Mark W. said
Interesting I had never seen wear like that on the forestock. I find it interesting that Saddle horn would have done that I doubt I ever would have thought of that if left on my own with an example of that.

Just goes to show you read the nuggets here you leave with some gold.

Usually the wear is at the center of balance on the weapon from where it rested on the pommel/swell/fork of the saddle right in front of the rider’s crotch, and not so much on the horn itself. I’ve never seen so much wear as on this gun, nor as far forward.

I like the look of a well used Winchester and that one has been around the horn (no pun intended).

"Road King" said
I guess nobody can say for sure the wear was from a saddle carry. I just sort of guessed at this as compared to a photo I seen in Madis’s book showing a gun in the back of the book with similar wear that was identified as saddle wear. The damage is all very smooth including the mag tube is all very consistent. Maybe it was carried some other way to cause the wear but it is for sure real wear.
Anybody else care to guess or really does it matter. ❓

This is a wild guess, but maybe it was shot a lot in target practice over many years by the same person from the same position, over a log or something.

Generally you see the saddle wear right in front of the receiver on rifles. Carbines have a center of balance on the receiver itself.

It does look like honest wear, I just don’t know from what. Either way, I like these better than the new in box look.

Edited to add:, Or maybe it road in a chuck wagon or buck board in a certain position for many years. That would certainly do it.

OK to think about this a bit. We have the point that the wear is not at or near the balance point as it would be if caused by a saddle horn.

The wear to the fore stock appears to be consistent with what would be caused by a rifle rack in a vehicle over a long period of time.

There does not appear to be any matching wear on the butt stock as there would be if it was a rifle rack in the common sense (two straps with strap hooks running vertical in a vehicle cab)

There is what appears to be both water and physical wear to the area of the butt stock area. Wear that could be from objects rubbing against it and weather hitting it while in a scabbard. But a rifle scabbard is typically behind the riders leg making that kind of physical wear kind of hard to imagine.

So what if we think the rifle was held in some sort of vertical mount where the butt fit in more of a cup like shape and there was some sort of loose fitting loop or strap that went around the forestock?

just ideas for the debate.

Mark W. said
OH I like the idea of the other rack "hook" going through the lever. but then wouldn’t the wear be more consistent with the length of the opening in the lever? Granted there could have been multiple gun rack with various spacing over the year.

You are correct. I figured maybe the fore arm holder was random and loose, like a loop or wire or something, put on different each time. But I like the other ideas better, about a tractor or cat or something. Not too sod busting in Western Canada but it could be a trapper’s carbine and that wear is from the butt being on the floor board of a snow machine with the fore arm resting against the steering handles which turn left and right (which would be up and down) on the fore arm as the guy zips across the snow.

I think it was a trappers gun on a snow mobile in the winter.