Short rifle question

[Galloway]

Just wondering if the short rifle term is a modern thing of if winchester ever advertised or sold them as such outside of a custom order. I mean a 20'' octagon cc rifle forearm sans barrel band. Thanks

[Abilene]

I don't know.  But I am going to guess that they didn't actually use the term "short".  You could order any length barrel you wanted, though.  Similarly, I wonder if they ever used the term "trapper" for the shorter carbines?  Seems like I might have seen that term used somewhere other than modern times, but not sure.

[Boone May]

In the early days of the 1873 longer than standard length barrel rifles (26-30 inch) were somewhat popular.  If a shooter wanted something shorter than the standard 24 inch barrel, they bought a carbine. 
After the turn of the 20th century long barrels went out of favor and shorter barrel 1873's became more common.  According to Madis in his "The Winchester Book" many of these short rifles went south of the border.  Short barrel carbines also became more popular.
The short rifle is not a modern invention but was not popular in the heyday of the American west (roughly 1875-1900)