Nevada Paul said
Very nice 53, Burt.  This is the sort of thing I couldn’t easily walk away from in a gun show!

  

NP – here is a 55 that will stop you in your tracks-

Burt Humphrey said

Zebulon said

RickC said

Thanks Steve. Really like the high condition standard guns. More affordable. 

  

That Model 53 is in wonderful condition. While engraved and plated special order guns are fun to look at, we expect them to have been kept pristine as would the owmers of an original Charlie Russell oil.

it’s the field grade Winchesters like yours that are truly rare and fascinating.  All but a very few of the surviving examples were used hard and cannot show us what they looked like when new. Yours can and do, which is important to a continued understanding of the brand and its impact on American history.

  

Here is a 53 standard grade gun – has flaked a touch but still has a lot of condition for a 53 – it has the difficult to find take-down frame and in caliber 44-40. I bought the gun in the 70’s.

  

Very nice indeed. And it teaches me something I should have known but didn’t – that the Model 53 was available in 44 WCF.  I’ve always viewed it as the predecessor to the Model 65 and assumed it was chambered for the 32/20 and 25/20.