GUN SPRING 2017
The live portion of this session begins on Tuesday, April 11, 2017.
SCARCE WINCHESTER MODEL 1886 BIG 50 LEVER ACTION RIFLE.WINCHESTER18869622750-110Cal 50 EX (50-110). Standard grade rifle with 26" oct bbl, full magazine, Lyman hunting front sight and 3 leaf platinum line express rear sight. Receiver, forend cap and buttplate are color case hardened. Mounted with uncheckered straight grain American walnut with straight stock & crescent buttplate. Buttstock & forend cap have sling eyes. Accompanied by a full box of Winchester 50-110 EX ammunition. Box has round corners with green & black label and is marked "To be used in Winchester Model 1886 rifles". Ammunition has 300 grain soft point bullets and has the head stamp "50-110 EX." Also accompanied by 4 rounds of reloaded 50-110 ammunition in "CCC" brass cases with cast lead bullets. This rifle was produced at about 1895 at a time when hunting for subsistence and market hunting was a way of life. The Big 50 was designed to be effective for all North American big game including the Grizzly Bear, Elk & Moose and anything else the shooter wished to shoot. Firearms of that era, especially hunting arms usually saw extensive hard service and are rarely found today with high orig finish. Color case hardening when exposed to ultraviolet rays of sunlight fades rather rapidly. This rifle is somewhat unusual with crescent buttplate as most of the Big 50's were sold with shotgun buttplates. Shooting one of these big bores with a crescent buttplate is a near religious experience. CONDITION: Very fine. Bbl retains 95-96% strong orig blue with only light sharp edge wear. Magazine tube retains about 95% orig blue with a few small scratches. Receiver retains virtually all of its orig case colors, strong & bright especially on the left side and over the top. Right side & belly of the receiver are moderately faded. The 2nd lacquer coat lines are still visible on belly of the receiver. Lever & hammer retain strong case colors, bright on right side of lever, moderately faded elsewhere. Forend cap retains strong bright case colors around the rear half with the balance fading to silver. Buttplate is a silver/brown patina. Top & bottom tangs are mostly a gray patina. Stock has a hair line in the left wrist with some light oil staining around receiver with light handling & use nicks & dings and retains most of its orig oil finish. Mechanics are crisp, brilliant shiny bore with some minor rust spots about 4" from the muzzle. Box has small repaired seams at each end of the bottom, otherwise is completely sound. It shows heavy soil with edge wear & some light losses on top of the lid. Ammunition is lightly to moderately oxidized with a couple of minor handling dings. 51570-2 JRL (8,000-12,000)