1907 & 1910 SL question|Winchester Rifles|Forum|Winchester Collector

Steven Gabrielli said
Did either of these rifles come from the factory drilled and tapped, either on the receiver or for tang sights?

Thx.

Steve G

  

Steve,  This is not the Last Word but the early deluxe 1907 I once owned, fancy burl Walnut, fine H pattern checkering, capped pistol grip…wore a tang sight so I am pretty sure it was a factory option.  The late Fifties 1907 I still own is in the far back of the safe but I’ll check it in the next several days and see. I seem to remember the left receiver wall is d/t but rhat could a false memory.

Bill

Mine is an end-of-the-bolt “police rifle” style, likely built of remaining pre war parts, the style seen in the Gun Digest of the mid Fifties. I don’t think WRA made up new parts for the 1907 after WWII. I recall reading the recommendations of the Forward Planning Committee made  near the end of the war to discontinue the Model 07 after parts inventories were used up. 

Nevertheless, and I’m hesitant to contradict Madis, I don’t believe the tang of my 07 is tapped for a tang sight. I am going to check in the next couple of days. 

Bert H. said
The Model 07 was in production for at least 5-6 years beyond WW II. The pre-WW II production rifles were drilled & tapped for a tang sight, but not the post-WW II.

Never be hesitant to contradict or question the production information published by G. Madis… based on my research of the factory records, much of what he published in regard to the dates of manufacture and the production number statistics was not accurate.

Bert

  

While I know the 07 was catalogued and, at least technically, “in production” until around 1957, I’m not certain much of it was actually made during the postwar period.  That is, I don’t think new major components like the receiver, barrel, stock, were being tooled up for and milled.  I had thought, perhaps wrongly, there were substantial inventories of components manufactured and binned pre-WWII that needed to be consumed by making up into finished rifles postwar, with no intent to continue the model afterward. According to Fjestad, the ending serial for 1948 was 49,054 and the ending serial for 1957 was 58,486, the total guns made up and serialized 1949-1957 being only 9,432 for the entire 9 years.  I would bet a stale donut the major components for those 9,432 rifles were manufactured before Hiroshima. 

I put the foregoing assertion out so members with superior (and it wouldn’t take much) knowledge of the 1907 will educate me, if I have erred. 

My own last 1907 is serial 51,116, putting it into the 1948-57 range.  It has the later, hooked fingerpiece on its charging rod, the takedown latch screw lacks the earlier detent pedal, and it has the wide magazine release. Its stock is the thicker, heavier version I believe was originally created for the Police Rifle, a wide, serrated steel buttplate suitable for butt-stroking, sling swivels, and the thicker semi-beavertail forearm (which had developed a hairline crack anyway.) Neither the tang nor the receiver wall are tapped for tang or receiver sights.  It came with several factory magazines, including two 10 rounders.

For a longtime Auto-Five user, cracked forearms hold no terror and a line of epoxy on the inletting side of the crack (after channeling it with a v-tool to create a wider gluing surface), reinforced with a couple of epoxy soaked patches, repaired the forearm. Several small applications of Tru-Oil along the exterior line of the crack, each allowed to cure and be rubbed out, blended with the lacquer finish and turned the now-subtle dueling scar into a source of stories about the gun’s history. For some future owner, of course.  The rifle only lacks a branded “TDC” and a property number on the face of its pistol grip to make me completely pleased with it.