Well, here are some photos of the latest additions to my Winchester family. I would like to say they were a Christmas gift, but I’m not that lucky! They are the result of a lot of OT hours, saving, and selling a few others. I originally purchased these two from the US a couple months ago, and had them imported up here to Canada. That process takes time, but sometimes it is worth it depending on what you are looking for. Man, I tell yah, when they showed up at my front door on the morning of December 31st, you wouldn’t have known Christmas was the week before! .
Anyway, as some of you know, I collect Winchester 1894s. That also includes it siblings, the Model 55, as well as Model 64. These two rifles are both nice additions to my 1894 extended family. Here are some details and info on both rifles. Bear with me, I did my best with the photos, the rifles are far better in person. The only way I could have gotten better photos would have been to leave the front door open to get some more light, but given it is -16 degrees this afternoon, I did the best with what I could.
1. The first in a Winchester Model 1894 Take Down rifle in caliber 32 Special. According to the Cody records, this rifle was serialized on August 8, 1905 and was shipped out of the warehouse on September 19, 1905. The rifle has the standard full length 26" octagon barrel, full magtube and cresecent butt. It also wears the 32 Special Smokeless sight. The rifle is in exceptional condition, and retains much of its case color on the lever, hammer, etc. Like many TD rifles, this one was also fitted with extra grain wood. The bore in the rifle is mint – as it should be for a gun in this condition. It is getting harder and harder to find old lever guns with this kind of case color left – esp up here – it was easily worn off. This gun obviously did not see much use in the field.
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2. Now, this is the pride of my collection. This is a Winchester Model 55 Takedown Rifle in 30WCF caliber. As per Bert’s recent article in the Winchester Collector, Winchester introduced the Model 55 in June 1924 (simultaneously with the Model 53). This brand new variant of the Model 94 was apparently introduced to fill the gap between the standard Model 94 Sporting Rifle with its 26" barrel and the Standard Carbine with its 20" barrel. It is basically a lightweight version of the Model 1894 / 94. As per the 1925 catalog: "A new Sporting Rifle for deer and similar game that embodies the simple, dependable action of the Winchester Model 94 in an especially lightweight arm. It combines graceful lines and perfect balance with smooth, reliable operation. The Model 55 has a 24" round barrel of nickel steel, having a graceful taper that, with the tapering forearm and a shot-gun stock of correct size, proportioned to the whole arm, produces a rifle of remarkable refinement of line." Just over 20,000 Model 55s were manufactured. Now, what makes this gun the pride of my collection is that this is a deluxe model which was also factory engraved and carved. An engraved / carved Model 55 is an extremely rare rifle, with only a few known. This is possibly the only one with these specific combination of styles of engraving and wood carving. According to the PRR, this rifle was serialized on March 17, 1925. The receiver is engraved in a slightly modified #2 pattern consisting of a standing whitetail buck & doe in a mountain meadow on the left side and a walking bull moose on right side. The wood appears to be 2X American walnut, and it is carved with Winchester B style carving. I won this rifle at the last JDJ auction back in October. In the description, they said it was likely engraved by Stokes, but when this gun was made in 1925, Alden ULRICH was the only engraver employed at the plant. This exact rifle is pictured on p. 290 of Winchester Engraving, Wilson (second edition) with credit to the Felix A. Bedlan Collection. Now, before Felix BEDLAN owned this rifle, it belonged to Eldon Owen of New Hampshire. Eldon, back in the day – and before Wes Adams came into collecting -had what some referred to as the finest collection of Winchesters in the US at that time. When doing a bit of research, I found this tidbit of information about Eldon on another website. Now, I cannot vouch for the veracity of the story, but I can see it:

"I heard this story once and thought it worth repeating…Eldon Owens had a famous gun collection. Some fine Winchesters in it. A Winchester collector was visiting Eldon’s home in NH. There was a Winchester rifle the collector wanted very badly, that Eldon owned. Eldon didn’t want to sell…
Wincoll: I’ll start counting out 100$ bills on the table for the purchase of that rifle…you tell me when to stop.
Eldon: Did you come alone?
Win coll: yes
Eldon: One man couldn’t carry that many 100$ bills."

Like I said, not sure if it is true, but thought it was kinda funny. Eldon loved his old Winchesters, and had no need of money. Anyway, Eldon’s collection went to auction in 2004 after he passed. The rifle before I most recently acquired it, was part of the Wes Adams collection. Anyway, I put in the right bid and got lucky. The condition of this rifle is very fine, and I am very happy to be the latest caretaker of such a fine rifle. You just don’t see too many guns like this in Canada, so I am very happy with be the new owner.
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Again, the photos don’t do these rifles the credit they deserve, but I was anxious to get some photos done and share with others who enjoy the old world craftsmanship and pride these old guns exhibit.

Matt