GUN SPRING 2017
The live portion of this session begins on Tuesday, April 11, 2017.
EXTREMELY RARE SEMI-DELUXE WINCHESTER BIG 50 TAKE-DOWN LEVER ACTION RIFLE.WINCHESTER188614502050 EXPRESS (50-110)MODERN; C&RCal. 50 Express (50-110). Blue finish with 26" rnd bbl, half-magazine take-down with express front sight and platinum line 3-leaf express sight in the rear seat. Mounted with uncheckered, straight grain American walnut with standard forearm and uncheckered, capped pistol grip stock with crescent buttplate. Buttstock & forend cap have sling eyes. Left side of lower tang, under the wood, is marked with the assembly number "653" and a "0" and an "F". Matching assembly number is also found in top tang channel of buttstock and inside toe of buttplate. The recess in the buttstock, under the buttplate, contains one orig "WRACO" 50-110 WHV cartridge wrapped in a strip of old muslin. Accompanied by a Cody Firearms Museum letter which identifies this rifle in Cal. 50 Express with rnd nickel steel bbl, 4-cartridge magazine, take-down, plain trigger, plain wood, pistol grip stock, sling eyes, "Winchester High Velocity", received in warehouse March 25, 1909 and shipped the same day with one other Model 1886 to order number 197064. These big bore rifles were extremely popular in the Rocky Mountain region, Northwest Territories & Alaska as well India and in Africa for extremely large game. They usually are found with shotgun buttplate as it is fairly well known that the severe recoil of this Cal. was very punishing with a crescent buttplate. PROVENANCE: Ex-Mike Ginn Collection. CONDITION: Very fine, all matching. Bbl & magazine tube retain 95-96% strong orig blue with slight muzzle end wear, some minor chemical spotting & a couple of small spots of rust. Receiver retains about 80% orig blue showing wear on the bottom, over the receiver ring & top rear edges, with some light flaking on the sides. Bbl extension retains strong traces orig blue with the balance a grey patina. Lever & hammer retain muted case colors, turned silver/gray on top edge of hammer and outer faces of the lever with small areas of staining & pinprick pitting. Buttplate is a grey patina. Buttstock has an longitudinal 3" crack repaired by the top tang, otherwise wood is sound with a number of light nicks & dings and a series of scratches on the buttstock. Stocks retain most of an old restored varnish. Mechanics are crisp, bright shiny bore. Cartridge is fine. 50142-16 JS205 (15,000-20,000)