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Mod 1886 win .33.wcf take-down rifle *plug*+

mrmike08075
https://www.GunBroker.com/item/799084379

This is one of the most prized collectors grade desirable firearms in my care - it has been in the family since the 1960's

GB auction - see the above referenced aforementioned link for details and pics

Kasey AKA Locust Fork our favorite and most trustworthy GB top 100 sellers has posted the item for sale for me

Please check out the link and let me know what you think - please offer questions or make observations - feel free to place a bid...

Please note the sighting option and the tube mag length and the buttplate and the amazing case hardened receiver

DOM is approx 1919 - the .33 wcf take-down variant is a low production number item - not a popular clambering and configuration in North America - I am told that many shipped to south America and south Africa

This one hurts but I hope that it goes to a true Winchester aficionado whom can appreciate and treasure it

I have put quite a bit of ammo through it

Please Winchester folk tell me something about this gun - offer your opinion

Thanks to Kasey and others here whom have helped me during this struggle with cancer

Mike
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Comments

14 comments

Date Votes
  • gearheaddad
    I'm a Winchester guy.
    I cant tell from the photos if the wood is somewhat proud to metal?
    Original finish?
    Metal original?
    33WCF is a dog caliber for an '86, but it can be looked past.
    Sling swivels and receiver sight can hurt it a bit if they cant be proved original.
    I love a nice 1886......
    Do you have Winchester letter for it?
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  • mrmike08075
    quote:Originally posted by gearheaddad
    I'm a Winchester guy.
    I cant tell from the photos if the wood is somewhat proud to metal?
    Original finish?
    ***100% original finish on wood and metal - fit and finish are exemplary and correct

    Metal original?
    ***metal is as it left the factory

    33WCF is a dog caliber for an '86, but it can be looked past.
    ***it's a delightful cartridge - the smallest caliber offered on the 1886 - modern ammo and components allow a wide range of options

    Sling swivels and receiver sight can hurt it a bit if they cant be proved original.
    ***we have been told the sight are original - I am uncertain about the sling swivels but for 1919 dom it's possible

    I love a nice 1886......
    ***built like an artillery piece - enormous locking lugs - silky smooth

    Do you have Winchester letter for it?
    ***to my knowledge it has not been lettered


    Mike
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  • babun
    You may want to look into that micrometer rear site as factory
    installed.
    I know those guns did come with the Lyman #17 peep site.
    It is possible for the bigger/better micro site to be available
    also, I was very young in 1919, so maybe.
    [;)]
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  • mrmike08075
    My research backed up by the reference material (books - articles - ephemera - etc) shown in the auction pics and referenced in the data sheet indicate the following sight set up was available when the gun was built - and that the sights are factory installed )

    Rear: Lyman 56A side mounted micrometer peep sight

    Middle: Semi buckhorn - elevator type 2

    Front: Lyman 4 steel blade on ramp with shrouded ivory bead

    This follows what the reference books indicate was optional in 1919

    I know that some of the reference books have blatant errors and that magazine articles and other published research material may be inaccurate - but my research and the books and articles seem to indicate that the gun left the factory this way

    Mike
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  • babun
    quote:Originally posted by mrmike08075
    My research backed up by the reference material (books - articles - ephemera - etc) shown in the auction pics and referenced in the data sheet indicate the following sight set up was available when the gun was built - and that the sights are factory installed )

    Rear: Lyman 56A side mounted micrometer peep sight

    Middle: Semi buckhorn - elevator type 2

    Front: Lyman 4 steel blade on ramp with shrouded ivory bead

    This follows what the reference books indicate was optional in 1919

    I know that some of the reference books have blatant errors and that magazine articles and other published research material may be inaccurate - but my research and the books and articles seem to indicate that the gun left the factory this way

    Mike


    Probably is factory. That was the time frame of many different peep
    sites used. Sure would be nice to have papers on it. Bet they would send the bidding sky high.[8D]
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  • mrmike08075
    Nick stroebels book shows the 56A available on an 86 in 1919...

    I had 3 books that show the sight set up as legitimate for my gun...

    It is possible that all 3 books are wrong -Burt might know but he has forgotten more about these guns than I ever learned

    I thought the data spec sheet was pretty accurate and detailed and cross referenced - for a duffer like me...

    What would you guesstimate the gun will bid up to???

    Maybe Burt will see the thread and offer some instruction.


    It's a very nice gun - a relatively odd and rare configuration percentage wise...

    Mike
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  • 35 Whelen
    Looks perfect to me, especially considering its age. You have excellent taste in guns, Mike.[:)]
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  • mrmike08075
    While the .33 wcf cartridge gets a bump wrap - is often looked down on or passed over...

    I think that the underlying tenet is that it's the "lightest / littlest" clambering offered in the 86 line up...

    When you look at the other chamberings offered as options they all seem to be mythical and much stories big sticks carried afield by great men - portrayed in big pictures - writ of in great literature

    Not so the off maligned and misunderstood .33wcf - which has some interesting load offerings and ballistic capabilities

    There is not much praise because there is little proprietary interest - not a large base of owners who shoot and sparse commercially available options in variations of ammunition

    People down play it or speak ill of it out of ignorance - having never owned one or loaded for one or fired one...

    Mike
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  • babun
    I Think in this case the 33wfc gives it a bump UP in price.
    No one is buying that gun to go hunt mule deer {even thro it could].
    It is rarer because of that .33 chamber.
    Couldn't guess the going price??? You need just 2 "gunnuts" that want that rifle and away you go!!

    Good luck
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  • mrmike08075
    The shotgun style stock with the Bakelite / hard resin buttplate

    The 24" medium profile bbl and half length magazine tube

    The .33 wcf clambering in a take-down variant

    The sights (all three components) represent a special order configuration from the factory that is not often encountered

    The plain and unadorned walnut furniture and case hardened receiver

    I have been told and research has verified that the .33 wcf take-down with a 24" bbl sporting rifle configuration accounts for something like 1200 pieces from a total production run out of the roughly 160,000 guns manufactured by 1936

    .33 wcf was not introduced / cataloged / offered as an option until 1903 and was discontinued in January of 1935

    Case hardened receivers after 1901 were only available via special order and appear on a small fraction of guns produced afterwards

    Again this is what I can decipher and determine through research and the reference works pictured in the auction listing

    I did the best I could as a layman - and I am aware that many books are riddled with mistakes and errors and fabricated / falsified guesswork or lies

    So please be kind when pointing out any erroneous info on my data set

    I think - my opinion is that it's a relatively rare rifle

    Mike
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  • mrmike08075
    Bump - BTT

    Mike
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  • Locust Fork
    This is one GORGEOUS rifle!
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  • NeoBlackdog
    I see the names of a couple of forum users are in the hunt.
    I guess those shameless plugs really do work!
    Beautiful rifle, Mike.
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  • mrmike08075
    The way this gun was special ordered - it's configuration of options to me represents a visual juxtaposition between the rifles antique origins and the post war (WWI) appearance of many more modernized attributes and ancillary items used for adornments or performance enhancers

    Some seem surprised to see this platform with micrometer adjustable peep sights from the factory - yet such as advances had long ago been incorporated into other military arms like the SMLE or Ross or Swedish Mauser target variant / Schmidt Rubin K31 target variant

    And while still not commonly encountered such items were available on many commercial platforms

    It looks right and feels right and balances right and points right and fits / mounts right

    The interrupted locking thread system that allows one to take the rifle down into disperse constituent elements with ease - the feel and sound when the oversized / overbuilt action is worked - silky smooth perfect fitment yet noticeably strong and heavy at the same time

    It's a magic piece - a talisman imbued with special energy - with its own aura and sense of history and destiny

    Mike
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