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April 30, 2023
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steve004 said
I’m surprised they didn’t put new wood on it.
It wood have been “too much” 😎
November 7, 2015
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New barrel, tung oil refreshed finish and suspect serial number…beginning to look like a clone. Too much variation in condition for one rifle. I’d like to see that butt stock naked, something not right. New wood properly fitted would have been a good idea.
Mike
November 27, 2013
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Just for fun, I recently had the pleasure of taking an honest 50-100-450 to the range. Mark
November 7, 2015
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Mark-
From the photos of the subject rifle do you have an opinion whether it will load and feed the big 50?
Mike
November 27, 2013
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TXGunNut said
Mark-
From the photos of the subject rifle do you have an opinion whether it will load and feed the big 50?
Mike
Mike,
It’s difficult to say from looking at the pictures and not being able to examine the rifle and cycle rounds through it. Pics 56,57 & 58 offer the best view into the receiver. The left cartridge guide looks like it’s been thinned properly to allow room for the cartridge to clear, but we can’t see the right cartridge guide to see if it’s been thinned. We also can’t see the back half of the carrier to see if it’s been properly “opened up” to accept the larger diameter 50 caliber cartridge.
The magazine follower certainly looks like it protrudes farther into the receiver than normal. Of course, there are a whole series of modifications that have to be made in the lower half of the receiver and magazine to allow the 50 caliber cartridge to be loaded into the mag tube. Going too far with these mods could allow that follower to sit further into the receiver. If it protrudes too far, the carrier won’t be able to clear the follower and it won’t be able to cycle. I can’t tell whether that would be the case with this rifle or not.
Lastly, the chamfer on the bottom of the breech end of the barrel has to be smoothed and polished to get the 50 caliber cartridge to chamber. It appears that this one has been taken further than on original 50 caliber rifles I’ve seen and the rim cut at the bottom of the breach has been completely polished out. I wouldn’t say definitively without examining the rifle in person, but I’d be very surprised if the work done to make this 50 caliber 1886 function was done by Winchester. Mark
April 15, 2005
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Mark,
The Single Shot rifle was factory chambered for a larger cartridge… the 577 Eley. In total (11) of them. Most of them also went to India for large & dangerous critters.
To provide a visual, the attached picture shows a 577 Eley cartridge alongside a 50-110 Ex and a 50-95 WCF (from my personal cartridge collection);
Bert
WACA Historian & Board of Director Member #6571L
If you want to see an 1886 in 50-100-450 that has NOT been restored, Mark posted a nice video on mine a couple of weeks ago. Nothing on mine has been changed since I bought it in 1967. Here’s Mark’s video. Fred. Oops! I see Mark beat me to it!
t=2s
April 1, 2005
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mrcvs said
Mark Douglas said
I’m in agreement with Rick and Bill.
In addition to having gone through a recent mediocre restoration, retaining 0% original finish and having a new barrel installed, the serial number appears to have been hand stamped with an incorrect font and poor spacing. The 0, 2 and especially the 7 are quite a lot different. Winchester serial numbers from this timeframe were typically much more evenly spaced and aligned. Here’s an example of a serial number from an 1886 from the same timeframe in my collection for comparison:
It certainly raises the question of whether or not this was the original serial number applied to this tang. Mark
Now that you point that out…
Makes me suspect the rifle was created to match the letter.
In additon to the issues noted by Mark regarding the serial number stamping, the caliber stamping is far too pronounced – looks like it was done yesterday. I think Lan’s comment about building a gun to match a letter might be spot-on. The big 50’s are rare – only 331 made. Anyone interested in them should read the article written by Jim Paul (now decerased) and Tom Adams for the summer 2012 edition of the Collector magazine.
If one were to “create” a rifle to match a letter, would it not destroy a seller’s reputation beyond repair if the original surfaced? Seems like you’d have to be pretty certain the original would never surface. Just sayin’.
November 7, 2015
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[email protected] said
If one were to “create” a rifle to match a letter, would it not destroy a seller’s reputation beyond repair if the original surfaced? Seems like you’d have to be pretty certain the original would never surface. Just sayin’.
This particular seller may not be aware of the issues noted in the above posts. I don’t know if this rifle is in Madl’s survey.
Mike
May 23, 2009
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The sellers GB auction reminds me of this movie scene.
WACA #8783 - Checkout my Reloading Tool Survey!
https://winchestercollector.org/forum/winchester-research-surveys/winchester-reloading-tool-survey/
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