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Yard sale old Winchester Help Pictures
beltfed
Member Posts: 690 ✭✭✭
Hello Ya'll
Was out yard sailing talking to this guy and he pulls this winchester out. 1873, if I am correct. It is stamped 44 cal on the bottom brass piece. The barrel is 24 inches long. The serial number is 2482xxB. The bore is really good maybe a couple small pitts. Am I wrong to assume its a 44-40 cal? Also, can someone please ball park me to what it might be worth in this condition? Also up near the the rear sight there are a couple of proof marks and the number 420.
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Was out yard sailing talking to this guy and he pulls this winchester out. 1873, if I am correct. It is stamped 44 cal on the bottom brass piece. The barrel is 24 inches long. The serial number is 2482xxB. The bore is really good maybe a couple small pitts. Am I wrong to assume its a 44-40 cal? Also, can someone please ball park me to what it might be worth in this condition? Also up near the the rear sight there are a couple of proof marks and the number 420.
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Comments
Pro:
It is all there - a lot of them have lost their dust covers and sight elevators over the years.
It has a round barrel, which was less expensive than octagon but is less common. Apparently most customers thought the appearance and balance of the octagon was worth the price. I don't know how that affects current interest and value, though. Probably not much.
Con:
No finish and a good deal of rust.
I won't guess a dollar value; there are a lot of these old brown guns going begging at what sellers think they are worth because they apparently can read only the left hand column in Blue Book.
Very nice find. Hope you were able to acquire that for a song and dance. I would love to see some close up pictures of the markings on the rifle, with your camera in the Macro mode. It looks like a true and honestly used old 1873. Like Hawk, and Perry suggested, it is no where near any high condition. If it has a decent bore, and yeilds to be a good shooter, that is awesome, as it is not a collector piece. I am sure that Bert will be along to give his insight as well.
Best
WACA Historian & Life Member
Bert - How common was the "shotgun butt" on the Model 1873?
I do not have that information (yet). Based on what I see, they were not a common special order item on the Model 1873, and I suspect that maybe as few as 0.5% (one-half of a percent) may have been made.
WACA Historian & Life Member
By today's standards I have a pretty close to virgin Model-73, .44-40 with a 26 inch octagonal barrel. My father (RIP) bought the rifle back in 1948 or 1949 for the princely sum of $300. Mother was supremely POed [:(!][:(!][:(!] at him for two weeks. The $300 was a ton of money back in those days. But dad new what he wanted and he just laid his ears back like a naughy dog and rode out the verbal abuse and lightening bolts until the storm blew over. It is a beautiful rile, and the butt stock has a certain amount of tiger stripes in it.