“New” 1873 (1884)

[Roscoe Coles]

I posted this over on the SASS wire, but I thought I would share it here as well. 

I picked this up at the local shop.  It's a pistol grip deluxe 44-40 with xx or xxx wood, a half magazine, half round barrel.  It shows it's wear and has some pitting but it retains strong traces of color case and blue.  The bore is nice and bright and the gun is mechanically perfect. It was manufactured in 1884. According to Madis, for the 1873, only 801 rifles had part round barrels, 2669 had short magazines, 1279 had special wood, 1066 were checkered, 1896 had pistol grips, 16137 had special order sights (it has the Rocky Mountain sight). So that is six custom order options.  This one deserves a factory letter.  Sorry about the low res images. 

[Coal Creek Griff]

Very nice! Yes, I'd say that a letter is in order.

Griff

[Cliff Fendley]

Very nice! I'm surprised it hasn't already been lettered. I'll have to reference my book. You mean it says only 801 total 1873 had half round barrels? I would have thought the number would be much higher. I have a half round, half magazine that letters correctly.

[Roscoe Coles]

Yep, according to Madis, that's correct.  I would have thought there were more half round barrels as well.  This gun spent multiple generations in a single family and just came on the market, so no Letter as far as I know.  It was sold with a deluxe 1876, which was bought by a friend.  I looked tonight and the tang is marked "XX" indicating fancy wood, which it clearly has.  I ordered the Winchester letter last week.  We will see what it says.  It's not in Perfect shape, but it is a rare gun and I doubt I could afford it if it were nicer. 

I added a shot of the list snd number of guns produced with special features from Madis, The Winchester Handbook for those that don't have it. 

[dusty texian]

You sure found  a very nice rifle Roscoe Coles , that's a beauty .,,,DT