Question on a 1873 Winchester
I'm looking at a Winchester 73 44-40 The problem I am having is the barrel looks too short. maybe 22 inches The face of the barrel is flat. The front sight looks like it belongs there from the factory. The rest of the gun looks good. Has beautiful patina over all the metal. The wood is real nice the bore is a rusty brown but the rifleing is sharp. Missing dust cover, and the slide for the rear sight. Action works beautiful. Question is did winchester make a shortened barrel for the "73"? The ser. # is 74xxx and has a small round door in the butt,probably for a cleaning rod. Can anyone give me any info what to look for on this 1873. Thanks for any help.
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Hello,
The standard barrel length for the Model 1873 Sporting Rifle was 24-inches, but Winchester did make them with both shorter and longer than standard lengths. The only way to 100% autheticate the shorter length is to contact the Cody Firearms Musuem research office and get a factory letter.
The flat muzzle face is correct, as Winchester did not crown the muzzles of any Sporting Rifles of that era.0 -
Thanks Bert for the info. Could you please tell me the best and fastest way to contact to The Cody Firearms museum? I don't want to wait too long if this turns out to be a good and true factory gun. 0 -
Bert posted the information for the Cody Museum in a "sticky" at the top of this forum:
http://forums.gunbroker.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=231184
WINCHESTER (a.k.a. W.R.A.Co.) - Cody Firearms Research, C/O Buffalo Bill Historical Center, Cody, Wyoming 82414, Phone: (307) 587-4771 - http://www.bbhc.org/firearms/records/ (or you can ask me here on the forum). Here is a direct link to the specific Models records are available for, and the researchable serial number range for each - http://www.bbhc.org/sites/1/dynamic/downloads/sb_downloads_filename_66.pdf
He also includes the website link in his signature section.0 -
Thanks Spider. I'm new here and I am learning the way things work 0 -
quote:Originally posted by frank252guns
Thanks Spider. I'm new here and I am learning the way things work
You're welcome. The "stickies" provide a lot of useful information and answers many commonly-asked questions.
Good luck with Cody and please let us know what you find out! [:)]0 -
Well. I went back to the dealer who had the rifle to get more info for Cody, and guess what the gun was sold. I guess the old saying is true. "You snooze you lose" Damn, I should have put a deposit on it. 0
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