steve004 said
steve004 said
Sold for $656. The rifle was indeed horrendous. Given his description of the bore, I can’t imagine what use it would be to anyone. However, it certainly is an oddity, apparently being shipped out from the factory with the wrong tang marking. I’ve never seen an example like this before. I would have enjoyed owning that rifle had it been in unaltered condition.
Edit:
It would be fun to have a gunshow display table of a dozen or so M1886’s – just 86’s on the table, but include this one (if it wasn’t in the condition it is in). People stopping by would comment how the 1894 seemed out of place in the display. You could respond, “no – it’s a Model 1886 – here look.”
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I agree! I love the unusual and this one would be cool to own and display if it weren’t so butchered up. It’s current state just turns my stomach. Likely not another like it in existence and the oddity backed up with a Cody letter on top of it. What a shame!
Don
November 7, 2015

Maybe so, Clarence. I’ve never found myself in the situation you describe at a gun show but we had a LGS that priced his used guns very reasonably and I knew if I walked away it wouldn’t be there after I took the time to study on it. If I picked it up more than twice I ducked behind the counter with it and filled out a 4473. Those were the days. I think some folks do indeed get excited by these online auctions but I find them merely entertaining. I find almost every gun transaction exciting, when that is no longer the case I’ll be done collecting them.
Mike
Maybe so, Clarence. I’ve never found myself in the situation you describe at a gun show but we had a LGS that priced his used guns very reasonably and I knew if I walked away it wouldn’t be there after I took the time to study on it. TXGunNut said
One of the several times it happened to me was at the Houston show, & who was it breathing down my neck but “famous Winchester collector” B.J. Maes, who actually had the nerve to say to me while I had it in my hands, “I’d like to see that when you’re finished”! He didn’t get the chance.
deerhunter said I love the unusual and this one would be cool to own and display if it weren’t so butchered up.
Sure, if it wasn’t so butchered up, even if it had seen hard but honest usage, it would be in the category of a rare stamp like the “upside down” Jenny, & worth a premium.
November 7, 2015

B. J. was a bit annoying to many but I didn’t realize he was famous. I had a table next to him in Waco early in my collecting career and he was after a gun I had on my table. We finally came to terms late in the show but we kept it up all weekend. I actually did pretty well on the gun and he was finally able to sell it a year or so later.
Mike
mrcvs said
Never heard of him. There’s a world of difference between B J Maes and B J Thomas.
You would if you’d bought tables at the Houston show in the ’80s, where he was the big frog in a small pond. (Actually, the Houston show wasn’t so small at that time; largest in Texmex.)
clarence said
mrcvs said
Never heard of him. There’s a world of difference between B J Maes and B J Thomas.
You would if you’d bought tables at the Houston show in the ’80s, where he was the big frog in a small pond. (Actually, the Houston show wasn’t so small at that time; largest in Texmex.)
I used to go to the Houston gun show in the Astrohall in the early 80’s – it was a big show. I believe over 2000 tables.
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