Hello All,
I get a lot of emails from individuals who would like information about a particular model of Winchester. My knowledge base is very limited so if possible, I would like to establish a list of our members who have a particular area of expertise/interest. When somebody contacts me, I can then send them to the person that has the most knowledge on that particular model.
If interested, please send me a PM on your area of expertise and your email address and I will add you to the list.
Thanks Everybody!
Hmmmm… let me think about this for a moment or two.
OK, here is my list; ALL of the John M. Browning designed & patented Winchesters 😯 8)
For those who are not sure, the list includes the Models 1885/87, 1886/86, 1887, 1890/90, 1892/92, 1893, 1894/94, 1895/95, 1897/97, 1900, 1901/01, 1902, 1904/04/04A, and 1906/06. This includes all of the various sibling Models as well (e.g. 53, 55, 62, 64, 65, 71).
Now, in addition to the list above, if it was manufactured prior to WW II and it has [color=red:4744c75a15][size=18:4744c75a15]WINCHESTER[/size:4744c75a15][/color:4744c75a15] stamped on it somewhere, I have more than just a passing interest in it 🙂
Bert
WACA Historian & Board of Director Member #6571L

Bert –
Just make sure that you list all of the guns you like – I think you missed a few…
J/K
I’ll take any questions pertaining to "Cody Letters", serialization, and issues coming from current research into differences between Cody letter dating and Madis’ dating.
I’ll poke my head into other areas if I have an answer.
Dave K
I can’t offer any Winchester expertise, compared to the Winchester people here, but I’d been involved in the precision machine field, and had an interest in a machine business for many years, so I might possibly be able to do some good relative to advice regarding some of the lathe, mill, shaper, or grinding setups needed in making up small parts.
Just to throw out one idea from practical experience……there were several makers of ultra high-speed small drill presses designed for production drilling of such things as carburetter jets. One of the more common ones is a Rockwell Delta unit, which looks similar to the common Delta DP220 drill press except for its specially balanced 3450 rpm motor, and flat belt drive to the drill spindle.
At its highest spindle speed, those can be used as a practical small surface and/or radius grinder, using mounted abrasive points of the type intended for die grinders. Fixturing tiny diamond dressing points and fixturing the workpieces is sometimes challenging, to be sure, but its straight-forward.
Its quite feasible to surface grind to tenths this way, just fixturing a Tesatast or equivalent tenths-reading indicator on the quill travel.
I can’t possibly actually know, of course, but I’d tend to suspect that such machines and setups would have been a commonplace in the Winchester custom shops.
Another common practice amongst the old-timers who did the really high-grade gun work was to modify standard bench vises, such as the Columbian or Prentiss make, in which the jaws were secured by two screws running into tapped holes in the vise jaw castings.
By drilling those holes through to the outside of the vise jaws, and counterboring them to accept common Allen capscrews, it became easily possible to change jaw inserts, just as is commonly done with modern Anglock milling vises.
By making up a series of sets of jaws from steel, bronze, soft or medium hard brass, Babbitt metal, or hardwoods such as hard maple or cocobolo wood, the vise jaws could be changed in a few seconds time to a material which would firmly grip, but not mar the finish of, a highly finished part.
It was simple and straight-forward to make up jaws milled out to any shape desired, to firmly hold very irregularly shaped parts…..the barrels of a double, for example, could be held firmly but ever so carefully in suitably shaped wooden jaws, maybe even lined with soft velvet cloth to protect the high finish.
cheers
Carla
Bert H. said
Hmmmm… let me think about this for a moment or two.OK, here is my list; ALL of the John M. Browning designed & patented Winchesters 😯 8)
![]()
For those who are not sure, the list includes the Models 1885/87, 1886/86, 1887, 1890/90, 1892/92, 1893, 1894/94, 1895/95, 1897/97, 1900, 1901/01, 1902, 1904/04/04A, and 1906/06. This includes all of the various sibling Models as well (e.g. 53, 55, 62, 64, 65, 71).
Now, in addition to the list above, if it was manufactured prior to WW II and it has [color=red:b376deaa10][size=18:b376deaa10]WINCHESTER[/size:b376deaa10][/color:b376deaa10] stamped on it somewhere, I have more than just a passing interest in it 🙂
Bert
You didn’t leave anyplace for the rest of us to be "expert".
.
Bert H. said
Hmmmm… let me think about this for a moment or two.OK, here is my list; ALL of the John M. Browning designed & patented Winchesters 😯 8)
![]()
For those who are not sure, the list includes the Models 1885/87, 1886/86, 1887, 1890/90, 1892/92, 1893, 1894/94, 1895/95, 1897/97, 1900, 1901/01, 1902, 1904/04/04A, and 1906/06. This includes all of the various sibling Models as well (e.g. 53, 55, 62, 64, 65, 71).
Now, in addition to the list above, if it was manufactured prior to WW II and it has [color=red:8b2e54dee2][size=18:8b2e54dee2]WINCHESTER[/size:8b2e54dee2][/color:8b2e54dee2] stamped on it somewhere, I have more than just a passing interest in it 🙂
Bert
You didn’t leave anyplace for the rest of us to be "expert".
.
Not true… you can have the Models 1903, 1905, 1907, 1910, 1911, 1912, 20, 41, 42, 54, 61, 63, and 70.
WACA Historian & Board of Director Member #6571L
Bert H. said
You didn’t leave anyplace for the rest of us to be "expert"..
Not true… you can have the Models 1903, 1905, 1907, 1910, 1911, 1912, 20, 41, 42, 54, 61, 63, and 70.
I am absolutely amazed!!! I did not know that Winchester EVER made anything without a LEVER. Can anyone else confirm this? Oh well, I guess it’s back to the books for me.
.

May I humbly add my name to the list for the folks looking for help with the Pre- 64’s in the model 70’s. I can be of some help with the model 54’s as well.
My interest in them only goes back to when they were still in production and I could not get enough of them. The only change in that today is, I still can’t get enough of them.
I don’t know everything there is to know about them (thank goodness) or I would have lost interest in them long ago.
Thanks Wayne for this idea and making the list, it’s a great idea. I have a good bit of general all around WRACO lever action knowledge and will always help a fellow collector. I also have a fair bit of knowledge with WRACO ammo collecting, so if anyone inquires about WRACO ammo or ammo box collecting, I have a fair collection and have learned a lot about it and always glad to help.

WinM1895 said
Ever see a Model 1907 with a curved buttplate?
I happen to have a record of a 1905 with a curved steel buttplate; my AOE is the Win 05, 07, and 10 – the "forgotten" and much-overlooked Winchesters.
I’m short on the primary sources and on-the-ground experience (factory records, internal reports, original catalogs, number of rifles personally inspected), but that is of course the Curator’s and advanced collector’s forté.
As evidence for my knowledge base, you can view the Wikipedia pages for the centerfire Win self-loading rifles and their cartridges, a project I am currently undertaking:(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winchester_Model_1907)

Hi, I’m new to this site and new to Winchester collecting. I must say this is the best site I have found on the net so a Big thanks to all of you. My area of expertise is magneto rebuilding not a knowledge of Winchesters so thats why I’m here.
My question is that with the model 1905 only being made for 15 years and less than 30,000 made why is the value about half that of an 1894 with millions of them made? That doesn’t seem to make sense to me???
Thanks in advance,
Steve
Welcome to the site, Nanook. For one it does not have a lever. That is what most Winchester rifle collectors want. The Hollywood movies made the value of most the Winchesters go up and got first time collectors into collecting them. When you saw a western movie, it was a cowboy shooting a henry, 66, 73, 76, 86, 92 or 94 ( I’m sure I missed some ) not a 1905
In the future if you want to ask a question, you can hit the "New Topic" button and post a new question or comment if it does not fit any current discussions. By posting here it might get over looked.
Bob
WACA Life Member--- NRA Life Member---- Cody Firearms member since 1991 Researching the Winchester 1873's
Email: [email protected]
I would be fairly knowledgeable in two areas:
1. The Winchester Model 53: I would not go so far as to call myself in expert, but I do have a lot of information about this model that very few others would have, and plan to write a couple articles on the Model 53 later in the winter of 2010. I am in the research phase right now.
2. Reloading and original ballistics for the older Winchester cartridges: Again, I would hesitate to call myself an expert, but I have done a lot of load development and shooting of quite a few of the older Winchester cartridges (the ones that were originally black powder cartridges), using various smokeless powders. I also have some old ballistics tables for all of these old cartridges.
While I am not an expert on ALL of John Browning’s designs, I would suggest that no one person is. I have my passion (the 1890’s) and most other collectors also have their passion. You need to collect a list of each person’s true expertise (passion) and use that list as your resource. Once you attend a few hundred antique firearms shows and determine the expertise of each dealer and collector, this list will fall out on it’s own.
If anyone is looking for information on 1892 takedown rifles I would be glad to help. I have been collecting data on 1892 takedown rifles for the past 7-8 years. My datatabase started with humble beginnings and has grown at a steady pace–the goal being collecting enough data to present an article on the subject for all to enjoy. At present, I have collected data on approximately 400 takedown rifles. I dont feel comfortable in claiming to be an expert, but I would like to assist and entertain any questions you may have concerning your takedown rifle.
Chris
1892takedown @sbcglobal.net ......NRA Endowment Life Member.....WACA Member
"God is great.....beer is good.....and people are crazy"... Billy Currington
I may as well toss my hat into this group. But do consider myself a lower case ‘e’ expert on the Model 1892, all versions. This is a result, like Chris above, from working on a production survey on the Model 1892 rifle. You can read a bit about it here: http://www.winchestercollector.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3460
I now have just over a thousand rifles in the project and a list of 150 to add to it. I can help anyone who has questions as they relate to correct markings and such for a specific serial number range. Eventually I’ll produce caliber production percentages, and other configuration ratios. If you have any Model 1892 rifles and want to add them to the effort please do drop me a note. I have reference material to use and it will give you a chance to pull the rifles out of the safe and look at them. Like we all need a reason to do that.
Thanks
Michael
Model 1892 / Model 61 Collector, Research, Valuation
think I have a spruce gun. serial # is 8457XX so it falls between known numbers. no "period between or after the "US". looks in a little better shape than the one for sale on the collector web sited elsewhere on this forum. What else can I look for to better help identify what I have?
Thanks in aDvance
1 Guest(s)
