The U.S. Navy adopted the unique smallbore 6mm Winchester Lee straight-pull rifle in 1895. Some 15,000 rifles were made and issued to Bluejackets and Marines. A sporting version is shown. (Photo courtesy of Jeff John)
February 25, 2025
By Jeff John
The smokeless powder revolution caused rapid rearming worldwide. The 6mm Lee Navy grew out of the U.S. Navy’s early enthusiasm for the 6.5 Mannlicher-Schonauer in the early 1890s. A logical discovery was there is no task a 6.5 does that a 6mm can’t do better while using fewer resources in making ammo, and the ammo weighing less while shooting flatter with less recoil. The Navy eschewed the Army’s .30-40 Krag for the same reasons. A flat-shooting cartridge was paramount if sharpshooters were to engage enemies ship to ship or ship to shore.
Still, a 6.5 was adopted by Japan, Italy and Sweden to name a few. Only the U.S. Navy went smaller by adopting the .236 USN or 6mm Lee Navy as it was called commercially.
The Model 1895 Lee Navy rifle was a unique, fast-operating straight-pull bolt action designed by James Paris Lee of Lee-Enfield fame. Built by Winchester , the Lee Navy featured a Mannlicher-style magazine loaded via a five-shot clip. Better, the Lee magazine could be loaded singly since the clip was not necessary to ensure feeding as with the Mannlicher system. Like the Mannlicher, the open bottom of the Lee’s magazine well left the action susceptible to clogging fired prone.
The Lee clip itself was a two-piece contraption with a locking spring in the clip body that was tripped when inserted, allowing the spring and clip to fall free out the bottom.
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Fast Twist (Photo courtesy of Jeff John) The Lee Navy used a fast-twist barrel of 1:6.5. Experiments proved a 112-grain full-metal-jacket roundnose bullet shot best. It started out as a semi-rimmed case, but the Navy soon specified a rimless case—making it a modern round although not particularly flat-shooting by modern standards.
Cartridges of the World lists the factory velocity with the 112-grain bullet at a respectable 2,560 fps at a time when most cartridges loped along at 2,000 to 2,300 fps. Everything changed once Germany adopted the aerodynamic flat-shooting spitzer bullet at higher velocity around the turn of the century. That should have ensured a cozy future for the 6mm Lee, but it was not to be.
The Navy initially ordered 10,000 Model 1895 rifles for delivery beginning in 1896. Of the some 20,000 rifles made, about 15,000 were Navy rifles, several thousand were military-style rifles for commercial sales and the balance were true sporting rifles. Manufacture was completed in 1902.
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The Navy rifle had a long, 28-inch barrel in a full-length pistol-grip walnut stock with a half-handguard ending at the center barrel band. The overall length was 47 inches with a weight of 8.5 pounds, using a compact 8.25-inch blade bayonet.
Insignia Lyman designed the Model 25 aperture sight for the Lee. When the bolt is worked, the aperture plate tilts out of the way of the rising bolt. This sporter has the longer 1st Model safety that protrudes above the receiver in the Safe position. (Photo courtesy of Jeff John) Receivers of Navy rifles are marked “U.S.N.” over an anchor over the serial number, with the Navy inspector’s initials underneath. The Navy Lee served with Marines and Bluejackets in notable actions from the Boxer Rebellion to Cuba.
The action operates quickly and smoothly. When the bolt handle is pulled, it rotates a short way back and up to the rear tilting a cam on the nose of the handle down to lift the bolt’s locking block up out of the receiver to open the action. Pushing the handle forward strips a fresh cartridge out of the magazine, and the handle/cam rotates forward and up into the receiver, locking the bolt closed.
Three controls on the left side of the receiver include a bolt lock pressed out and down to initiate disassembly, a bolt release and safety. The safety is pushed up to engage and pushed straight down to unlock. It is awkward to apply but easily released by the thumb of the shooting hand.
Early safeties were hard to apply and if not fully engaged could lead to an accidental discharge. On the 1st Model, safeties rose above the receiver about a quarter-inch and were prone to accidental release.
Some Issues The redesigned 2nd pattern safety was easier to apply and sat flush with the top of the receiver when applied. The bolt is locked when cocked. To open the bolt without squeezing the trigger, pressing the bolt release pops open the bolt.
Sadly, the Winchester Lee Navy had numerous other flaws. The biggest one was if the bolt stop was accidentally engaged, the bolt came out and the extractor would fall off—rendering the gun useless if the extractor was lost, of course.
Early smokeless powder combined with mercuric priming eroded barrels quickly. The springs powering the extractor, trigger and magazine lifter were weak. Many fixes were incorporated into the second batch, and most of the first batch upgraded.
In 1899, a joint board from the Army, Navy and Marine Corps concluded all services share the same small arms in a common caliber for handguns, rifles and machine guns. The Navy began issuing the Krag-Jorgensen in .30 U.S. Army—mostly known today as the .30-40 Krag—in 1899 alongside the Lee Navy. One ship’s arms locker had a mix of Trapdoor Springfields and Remington Lees in .45-70 alongside .30-40 Krags and 6mm Winchester Lees.
Surplus Sales The Lee Navy rifles were slowly withdrawn over the next decade and sold as surplus.
A mere 1,784—plus about 100 not in the records—of the svelte, 7.5-pound Lee sporting rifles were produced, most with 24-inch round barrels. Sales were slow, and the last ones shipped in 1916. Sporting models only have the serial number on the receiver ring, and the caliber marked on the barrel as “.236 U.S.N.” Sporting rifles often have a mix of early and late parts.
Sporting models were fitted with the standard Winchester semi-buckhorn rear sights as found on the lever action rifles. Aperture and telescopic sights proved problematic.
Lyman created a special No. 25 receiver sight with a hinged aperture plate that tilted out of the way as the bolt arose during cycling. On special order, Winchester fitted the pencil-thin 5A telescopic sight, but these riflescopes were comically high over the Lee’s action.
Ammunition and Case Forming The two-piece Lee clip had a flat-wire spring with a catch protruding from the center of the clip body that was tripped when the clip was inserted, allowing spring and clip to fall free. (Photo courtesy of Jeff John) Ammunition—still topped with a 112-grain roundnose full metal jacket or softpoint bullet—was discontinued just before World War II. Today, components for authentic 6mm Lee ammunition are no longer available. Fortunately, Buffalo Arms offers redrawn brass with the correct dimensions.
Cases can be made from .220 Swift—the 6mm Lee is the Swift’s parent case after all—but the necks will be short. Discontinued are the Barnes 115-grain roundnose and Hornady 100-grain roundnose, leaving us no options for recreating original ammunition. The fast-twist barrel should easily stabilize today’s long-range bullets, and the long magazine box has room, but performance will be limited by the iron sights. Dies are available only from 4D-Ch.
The proud promise of the 6mm Lee Navy never materialized. Its once groundbreaking ballistics remained moribund for more than 100 years and today is exceeded by Hornady’s 6mm Creedmoor and 6mm ARC. I suggest the Navy’s reasoning in the early 1890s for adopting a 6mm instead of a 6.5 will eventually prevail, and slowly but surely the modern 6mms will supplant today’s 6.5s.
The Lee Navy rifle remains a rare collectible, albeit one whose value is still reasonable compared to many other martial arms. A survey of prices realized at MorphyAuctions.com shows Lee Navy rifles—whether Navy or sporting—selling in the $2,000 to $2,650 range.
