Bert H. said
I can see a slight rub mark (wear) on the top of the barrel halfway between the dovetail and the frame ring.  The rear sight was apparently removed fairly early in the Carbines lifetime.  If the gun were mine, I would find a No. 34C 3-leaf express sight to put back in the empty slot.
Bert
  

Thanks. I'm on the hunt for one!

Bert

Bert H. said

rogertherelic said
There seems to be no signs the carbine ever had a barrel sight installed.  Is that a possiblity?   RDB
  

Yes, but Winchester would have put a blank piece in the dovetail slot versus leaving it empty.
Bert
  

Thanks Roger and Bert. I, too, was wondering about the rear sight.

FWIW, here are a couple of higher resolution photos.

Bob

I could not find the pic of the fired and bulged Henry cases that we talked about some time in the past.  When I showed the pic to Lou Behling he said it was a common occurrence. 

But here are some pics showing the bolt face of an unmodified rim fire and a modified to center fire. 

On the top is an original 66 RF bolt face.  See how it is flush.  The second pic show the conversion to center fire.  NOTICE that the bold face is raised to alleviate the excessive head space.   

ken1989 said
I have a few extra light weights in my collection.
The stock does have large hole as do my other extra light weights
Front sight is soldered onto barrel.
Does not have a nickel steel (smokeless) barrel.
Need to figure out how to post photos here, probably need a subscription.
  

If you send the pictures to me in an email, I will post them for you.

Bert - Win1885@msn.com

The stock does have large hole as do my other extra light weights

Front sight is soldered onto barrel.

Does not have a nickel steel (smokeless) barrel.

Need to figure out how to post photos here, probably need a subscription.

That sounds like a cool gun! Another tell tail sign of being a lightweight is a ramp front sight, please post some photos of this gem!

ken1989 said
I have a special order 1886 with a 26" barrel that letters as a lightweight. Burt, back in 2019 we had some email communication about this rifle. These are your comments "I have not seen an ELW Rifle with a 26-inch barrel until today.  All of them I have encountered thus far have had a 22-inch barrel.  In addition to the extra long extra lightweight barrel, the plain PG stock without any checkering is somewhat uncommon, and the sight configuration is quite unusual as well (I would have expected a Lyman tang sight with the Lyman No. 6 rear sight and the Lyman No. 4 front sight).  Somebody specifically special ordered the Marbles Flexible Joint tang sight."
WINCHESTER MODEL 1886 - SERIAL NUMBER 13910X
Serial number application date not available
Type: Rifle
Caliber: 40/65
Barrel Type: Round
Barrel Length: 26 inches
Extra Light
Trigger: Plain
Plain, Pistol grip
Sights: Marbles flex joint rear, Lyman leaf, Lyman hunting front sights
1/2 Magazine
Shotgun butt rubber
Received in warehouse on October 07, 1907
Shipped from warehouse on October 09, 1907, Order number 113329
 
FYI,  This is my first post. Long time Winchester collector.  Presently a "Guest", will join when my Cody membership is up for renewal.
  

What you have is a special-ordered rifle with a barrel that is lighter than standard.  In the strictest sense, it is not a true ELW. 

Based on the factory ledger record information, it apparently does not have Nickel Steel (smokeless powder) barrel.  How is the front sight attached to the barrel?  Does it have large bored hole in the butt stock?

Bert

WINCHESTER MODEL 1886 - SERIAL NUMBER 13910X
Serial number application date not available
Type: Rifle
Caliber: 40/65
Barrel Type: Round
Barrel Length: 26 inches
Extra Light
Trigger: Plain
Plain, Pistol grip
Sights: Marbles flex joint rear, Lyman leaf, Lyman hunting front sights
1/2 Magazine
Shotgun butt rubber
Received in warehouse on October 07, 1907
Shipped from warehouse on October 09, 1907, Order number 113329

FYI,  This is my first post. Long time Winchester collector.  Presently a "Guest", will join when my Cody membership is up for renewal.

Monte Carlo . . .rear sight looks just like yours.

As an interesting note (to me!) . . . .

I have the original bill of sale for this gem . . . .

”Purchased in 1952, from Haggetts’ (hardware store) in Concord, New Hampshire, $120”.

Low comb or Monte Carlo, and what rear sight is on it?  For the survey...

This is my earliest 22-inch Featherweight.  Low comb, S/N 224336.  It may provoke howls of disagreement, but in he early catalogs, the Featherweight was both pictured and described as having a folding rear sight (Marbles 69) regardless of stock style.  I believe that this is correct.  The tall version of the 22K "sporting" style sight for low comb Featherweights came about in 1954, so starts showing up on later 1953 receivers.  Of course, I could be mistaken!!!

Note that this one doesn't have the extra hyphen either.  I was worried about it, but I've since found about a half dozen early ones (22-inch barrel) marked with that die.  Look at Photo 4-32 in Rule's book (you might need to open your hard copy as the image reproduction in the paperback edition is lousy).  That one shows the "dash" on a barrel he said is dated '52...

Lou

For the record, I have an early 1952 Featherweight (#221891) 22” barrel, 308 caliber, of course.

It does NOT have the extra hyphen in the roll mark.

The 24-inch barreled Featherweight was specifically offered as an option in the 1952-54 catalogs.  I agree with you and Bob that they must not have sold many, and the option was dropped before the Featherweight was offered in anything except 308 WIN.  In surveying, I have only run across four that I thought were genuine (including the one in Rule's book), plus about that many fabricated ones...  The highest serial numbered one I've seen to date is in the 240,000 range.

As for Wayne's 24-inch Featherweight, the S/N is 219278, one of the lowest Featherweight serial numbers recorded, as Featherweights don't become common until around S/N 222,000.  I know that the person Wayne sold it to is NOT the collector who purchased his special order 308 WIN Bull Gun...

I do not know why the Forum site stopped displaying thumbnails in the text a week or so ago...  For those eagle eyed and critical viewers, the wonky "FEATHERWEIGHT" letters and extra dash in "MODEL-70-FEATHERWEIGHT" is a "real" roll die used in some early 308 WIN Featherweights.  Most 308 WIN Featherweights, unlike all other Featherweight chamberings, are usually marked "MODEL-70 FEATHERWEIGHT" (without the extra dash).   

If you find another genuine 24-inch Featherweight I hope you'll tell me the S/N and whether it's got a MC or LC stock (for the survey)...

Best,

Lou