The owner of Winchester #644 contacted me. The rifle is safe and sound, but not even anywhere close to being in the United States. I am looking foreword to seeing some of Doc Pardee's notes, and more photos of the rifle at a later date.

With permission of the owner, I am posting this photo. However, I decided myself to blot out the other full SN's of the other two shown. The owner is an avid collector and I am sure some true hard core collectors on here know who he is...

So it would appear that the Pardee Museum in Oakland auctioned off the estate firearms back in the very early 1980's. 644 and 1 of 1,000 19,243 have been in private hands since then. When I contacted the museum a while back, they sent me the following documents;

Doc's Rifles, the descriptions of each are as follows;

Rifle #644

• blued 26" octagon barrel
• brass front blade
• blued iron frame
• sling ring below butt stock
• cleaning rods in butt stock
• butt plate and maybe lever, nickel plated
• series of grooves on wrist of stock, paint? on left of stock, abrasions nicks and scratches on stock pieces, vertical scratches on both side plates
• finish and nickel plating worn.

Rifle #19,243

• part round part octagon barrel w/hooded front sight and tang peep
• frame, lever, forearm cap, butt plate, color case hardened
• loading gate and barrel blued
• engraved foliated scrolls on muzzle and breech
• left frame engraved, Presented to Dr. E.H. Pardee by the Winchester Repeating Arms Co. New Haven, Conn. 1876 "One Of One Thousand"
• cleaning rod in stock
• dents and slight scratching on forearm, rust on hammer, traces of rust...well used, rifling very worn

Here is a partial photo of 644 with what looks to be a nickel plated lever

Dr. Pardee wrote to Winchester, and his testimonial published in Winchester's 1875 catalog as well as Forest & Stream's August 21, 1875 magazine.

It affords me much pleasure to communicate to you the result of thirty consecutive shots at the distance of 110 yards. The firing was done without wiping, which proves the Winchester to be steady in her performance, and gives assurance to the sportsman that if he only performs his part in the manipulation of the piece, he need not fear the California jaguar, or grizzly bear.

It is believed that this target was shot with #644.

In 1976, Dr. Pardee was presented #19,243 1 of 1,000 by Oliver F Winchester...believed to be kept in a black wood case.

More on these later when I get the information, and permission to share certain parts.

It looks good to me, but it does seem odd that the SFPD would have purchased Model 94 Carbines in the late 1950s.

There is the known (documented) batch of (80) Model 94 Carbine that the SFPD had purchased in the early 1930s and later divested in the early 1980s.  Currently, I have (31) of the (80) documented in my survey.

Bert

Steve72 said
I just bought a model 94 30/30 stamped S.F.P.D. On receiver serial number 2281559
Does anyone have any info on this gun?
Thanks 
  

Pictures please.

S/N 2281559 indicates it was manufactured in 1957.  There was a good sized batch of S.F.P.D. marked Model 94 Carbines that was manufactured in the year 1932 (serial range 1082400 - 1087400).

Bert

 Doug

Does anyone have any info on this gun?

Thanks 

Michael

Jeremy P said

Bert H. said

  

It was the same thing for the Model 1894 SRCs... the barrel proof mark was stamped in front of the rear sight instead of the caliber stamp.
 
Bert
  

This last pic Bert is good, I wouldn't have trusted this as a whole if I'd just found this at a show on my own....looks "weird"!
  

Interestingly, nearly all of the Model 1894 Carbine barrels with the proof mark stamp in front of the rear sight are also the "August 14" Patent date error barrels that were manufactured in the year 1907.

Bert

Bert H. said

It was the same thing for the Model 1894 SRCs... the barrel proof mark was stamped in front of the rear sight instead of the caliber stamp.

 
Bert
  

This last pic Bert is good, I wouldn't have trusted this as a whole if I'd just found this at a show on my own....looks "weird"!

twobit said

mark minnillo said
This is on an 1892 special order rifle. Half round half octagon, half mag, and shotgun butt. Gun made in 1907. Am I correct that "technically" there were only 3 years of production when both caliber markings and WP proof marks were on top of the barrel?
  

Hello Mark,
The proof marks began to appear on the top of the barrel along with the caliber stamp during mid 1905 (approximately SN 300000) on the Model 1892 and persisted until the SN 420000 range which corresponds to Feb 1908.  Sporadic occurrences continue well into 1909.  On many SRC's the barrel proof was located in front of the rear sight as opposed to adjacent to the caliber stamp.
Michael
  

It was the same thing for the Model 1894 SRCs... the barrel proof mark was stamped in front of the rear sight instead of the caliber stamp.

Bert

mark minnillo said
This is on an 1892 special order rifle. Half round half octagon, half mag, and shotgun butt. Gun made in 1907. Am I correct that "technically" there were only 3 years of production when both caliber markings and WP proof marks were on top of the barrel?
  

Hello Mark,

The proof marks began to appear on the top of the barrel along with the caliber stamp during mid 1905 (approximately SN 300000) on the Model 1892 and persisted until the SN 420000 range which corresponds to Feb 1908.  Sporadic occurrences continue well into 1909.  On many SRC's the barrel proof was located in front of the rear sight as opposed to adjacent to the caliber stamp.

Michael

Thanks to Bert for educating us, and thanks to Mark for posting this thread.

Tony

I am learning some interesting facts about this rifle. I should also be receiving copies of some letters/notes from Dr Pardee's "shooting diary", for lack of a better discription.