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January 28, 2016
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Anybody know the meaning of these marks in the end of the buttstock under buttplate of an 1885 low
all?
April 15, 2005
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Mark,
I have never encountered those markings on any other Model 1885, and I am relatively sure that they were not stamped by anyone associated with Winchester. I suspect that a previous owner stamped them for an unknown reason.
Bert
WACA Historian & Board of Director Member #6571L
January 28, 2016
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Sure look like a factory stamping. Im sure someone else on here surely has. Thanks though bert!
September 22, 2011
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Certainly doesn’t look factory to me. Very easy to stamp miscellaneous markings into wood.
November 1, 2013
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But why thrice?
April 15, 2005
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clarence said
But why thrice?
There is no real answer for that question. That stated, I am 99.99% positive that those markings are not of Winchester factory origin. Over the past 40-years, I have examined many hundred of Model 1885 rifles, and never encountered any similar markings in that (or any other) location. As those that are familiar with the Model 1885 know, Winchester was not shy about marking the bottom of the barrels with various hieroglyphics, and the lower tangs saw a lot of traffic as well. The end grain of the butt stocks was very rarely ever marked with anything other than an assembly number (that is the same number marked on a matching special order butt plate).
Bert
WACA Historian & Board of Director Member #6571L
