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I recently picked up my first Winder Musket and while it’s a little rough, I very happy to now own my first high wall. I apologize upfront for all my questions, but the Winder is something very new to me and I’m interested in learning what I can about this rifle. This Winder has a Model 52 barrel installed and while I assume that it wasn’t original to the gun, I’m curious if there is any reason to believe that Winchester would have been the one to rebarrel this Winder? As a side note, I purchased this at my local Cabelas and they had it labeled as a Model 52. When I mentioned to them that it was an 1885 High Wall they told me that they had to sell it based on what was stamped in the steel. The receiver on my rifle has a flat top and I was curious if that was standard on the 2nd variation Winders which I believe my gun is? The serial number on my gun is 117244 and the last two digits, 44, are very lightly stamped, is that typical? The rifle came with an old Marbles M3 Flexible sight which I know isn’t correct for this rifle and added another hole to the upper tang, but I like the sight and think it’s pretty cool. I had it at the range today and while it was pouring rain, the gun did well with some CCI std vel. I had on hand and I’ve included a picture of my target shot at 50 yards. I noticed that the trigger had no creep at all and just had a nice clean break at around 4 lbs and I was curious if this was typical for a Winder. I’ve included several pictures and would appreciate any information or comments people might have on my new Winder.
Thanks,
Mike
Online
Hello Mike,
Your Single Shot is a 2nd Variation Winder Musket that was manufactured in the year 1916. The barrel is not original to the gun. Further, somebody other than Winchester filed/ground the top of the frame ring flat, and then reblued the receiver frame. The lightly stamped “44” digits on the end of the serial number was caused by them being subjected to a buffing wheel prior to being reblued. The trigger on your Winder Musket is typical of most of them.
Bert
WACA Historian & Board of Director Member #6571L
This Winder has a Model 52 barrel installed and while I assume that it wasn’t original to the gun, I’m curious if there is any reason to believe that Winchester would have been the one to rebarrel this Winder? Mike MV said
You’ll find 52 brls installed on all kinds of rebuilt & customized .22s because they were the most commonly available match-quality .22 brls during the time they were in production. I once had a very nice Low-wall with a 52 brl built by M. S. Risley that I now regret trading, when I was too ignorant to appreciate properly fine custom guns. Probably the original brl of this gun was ruined by corrosive ammo.
Thanks Bert and Clarence for your responses and clearing up the questions I had. This Winder will be a fun retirement gun smithing project and I think with a little more work finding out what 22 ammo this Winder likes, I’ll have another very accurate gun to shoot at the cowboy silhouette matches at my local club. Thanks again!
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