The Hotchkiss, like most early bolt-actions, had a single rear locking lug integral with the bolt handle, but was unique in feeding multiple rounds from a tubular buttstock magazine similar to the Spencer rifle.

The .45-70 Hotchkiss was acquired in limited numbers by the US Navy as the M1879, and (in a slightly modified version) by the US Army and several state militias as the M1883, making it the first center-fire bolt-action repeater to be adopted by any major military (the distinction of first bolt-action repeating rifle to be issued in great numbers as a standard military arm was the Swiss Vetterli 1869, which utilized very large rim-fire metallic cartridges).

A joint production program was undertaken after the Winchester design passed United States Army Ordnance Department tests in 1878.

The Army ordered 513 Hotchkiss First Model Rifles for infantry units stationed on the western frontier including Texas and Fort Abraham Lincoln in the Dakota Territory.

Between 1881 and 1887, the Mexican army purchased enough Model 1879 Winchester Hotchkiss rifles to equip two regiments of elite cavalry and the Presidential guard; those were chambered in the .43 Spanish cartridge.