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Special Order Winchester Model 1886 Deluxe Lever Action 45-70 Rifle with Factory Letter

Currency:USD Category:Antiques / Firearms & Armory Start Price:4,750.00 USD Estimated At:9,500.00 - 14,000.00 USD
Special Order Winchester Model 1886 Deluxe Lever Action 45-70 Rifle with Factory Letter
This is an example of a Winchester Model 1886 Fancy Sporting Rifle with Cody Firearms Museum Letter. The Cody Museum letter states that this rifle was shipped from the Winchester warehouse on January 22, 1895. The letter describes the rifle features as 45/70 caliber with "1/2 Octagon" barrel, "1/2 magazine, 4 cartridges", plain trigger, checkered stock with pistol grip, and shotgun butt with rubber buttplate. The rifle has a blued barrel and half-magazine, casehardened receiver with niter blue loading gate and bolt. The forearm cap, hammer and loading lever have a casehardened finish. The stock and forearm are fancy, highly figured, walnut with checkered panels on the forearm and pistol grip and semi-gloss varnish finish. The bottom of the pistol grip has an ebony insert. The black, hard rubber, checkered buttplate is embossed with the circular Winchester logo. The barrel is fitted with a rare Lyman folding combination front sight with ivory bead and a folding leaf rear sight. A Lyman combination peep sight is mounted on the receiver tang. The top flat of the half-octagon barrel is roll-stamped with the two-line legend: "-MANUFACTURED BY THE- / -WINCHESTER REPEATING ARMS CO. NEW HAVEN. CONN. U.S.A.-" ahead of the rear sight. The caliber designation, "47-70" is stamped on the top barrel flat immediately in front of the receiver. The lower receiver tang is marked with the 1884 and 1885 patent dates behind the trigger and the serial number "94921" between the tang screws.
BBL: 26 inch half octagon
Stock: fancy walnut
Gauge: 45/70
Finish: blue/casehardened
Grips:
Serial Number: 94921


Very fine. The barrel and magazine tube retain approximately 95% of the original blue finish. The only discernable wear is a 1/4-inch spot of pitting on the left side of the barrel. The bolt has almost all of the original niter blue; the niter blue finish on the loading gate is thin on the high points. The receiver has approximately 40% of the original case colors; the casehardened finish on the bottom of the receiver has silvered slightly from handling and there is some silvering in the case colors along the top edges of the receiver. There is a very small (1/8-inch) spot of pitting on the left side of the receiver. The balance of the case colors on the receiver, hammer and lever are strong. The barrel legend, caliber marking and tang markings are crisp. The highly figured reoiled walnut buttstock and forearm are both in fine condition. The checkered panels on the pistol grip and forearm are sharp. Handling wear is minimal and is limited to some small scratches and minor finish wear on the left side of the forearm at the junction with the receiver. The buttplate screws are slight pitted but the buttplate is in excellent condition. This is a solid, factory documented Deluxe Model 1886 Winchester Fancy Sporting Rifle with many special order features.