Model 1886 ELW, antique, .45-70 very special rifle|Winchester Rifles|Forum|Winchester Collector

twobit said
While the rifle has some nice features I can’t get past the fact that the wood looks like it was put on the gun yesterday while the receiver tells a different story.

Michael

  

Michael – interesting to ponder.  This comment is helpful to me as it helps assuage my remorse for not pursuing the rifle.  I think we can be fairly confident the wood was put on yesterday given Tommy Rholes and George Madis examined and described the rifle about 30 years ago.  However, what happened between 1899 and 1995 is an open question.  For a, “one of a kind” rifle with the wood being the feature that places it in that class, the lack of factory documentation is hard to ignore.  I would speculate it is Winchester wood and checkering, but whether it left the factory with those stocks is an open question.  They could have been added later in an R&R, they could have come off a different rifle…  you can’t prove or disprove anything when faced with a, “no letter” rifle.

My personal conclusion is the rifle is all correct.  George did disassemble the rifle and his recording of all the internal markings on the barrel, receiver tangs, stocks and buttplate were helpful and added up nicely.  Of particular interest is the hand checkered buttplate – how often do we see that?  CJ – you have an ELW from that same era – what are the details of that rifle’s buttplate?  

I had speculated it would sell for about double the high end of the reserve.  That was partially based on the past appraisal.  I suppose the wood has been redone (e.g. recut checkering) to some extant.  There are some near magical craftsmen out there.