Here’s one that warrants some discussion, It letters as follows: mod. 1886 ser#130772 Ser# app. date not avail., type rifle, cal. 40-65, bbl. type round, trig. plain,To Russ :Yes, June 14, 1910- carbine, 45-70 cal. rec’vd July 05 1904, shipped June 15, 1910. order #260895. I am anxious to hear the speculation on the dates on this one. It sat around somewhere for 6 years, sent back and changed to a s.r.c. then shipped the following day. One just has to wonder if it was hiding out somewhere in the warehouse for 6 years. Oh yea it is a pretty nice carbine.
W.A.C.A. life member, Marlin Collectors Assn. charter and life member, C,S.S.A. member and general gun nut.
I did see this – and didn’t have any explanation. Sometimes I wonder if rifles got stuffed away somewhere and were discovered later? Or, was there some sort of holding area where they sat until some use emerged? But why would a standard .40-65 rifle have to sit around for six years? The .40-65 chambering was fairly common – they didn’t have orders for round barreled .40-65 rifles? It’s certainly inefficient to take a completed rifle, disassemble it, and then reassemble it in another configuration.
November 7, 2015

I’ll offer up the explanation that comes to the mind of someone who’s spent decades in a warehouse, Steve. I suspect that when a rifle was sent to the warehouse it was assigned a location code. I suspect the warehouse was quite large and would need some type of location system. Let’s say it was placed in “123A”. Somehow the location “23A” was recorded and each time someone went to look for it to ship it they didn’t find it so another was shipped instead. One day a physical inventory is conducted or someone happens to notice that it was in the wrong place. Then the rifle is moved to the correct location or the location is corrected. Now the rifle can be located and shipped.
Mike
TXGunNut said
I’ll offer up the explanation that comes to the mind of someone who’s spent decades in a warehouse, Steve. I suspect that when a rifle was sent to the warehouse it was assigned a location code. I suspect the warehouse was quite large and would need some type of location system. Let’s say it was placed in “123A”. Somehow the location “23A” was recorded and each time someone went to look for it to ship it they didn’t find it so another was shipped instead. One day a physical inventory is conducted or someone happens to notice that it was in the wrong place. Then the rifle is moved to the correct location or the location is corrected. Now the rifle can be located and shipped.
Mike
Mike –
I appreciate your thoughts. Certainly a plausible explanation. Winchester has a very large plant. Lots to keep track of.
It’s still hard to fathom the notion that after 6 years they would take a perfectly good rifle, remanufacture it to a carbine in order to ship it, unless they had an order for a carbine but didn’t have any immediately available.
W.A.C.A. life member, Marlin Collectors Assn. charter and life member, C,S.S.A. member and general gun nut.
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