GUN FALL 2015
The live portion of this session begins on Monday, October 5, 2015.
EXTREMELY RARE EARLY DELUXE WINCHESTER MODEL 1887 LEVER ACTION SHOT GUN. WINCHESTER 1887 414 12 GA Cal. 12 GA Fantastic Winchester shotgun with 30" very fine pattern Damascus bbl and full choke with single brass bead. Receiver, lever & hammer are color case hardened with the intertwined "WRACo" trademark on left side of receiver. Mounted with very highly figured, center crotch, flame grain, burl & shell grain American walnut with checkered forestock side panels and rnd knob pistol grip buttstock that has Winchester embossed hard rubber buttplate. Winchester produced nearly 65,000 of these shotguns in the period 1887-1901 in both 10 & 12 gauge and 2-bbl lengths. The vast majority were standard grade with extremely few produced as deluxe examples such as found here. Public acceptance of this rather large lever action arm was limited and competition from the various slide action shotguns that came on the market in the 1890's further reduced the customer base which limited production. These shotguns, however, were favored by coach guards and other security personnel as well as law enforcement with the majority of those found today having reduced bbl lengths. These shotguns almost universally were hard used and are rarely found today with much orig finish. CONDITION: Extremely fine+ (no disassembly effected to check for matching numbers). Bbl retains about 99% crisp orig blue/brown Damascus pattern and the magazine tube about 99% orig blue. Receiver retains brilliant case colors on the sides, lightly faded on top & bottom edges with 2 small areas of fine surface rust over the receiver ring and some minor flaking on the left side. Lever & hammer retain brilliant case colors, moderately to heavily faded on outer faces of lever. Wood is sound with a few very light nicks & scratches and retains most of its crisp, orig piano varnish finish, faded around the toe. Toe of buttplate has a small chip. Mechanics are crisp. Bright shiny bore. 48568-3 JR (25,000-35,000)