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I recall from Madis’ book that "supposedly" 1 of every 400 Winchester 1886’s are carbines. We all know a lot of Madis’ data has been proven to be suspect. I was at an antique arms show and saw a few of them for sale, and, as in the past, it just seems to me that they come up for sale much more frequently than one would think if 1 of every 400 was a carbine. 159,994 Winchester 1886’s were originally produced, and, if 1 of every 400 is a carbine, only 400 would exist.
My "guess" is maybe that one out of every 20 1886’s is a carbine, meaning that about 8,000 were originally produced. of course, this is a guess, based on observations at gun shows. It could be that these appear more often at antique arms shows than an equivalent rifle, due to supposed rarity, but, again, seems much more common than 1 in 400.
Perhaps Bert has an EXACT figure as to the number of carbines produced. Barring that, anyone else out there have any ideas or comments?
William L. Porter, a Cody Research Associate did a survey of the known 1886 serial numbers , he came up with 6223 carbines 4.4%, muskets 374, 0.3%
The person with the answer is John Madl, and he is at the Cody show as we speak (as am I). I will ask him Sunday morning.
Bert
WACA 6571L, Historian & Board of Director Member
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