many of his Winchesters. This Model 1876 carbine has a half-round octagonal barrel, pistol grip, deluxe checkered wood, case hardened receiver and a shotgun style butt.