Model 1892 Trapper - Value based on caliber??|Winchester Rifles|Forum|Winchester Collector

THREEDFLYER said
Looking to see what the Model 1892 Trapper’s have been selling for lately based on caliber?
I realize that the .44 is the most desirable and the .25 not as much….but then again, I am not sure just how many Trappers were made in .25?
We have a 14″ with NFA paperwork that was built in 1919 chambered in .25-20 in well used condition and will be putting it up for sale at some point in the near future. 
Thanks in advance,
  

Hello Tom,

Here is a small portion of a larger forum thread that I started a few months ago that addresses the number of trapper which were manufactured.  Suffice it to say that there were most likely close to 8000 to 9000 of them.  From the ledger research that I have done the most popular lengths were 16 inch, then 15 inch and then 14 inch in descending order.  The 25-20 was the least used in ANY length.  

“This all got started with a question as to how rare a certain trapper configuration was.  I gave my reply based on my inspection of 288,000 factory ledgers combined with the current status of my survey.  Madis states in his books that 2 out of 3 guns were rifles.  Therefore 33% of production were carbines.  Then he notes that 1 of 325 (.0031%) carbines had shorter than 20 inch barrels.  If you run the math that works out to 985,000 (excluding Model 53 and 65 rifles in the 1892/92 SN sequence) x .33 = 325,050 carbines x .0031 = 1,007 carbines with barrels less than 20 inches.  Pirkle states that carbines with 14 to 19 inch barrels make up 1200 samples.

To date I have examined the written factory production letters for the first 288,000 Model 1892’s that were produced and transferred all of that information into a huge excel spreadsheet.  This represents the first 29% of the total production of the Model 1892/92’s.  Within just this portion of production there are already a total of 5,387 proven/known short barreled carbines. Beyond SN 288,000 I have cataloged an additional 508 individual carbines with short barrels within the balance of the rifles that I have surveyed.  Between SN 944970 to SN 945056 (86 SN’s) I have  6 SRC’s and each of them has a 16 inch barrel.  That suggests that ALL 86 of those SN’s are trappers.  There is another batch of 4,543 serial numbers in the 954,000 range where I have 92 samples.  All are SRC’s and 22 of those (24%) are short barreled.  Mostly 16” and a few 14” examples.  If you gross that up for just that interval it suggests that another 1090 short barreled carbines were produced in that single interval alone.  Add these numbers up and it totals:  5,387 + 508 + 86 + 1068 (extrapolated addition in the 954,000 range) = 7,049 short barrel carbines were produced.  There are several additional runs of SRC’s that show similar concentrations of short barrels and I still have another 100,000 production ledgers to compile plus listings from the BATF that are not included yet.”

With regard to possible values your rifle will possibly be valued higher because of the rarity of the 25-20 caliber but condition will also be VERY important.  To date, I have only found 8 14 inch SRC’s out of almost 22,000 Model 1892 rifles.  Can I get some photos of the rifle and the serial number so that I can add it into my research?  Here is one that sold on RIA back in 2020.  https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/1035/2006/winchester-model-1892-14-inch-barrel-trapper-carbine

Michael