1886 pictures |Winchester Rifles|Forum|Winchester Collector

TR said
  The receiver and butt stock have the rounded corners as the upper tang comes back, this is a later style than serial number 8855.  Your receiver has the end of the carrier spring screw visible on the top of the tang like the early style. I’m confused. What type of lever latch does it have? Is it the round button on the side or the new style on the front? T/R 
  

Thank you for looking sir. I’m no expert for sure. Dose this help.

EWMN said.   How accurate do you think this is.

EWMN said

TR said
  The receiver and butt stock have the rounded corners as the upper tang comes back, this is a later style than serial number 8855.  Your receiver has the end of the carrier spring screw visible on the top of the tang like the early style. I’m confused. What type of lever latch does it have? Is it the round button on the side or the new style on the front? T/R 
  

Thank you for looking sir. I’m no expert for sure. Dose this help.
  

EWMN said

TR said
  The receiver and butt stock have the rounded corners as the upper tang comes back, this is a later style than serial number 8855.  Your receiver has the end of the carrier spring screw visible on the top of the tang like the early style. I’m confused. What type of lever latch does it have? Is it the round button on the side or the new style on the front? T/R 
  

Thank you for looking sir. I’m no expert for sure. Dose this help.
  

Sorry for the picture overload, I’m new here and still learning my way around.
  

cj57 said
Congrats! A pretty nice early model in a good caliber. 
  

Thank you

TR said

EWMN said

EWMN said.   How accurate do you think this is.

EWMN said

TR said
  The receiver and butt stock have the rounded corners as the upper tang comes back, this is a later style than serial number 8855.  Your receiver has the end of the carrier spring screw visible on the top of the tang like the early style. I’m confused. What type of lever latch does it have? Is it the round button on the side or the new style on the front? T/R 
  

Thank you for looking sir. I’m no expert for sure. Dose this help.
  

EWMN said

TR said
  The receiver and butt stock have the rounded corners as the upper tang comes back, this is a later style than serial number 8855.  Your receiver has the end of the carrier spring screw visible on the top of the tang like the early style. I’m confused. What type of lever latch does it have? Is it the round button on the side or the new style on the front? T/R 
  

Thank you for looking sir. I’m no expert for sure. Dose this help.
  

Sorry for the picture overload, I’m new here and still learning my way around.
  

  

  Normally I would expect an 86 with the serial number 8855 to have square upper tang corners, a button lever latch on the left side of the lever, and the end of the carrier spring screw exposed on the upper tang. I only see the later. The fact that a 1886 has the serial number on the lower tang and it screws off makes me wonder if the gun was born that way.
  The 1873s and 1886s have the serial numbers on a removable part which make it easy to swap serial numbers. In the case of your rifle it might have had key parts swapped later as a return and repair or a previous owner. Perhaps Winchester used an newer receiver?  Maybe a letter will shed some light on the issue.
  But the fit of the butt stock to the lower part of the receiver and lower tang is not good. T/R
  

I see your point about the lower tang. Pretty sure you could find a few old numbered tangs if one was looking. What do you think about the lack of patent date on tang ?

TR said
 I don’t know, anything is possible in a factory. But I have seen at a National show a major dealer take a screw driver to two 86s on top of his table. In 30 minutes in his mind he had the nice one nicer and the lesser gun getting the problem parts. Both guns for sale in a hour. The nicer gun was original before he started playing Bubba. Most dealers take them home to clean, fix,ect.  An original gun is rare.
 I collect Colt Cavalry models and after the deal is right I take it apart in front of the seller, then we count money. That’s the reason I like gun shows, hands on before purchase. T/R
  

Thank you for all your observations. And I’m sure your 100% correct,  old gun get messed with over the years. I will get a letter for it and I’ll let you know what it says.

EWMN said

Chuck said

EWMN said

EWMN said

I too like colts, probably converted in 40s or 50s. 41 cal. , 
  

Converted from what to what?
  

It’s a model 1877 colt 41.Cal sa/da. Thay also had a 38 cal. And the rear 32 cal. These pistols all left colt with birdshead grips. And so point probably in the 1950s this gun was converted to saa grips. And the smith that did the work was good. It looks factory done.