Winter 2023 • WINCHESTERCOLLECTOR.ORG | 19 Like the Model 55, there was just one style of butt plate available. The Model 64 used a checkeredsteel shotgun butt plate with a smooth, diamond-shaped surface surrounding the screw holes and an inletted widow’s peak at the top. This exact same style of butt plate was first used on the Model 1887 lever-action shotguns and the Model 1897 slide-action shotguns. In later years, it was adopted for use on the late production Model 54 bolt-action rifles, the Model 65 and Model 71 lever-action rifles, and the Model 70 bolt-action rifles. I do not know if the butt plates are interchangeable between any of the models mentioned, but I suspect that to some degree, they are. Beginning in August of 1933, a 20-inch barrel was offered for both the standard Sporting Rifle and Deer Rifle variations. It did not take long before the shooting public began referring to them as “Carbines,” though Winchester never officially did so. The 20inch barreled Sporting Rifle and Deer Rifle variants are much less frequently encountered than the standard 24-inch barreled Sporting and Deer Rifles, and accordingly, they typically sell for a substantial premium price when found today. For the remainder of this article, I will colloquially refer to them as a “Carbine” or a “Deluxe Carbine.” As shown in the 1946 catalog at right, the 20-inch barreled rifle variations were priced exactly the same as the 24-inch barreled rifles. The Winchester checkered-steel butt plate as used on the Model 64
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