GUN FALL 2017
The live portion of this session begins on Tuesday, October 31, 2017.
RARE SPECIAL ORDER WINCHESTER FIRST MODEL 1873 SECOND TYPE LEVER ACTION RIFLE WITH 28" BARREL WITH FACTORY LETTER. WINCHESTER 1873 19631 44 WCF Cal. 44 WCF (44-40). Standard grade rifle with rare 28" rnd bbl, full magazine, altered half nickel front sight and short style semi-buckhorn rear sight with checkered edges. Receiver is 1st type with mortised dust cover rails containing a second type dust cover with impressed checkered oval thumb print. Top tang is marked 1873. Mounted with uncheckered straight grain American walnut with straight stock and crescent buttplate. Left side of lower tang, under the wood is marked with the assembly number "2268" with matching number in top tang channel of buttstock and inside toe of buttplate. Accompanied by a Cody Firearms Museum letter which identifies this firearm as a rifle, with 28" bbl and plain trigger, received in the warehouse Aug. 21, 1877 and shipped May 8, 1878 to order #1178. Standard bbl length for the Model 1873 rifle was 24" with shorter or longer lengths available on special order in 2" increments to 36". Very few were produced in the longer increments and of those most were in the smaller calibers. The Winchester '73 is arguably the gun that won the west along with the Colt Single Action Army revolver in the same caliber. This rifle, having been produced in 1878 was delivered at a time when the west was still wild with marauding hostile Indians, outlaws and other dangers on the American frontier. These rifles usually saw very hard service under adverse conditions in harsh weather, usually with little or no maintenance. They were the working mans tools and are rarely found today with high orig finish. CONDITION: Good to very good, all matching. Bbl retains traces of orig blue, mostly in the sheltered area between bbl & magazine tube with the balance a blue/gray patina. Magazine tube also retains traces of orig blue in the sheltered areas being mostly a blue/brown patina on the radius.Receiver retains 25-30% orig blue with the loss areas mostly flaked to a light patina, but shows wear around the front carry point and on the side plates. Lever & hammer retain faded case colors, turned silver on outer faces. Buttplate is a mottled silver/gray patina. Wood is sound with nicks & scratches and a couple of gouges on the buttstock and overall retains about 75-80% orig finish on the buttstock and about 40-50% on the forearm with the balance hand worn patina. Dust cover does not fully retract on lever opening, otherwise mechanics are fine, bright shiny bore. 52506-9 JRL (6,000-10,000)