Trying to find out when the hammers with the “widow’s peak” were used on 1886 Winchesters.  According to Pirkle he appears to think they never existed.  According to Madis they must also not have existed, though he shows a photo of one and then only talks about the knurling pattern as being the first type used in early production. 

Based on 1892 and 1894 models, one would think that the hammers with said “widows peaks” were only used in early models, or possibly only from 1892 on, and only for a short time.  I checked all the “antique” listings on Mertz and found 4 examples:  one with SN 8,xxx, one with 87,xxx and 2 with 11x,xxx.  Only 2 of 4 fit my “early after 1892” theory.  I checked my own rifles, and found 1 with SN 108,xxx.

I find it hard to believe that Winchester would have made a batch of this style of hammer and then only used a handful every few years.  Based on my very limited survey, 1 in 1887, 1 in 1894, 2 in 1896 and 1 in 1898, while the rest in this sample had second or third style hammers.  Perhaps it is more likely that there are an awful lot of swapped parts on 19th Century Winchesters.