Model 1887



The Winchester Model 1887 is a lever-action shotgun originally designed by famed American gun designer John Browning and produced by the Winchester Repeating Arms Company during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It is featured in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

History
Considered the first truly successful repeating shotgun, the lever-action design was chosen at the behest of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company, best known at the time as manufacturers of lever-action firearms such as the Winchester model 1873. Designer John Browning suggested that a pump-action would be much more appropriate for a repeating shotgun, but Winchester was a lever-action company and felt that their new shotgun must also be a lever-action for reasons of brand recognition. To Winchester's credit, however, they later introduced Browning's pump-action shotgun design as the M1897 Trenchgun, after the introduction of smokeless powder.

Shotgun shells at the time used black powder as a propellant, and so the M1887 shotgun was designed and chambered for black powder 12-gauge shotshells, with a 10-gauge chambering being offered soon afterward. It was soon realized that the action on the M1887 was not strong enough to handle early smokeless powder shotshells, and so a redesign resulted in the stronger Winchester Model 1901 10-gauge only. No 12-gauge chambering was offered, as Winchester did not want the Model 1901 to compete with their successful 12-gauge Model 1897 pump-action shotgun.

Although a technically sound gun design, the market for lever-action shotguns waned considerably after the introduction of the Winchester 1897 and other contemporary pump-action shotguns; Model 1887 production totaled 64,855 units between 1887 and 1901, with 79,455 Model 1901 shotguns being manufactured before it was discontinued in 1920. Replicas of the gun are still manufactured today, and are sometimes used by insurgent groups.

In Call Of Duty Modern Warfare 2
The Winchester 1887 was confirmed as being a weapon in Modern Warfare 2 in the hands of Ultranationalists. It is also one of the weapons used by the Militia in Takedown. It will be unlocked at Level 67 in Modern Warfare 2's multiplayer mode. It has a slightly small ammo capacity (only beating the M1014 & Ranger). It appears the wooden stock of the weapon has been sawed off. The 1887 has the furthest range of any of the shotguns. With Stopping Power, Steady Aim, and Akimbo, its range of lethality is increased even further, making it deadly at an incredible range. The 1887 is probably the most effective shotgun in Modern Warfare 2 multiplayer as it has such incredible accuracy at mid range.This however is balanced out as it's lack of availability up until level 67, just 3 levels before the prestige level. It is best used with akimbo in mind as it can be completely devastating.

Trivia

 * The Winchester 1887 is the oldest weapon to ever be featured in a Call of Duty game.
 * The Winchester 1887 was featured in Terminator 2: Judgement Day and was used by Arnold Schwarzenegger's character (a T-800 Terminator). Its appearance here may be a homage to the weapon from the film, as they both have a sawed-off stock and barrel. While using the 1887 Akimbo, the player spins the lever around their finger to reload. This is also how Arnold reloads the shotgun in the movie.
 * The reloading animation has the player loading one shell into the barrel (the upper tube) and the rest into the tube magazine (the lower tube.)
 * The 1887's used are likely chambered for more powerful 10-Gauge shells, which explains their unusually long effective range.