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July 16, 2013
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Has anyone seen or heard about winchester marked US CAVALRY.
Iremember seeing one such marked about 50yrs ago. the marking was on the frame from memory
May 2, 2009
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Tony,
I have never come across a marking like that on a 73. I have seen U.S. stamps followed by other letters but nothing with Cavalry or Cav.
Bob
WACA Life Member--- NRA Life Member---- Cody Firearms member since 1991 Researching the Winchester 1873's
Email: [email protected]
December 9, 2002
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I never have. Not that I put myself into Bob’s category of experience. If Bob hasn’t seen it, or TR, my guess is it was done by a single person on a privately owned 73, and might not have surfaced again.
I would think, if a unit in the U.S. Cavalry had done it or had it done before it was issued, there would be others that would have surfaced, and or something written or documented to show that it wasn’t a one off piece.
Anthony
May 2, 2009
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I don’t think there was much use if at all of the 73 in the Cavalry. Not like the Colts and Springfields
Bob
WACA Life Member--- NRA Life Member---- Cody Firearms member since 1991 Researching the Winchester 1873's
Email: [email protected]
December 9, 2002
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1873man said
I don’t think there was much use if at all of the 73 in the Cavalry. Not like the Colts and Springfields
Bob
I’m in agreement Bob, as there’s a fair amount of information available involving our U.S. Cavalry, and I don’t ever remember seeing such information.
In reading past history, on the development of the Winchester Rifle, Oliver Winchester didn’t have as much luck with the U.S. Government at time trials, in showing off his wares, as John M. Browning did.
Anthony
January 20, 2023
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I don’t think OFW ever got his 1866 through a U.S. military preliminary trial successfully, although Ordnance had bought a lot of Henry ammunition during the Civil War and argument can be made that Union troops of the 7th Illinois Infantry, privately armed with Henry rifles at the Battle of Altoona Pass in 1864, should have shown the way.
It took the Turks’ slaughter of Russians with the Winchester 1866 at the Siege of Plevna to get the repeater lesson across for Euope and Asia.
At a guess, the United States was slow to follow because it was almost bankrupted by the Civil War. Blame has been placed on a recalcitrant Ordnance Department but, when you can barely afford bullets and beans, you sure as hell can’t re-equip with a new repeater that “wastes” ammunition.
The same motivation underlay General of the Army MacArthur’s order killing the proposed 7mm rifle round for the Garand M1. The United States had millions of rounds of .30 Gov’t ’06 in post Great War inventory and, for his faults, MacArthur understood Congress very well.
- Bill
WACA # 65205; life member, NRA; member, TGCA; member, TSRA; amateur preservationist
"I have seen wicked men and fools, a great many of both, and I believe they both get paid in the end, but the fools first." -- David Balfour, narrator and protagonist of the novel, Kidnapped, by Robert Louis Stevenson.
December 9, 2002
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Zebulon said,
I don’t think OFW ever got his 1866 through a U.S. military preliminary trial successfully, although Ordnance had bought a lot of Henry ammunition during the Civil War and argument can be made that Union troops of the 7th Illinois Infantry, privately armed with Henry rifles at the Battle of Altoona Pass in 1864, should have shown the way.
Precisely Zeb! “Privately Armed! 
Anthony
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