That is one of the items I have been working on.

Bob

1873man said

Bert H. said
Bob,
Is this progressive change to the bolt associated with the addition of the "A" and "B" serial number suffix?
Bert
  

The change happened before the A showed up.
Bob
  

Bob,

Do we know the said significance of the, "A", and, "B"? From all I've ever seen or read, I haven't seen anything indicating any mechanism changes that I'm aware of. Or any other change that signifies these letters, as a reference to other models.

It surely doesn't coincide with this bolt bushing we're talking about.

Tony

Springer2 said
Thank you so much for the information, Bert. That explains a lot. The breach of the barrel looks like new and just machined, not something done over 100 years ago. Also it locks up very tight but smooth--not like an old rifle. After I read your reply, I took a case I just primed and it fired fine and the primer was hit on center. Looks like whoever did the work knew what they were doing.

That is good news on the mostly correct conversion.  My guess is that the original breech block was altered/modified for the center fire pin.  Winchester drilled a vertical gas vent hole in the top of the center fire breech blocks (not present on your rifle's breech block). 

Bert

To covert from a rim fire cartridge to a center fire requires changing (or altering) the breech block and the firing pin, and changing the extractor.

Bert

Bert H. said
Bob,
Is this progressive change to the bolt associated with the addition of the "A" and "B" serial number suffix?
Bert
  

The change happened before the A showed up.

Bob

Springer2 said
Thank you all for the responses. I seen the rifle in a local ad along with some accessories and bought it. Using your serial number dater, it came up 1890. It just says 25-21 on the top of the barrel along with the Winchester markings further down barrel but no proof stamp. The bore looks very good, almost too good to be original. It looks like it shot some target as the front post sight is windage adjustable and the rear tang aperture is pretty small. Also this medium weight barrel was drilled and tapped for a target scope so I am guessing a target shooter had it. Looking forward to shooting it. 
  

If you can, send (or post) pictures of the caliber marking and the serial number. 

Bert - Win1885@msn.com

Springer2 said
Was the 1885 ever offered in 25-21? Not much information on the round so I am also looking for any load information. Thanks
  

Yes it was, but just (95) rifles (nearly all low-walls) were manufactured.  You can use the 25-20 S.S. load data.

Bert

1873man said
I have narrowed it down to 28,000 to 31,000. The problem without looking at the guns themselves is most online photos don't show the bolt face when selling a gun.
Bob
  

Bob,

That's pretty significant, in all reality. I agree, as it's pretty hard to determine from most of the pictures we see!

Bert H. said
Bob,
Is this progressive change to the bolt associated with the addition of the "A" and "B" serial number suffix?
Bert

Bert,

From Gordon's book, that most of us refer to unless Bob has found out different through his works and surveys,  he states that around serial number, 79,000-182,000, we can see an, "A", follow, and around 179,000, and up, a "B", will follow.

Tony

Is this progressive change to the bolt associated with the addition of the "A" and "B" serial number suffix?

Bert