But they NEVER made them that way. 24 Inch SRC's!!!|Winchester Rifles|Forum|Winchester Collector

86Win said
Regarding the special order carbines I find it interesting that the Chicago Worlds Fair began in May , 1893.  I believe many manufacterers set up displays there. I have no conclusive info at this point but am going to try again. Right now is bed-time though. DFon
  

The timing of the manufacture of these carbines works for possible display at the Chicago Exposition but I would tend to think that they were used for a “color guard” unit and possibly a foreign order as suggested by Bert.  It is also possible that the “engraving” that is mentioned was a Name or political group since it does not mention the style/cost of the engraving which was typical in the ledgers.  It is common for the ledger to reference $2 or $5 dollar engraving.

Michael

Well….. If you play this game long enough you just NEVER know what might pop up!!  I received an email yesterday from a gentleman in France who has what appears to be SN 2768 which in one of the 12 carbines manufactured with a 24 inch barrel!!  Needless to say I was beyond excited to see it.  When you start digging into the details of this order it is truly interesting.  First off, the 12 rifles are identical and sequential in serial numbers. Also, the fact that the receivers were serialized on Sept 7, 1892 but by the ledger entry, all 12 of these receivers sat around for 5 months (Feb. 14, 1893) until they were assembled into this special order.  Pauline vouched for the engraving being factory original but did not have any sort of known design pattern name for it.  It is my belief that the pattern was created by whomever ordered the riffles and then executed by Winchester. 

The style of the barrel address stamp also is very interesting when you dig into it.  When the 1892 was introduced round barrel examples had what I refer to as the Style 1C in my spreadsheet and was only used for about the first year of production.  Or so I thought.  This style has “crows feet” before and after the 2 lines of print.  The rifle in question does not have this style but has what I call the 1D style which only has a dash before and after the bottom line of print.  I then sorted my spread sheet by configuration, barrel shape, and then serial number.  Sure enough the round barrel sporting rifles used the 1C style well into 1893 (SN 15000 range) after these carbines were assembled.  BUT… When I looked at the SRC barrels the 1C style was discontinued prior to the end of 1892 (SN 6800 range).  That is an almost 8000 rifle difference between the time span for the usage of the barrel address styles.  Carbines assembled in early 1893 had the later 1D Style while the sporting rifles were still stamped with the 1C “crows feet” style.  Therefore, these 24 inch carbines were actually had specially made carbine barrels and not just repurposed rifle barrels.  

Now for the bad news.  The barrel has subsequently been cut down to 20 inches and a rifle style front sight installed in a dovetail!  AAARGH!!  The original “Fancy” wood can be seen in the butt stock.  There is not trace of the original “Gold Trims” as noted in the ledger.  I do really like the way the serial number is presented as if written on a scroll.  I will continue to correspond with the owner and try to find a bit more of the history if knows anything about it.

Michael