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July 31, 2005
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Interesting story about this 1882 vintage Model 1873 rifle found in Great Basin National Park, Nevada
I call myself a collector as it sounds better than hoarder
I remember this story when it came out several years ago. A lot of speculation as to how the rifle got there. Some believe the owner was hunting with it and when he packed out his kill he forgot the rifle.
April 15, 2005
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I believe that the subject rifle is currently on display at the Cody Firearms Museum.
Bert
WACA Historian & Board of Director Member #6571L
November 2, 2009
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It may be on loan to the Cody museum, but it will be on permient display at the Great Basin National Park museum in Delta, Utah.
March 21, 2016
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Great story, I remember reading about it several years ago. Interesting that a bullet was found lodged in the stock.
As been said many times, only if firearms could talk! This one may have an interest story to tell.
Winchester Model 1873 44-40 circa 1886
February 3, 2019
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Finding anything out of the ordinary is fun. A few years ago a guy had a winchester at the swap meet for sale. The stock was barely there. But it was a old lever gun he found under a tree near tombstone. I almost bougbt it for 100 bucks. It may have been worth it to someone but I didn’t know enough about these things to take a chance.
My src was found in a wall of a house that was demo’d in tombstone. It doesn’t add any real value, just a interesting story to a 110 year old gun. No reason not to believe the seller, he told me he bougbt it at a yard sale in tombstone for 30 bucks the day before and was happy to triple his money (I paid $100) at the antique swap meet.
If your average hiker found that rifle, I think it would have just been picked up and nobody would have ever heard about it. Jim
December 19, 2006
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My wife and I took an early Spring break this year and stopped in at the visitors center at the Great Basin National Park in eastern Nevada on April 4th and the Forgotten M1873 rifle was on display then. She took a couple pictures with her cell phone. Not the best but here’s 2 pictures of the gun and 1 of the description below the rifle.
The rifle was found November 2014 leaning against a juniper tree. There was a forest fire in the area where it was found in 2016.
Pretty amazing.
Jolly
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January 19, 2017
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Kevin Jones said
Great story, I remember reading about it several years ago. Interesting that a bullet was found lodged in the stock.
I too remember when the story first came out. I’ve never heard about the bullet found lodged in the stock. If true, that certainly adds a whole new level of mystery to the story and gets my imagination running.
I’ve spent a great deal of time in that type of county, hiking remote and alone. Coming upon something like that has always been a fantasy. No luck yet. 
I would be beside myself.
Another fantasy is finding a cave with a crate of NIB Winchester 1873s and another of Colt SAAs. 
January 19, 2006
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Here’s Ms. Hlebinsky from CFM talking about said rifle, including finding the round in the stock with X-ray.
Steve
WACA Member. CFM Member. NRA Lifer.
December 14, 2009
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Could the “bullet lodged in the stock” not be referring to a complete cartridge in the cleaning rod tube. jolly bill’s photo of the placard seems to indicate that a complete .44-40 UMC cartridge was “inside the stock”. I don’t have my 1873 to see if a .44-40 will fit in the cleaning rod space but I seem to think that it would.
When I lived and worked as a game warden in the area west of Sudbury Ontario I recall that a hunter found a fur trade era musket in a small cave that has been there for many years and another hunter found a M1 Garand that was rusted from being outside for decades. How they got there remains a mystery also.
As an aside I imagine that almost every game warden has found a “lost gun” in their career. With the help of my K9 companions I located many such abandoned firearms left by those who didn’t want to be caught without a licence to hunt etc. although I doubt this was the case with the ’73.
January 19, 2006
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Dave K. said
Could the “bullet lodged in the stock” not be referring to a complete cartridge in the cleaning rod tube.
Looks that way. In the video she says the “bullet was embedded in the stock through the trap.” I assume she is referring to the cleaning rod trapdoor.
Steve
WACA Member. CFM Member. NRA Lifer.
December 19, 2006
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supergimp said
Dave K. said
Could the “bullet lodged in the stock” not be referring to a complete cartridge in the cleaning rod tube.Looks that way. In the video she says the “bullet was embedded in the stock through the trap.” I assume she is referring to the cleaning rod trapdoor.
Steve
Yes, it was a complete unfired .44-40 round with a U.M.C. head stamp. It was pretty much all the way forward in the cleaning rod compartment. The museum at Cody found it via an x-ray.
January 19, 2017
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When I saw the video and the missing elevator, I think I recall reading the rifle was probably used “single shot” and that was apparently not uncommon in those days with broken guns?
July 31, 2005
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I was thinking this might be an Indian rifle, possibly Goshute, Paiute or Western Shoshone. A missing elevator would not stop it from being used for hunting.
I call myself a collector as it sounds better than hoarder
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