the 30-03 marked 95 that I have was made in 1926! Apparently, it was common for Winchester to use "old stock" parts back in the "early" days.
This was a very common practice. Also remember the time period, America was just transitioning from black powder and hunting with the 45-70 etc., and virtually all hunting rifles had open sights. Scopes were very expensive, difficult to mount and often unreliable (not weatherproof).
Modern bullet development had not yet taken place, so if you wanted to hunt large, big game, you went with the 220 grain round nose bullet. Also, since it would also shoot 30-06, there was not much downside to it.
As a side note, Roosevelt's son took a 95 in 30-03 on their famous African Safari (along with 3 others chambered in 405).
The 150 grain spitzer bullets first chambered for the 06 were light for large game. Subsequently, 180 grain (and then 165 grain) would become more popular weights.
Now that's an old school military and hunting cartridge that's probably killed over a million deer!
If my memory serves me correctly? The military replaced the 30-40 Craig when they adopted the 30-06 Springfield.
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