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The Swiss Cross marking is particularly interesting and fits perfectly within the historical context. Most of the early Winchesters were made for the export market, and this rifle was no doubt engraved and gold plated
for a special exhibition or presentation abroad as part of the company’s international marketing. While the American Civil War had demonstrated
the advantages of breech-loading and repeating firearms, the end of the war meant the American firearms market was flooded with surplus arms and halted large scale government orders. Many American arms manufacturers simply shifted to the production of different metal goods, and a few others such as Colt, Remington, and Smith & Wesson sought out foreign markets for their firearms. Oliver Winchester did as well and did so personally and aggressively. His company first began manufacturing the Model 1866 rifles around August of 1866. Prior to that, other “Improved Henry” pattern rifles were manufactured in limited numbers. To seek sales, Oliver Winchester himself went to Europe to promote his company in 1865-1866, including traveling to Switzerland.
Much of the Swiss-Winchester story was covered by Herbert G. Houze in
his book “Winchester Repeating Arms Company: Its History & Development from 1865 to 1981” and his American Society of Arms Collectors Bulletin in the Fall 2013 issue. The Swiss held trials in 1865 and 1866 to test and select new breech-loading rifles. Winchester submitted his new rifle designs to the
Swiss trials at Aarau and proved their military capability. Given the transition from muzzleloading to breech-loading that was taking place across Europe and elsewhere, many were watching the results of the Swiss trials. At 300- 1,000 paces, the Winchester was the clear winner. On page 58 of his book Houze wrote, “Winchester rifles averaged 14.5 hits at 300 paces, each 43 seconds. None of the other competing arms (Howard, Martini-Peabody, Remington, Spencer or Chassepot) were able to even approach that success.” The results were widely reported, and targets and the recommendations
for Winchester’s rifles from the Swiss trials were reproduced in Winchester’s 1873 catalog to promote Winchester’s rifles. Initially, only a few hundred rifles were ordered for Swiss sharpshooters with Swiss style sights and stocks in a joint effort with some of the components manufactured in Switzerland, but Houze’s research indicates the Swiss government then ordered at least 15,000 Winchester rifles prior to this rifle’s production. Despite these initial orders, the Swiss instead ultimately adopted the domestically produced Vetterli rifles designed by Johann Friedrich Vetterli. While further orders from the Swiss were not forthcoming, the French purchased 6,000 Model 1866s, and others were purchased by Chile, Japan, and other countries around
the globe. The Ottoman Empire proved to be the best customer for the Winchester Model 1866; they purchased around 50,000, and many saw use in the 1877 Russo-Turkish War. Foreign sales continued to be a major part of the company’s production into the 1870s.