1876 Winchester...

[tarheel mac]

Does anyone know, or can someone find out when the '76 Winchester came out?  I know 1876, but I don't figure you could just walk into a gun store on Jan 1 (or 2nd) and order one, telling the clerk, "It's 1876 now, it is supposed to be out." So what month is 1876 did they hit the market?

(Looked all over the net and couldn't find this one...)

[RattlesnakeJack]

Checked in my "Winchester - An American Legend" coffee-table type book by R.L. Wilson - the only Winchester "reference" I have - but that was little help.  The text does state that the company first displayed the new rifle design during the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition in 1876 - so maybe checking the dates that Exposition was open would give an idea when at least some rifles had been produced.  The text goes on to indirectly imply (though not state outright) that the Model 1876 first appeared in Winchester price lists in 1877.

Not much help, I realize .....

[St. George]

From - The Winchester Book', by George Madis - on page 217...

"In 1876, at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition, the Model 1876 made its first public appearance.
The new gun was called 'the Centennial Model' commemorating the anniversary of the Revolutionary War, and it was a revolutionary gun.
First of the production Winchesters to chamber the larger cartridges, last of the models that used the toggle and link system which had made a success of the lever action Winchester and its predecessors.

By the end of 1876, the new gun was ready..."

Serial numbers at the beginning of 1876 start at '1' and end with '1429'.


Scouts Out!

[tarheel mac]

...And in "The History of Winchester Firearms 1866-1980" by Duncan Barnes, George Watrous, James C. Rikhoff, Thomas H. Hall and Pete Kulhloff on page 18 it says the those were just for Exposition, but the first "actual" shipment of rifles for sale left the plant on June 8, 1877.

But thanks to all those that tried to help...

[Steel Horse Bailey]

An interesting side note:  I HEARD  this from a pretty knowledgeable source.  I haven't personally verified this and I'm not sure I could without help, but ...

While the Centennial model was displayed first in 1876 and first shipped in 1877, it was actually invented and the prototype made in the 1869-1871 timeframe.  Yes ... before the '73.  So the common belief that the '76 was just a scaled up '73 seems to be a bit skewed.  And I think there are enough internal differences that we also can't say that the '73 was just a scaled-down '76.

[Four-Eyed Buck]

You might have a point ,SHB. They did make a larger scale rifle that I believe they sold to some foreign governments military's in that time frame..........Buck

[mtmarfield]

   Greetings!

   There may be truth to the "'76 before the '73"... Although I'd known that Winchester had sent a large,  bronze framed levergun to the Swiss in their 10.4x38 rimfire for military trials, I had to see one to believe it; and there it was at the Cody Wild West Museum. Wow! It looked like a Win. 1866 with thyroid trouble. Add a steel frame and a cf breech bolt, and there you are {more or less!}.

                Be Well, All & HNY!
                    M.T.Marfield
                      12-30-06

[Steel Horse Bailey]

Cool!

I LOVE  your description:  "a '66 with thyroid problem" - or words thereabouts.