Winchester 1886 made in 1905

[Jessesky]

Hey guys,

Picked up this 1886 at auction. I’m too eager to wait for the rifle to get here in the mail, so the photos are from the auction. I’ll add better ones when the rifle is in hand.

I wanted some input. The barrel is 20” and octagonal in 45-70. I know Winchester made these in 20” versions but they were all special order. And the shortest production gun was the “light rifle” made with a 22” round barrel in 33wcf. It looks to be the original crown and I don’t think it was altered to be that short based on the mag tube, sight blade location, tube plug etc. Any thoughts? Ideas as to worth? I know value is dependent on condition. It has some surface rust on the left of the receiver that looks like it’ll wipe off and an average bore.

 

[kcofohio]

Congrats! Looks to be in good shape for a 110+ year old rifle.

 

[Charlie98]

Big Bore Trapper!!! The Socom16 of the lever-gun era...

Nice catch... make sure you keep us updated with any historical info you come up with, it's an interesting rifle for sure.

 

[Jessesky]

Alright, rifle finally in hand. Here are some pics I took. I’m looking at the crown, the sight dovetail, and the hanger cuts to see if this is a factory 20” or a chop job. Either way for $1300 I don’t think I did bad. The 20” special order would be quite valuable however.

 

[the Black Spot]

Sweet!

 

[Gordon]

who cares if it was modified, it fooled you and fooled me if it wasn't. You didn't buy it to flip it , it is a shooting caliber ! It is great gun, one of the best I've seen overall, and well into the Nitro period, not Black powder steel .

 

[Jessesky]

Put her through it’s paces today. Each round went bang and was able to make short work of bowling pins at 100yd. So far so good.

 

[HPJeep]

Look into getting a factory letter from the Cody Musuem on whether it came out that way. You got a really good deal on it.

 

[ridgerunner1965]

if that rifle could talk it would be a story worth listening to!

 

[22250Rem]

Very cool and a nice find!..... I like those 1886's ever since a friend got one in 33 WCF about 10 years ago. Sounds like it shoots good as well; like my friends does also, and the time I fired some rounds through his I was impressed by the offhand accuracy I was getting with a rifle that I had zero experience with.

 

[Riomouse911]

Nice!

Like the other poster said, you have a real sweet shooter in a readily available caliber. That's a double win in my book.

Even if it is a cut down gun it sure looks good to me!

Have fun with it, and stay safe.