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Did Winchester offer the model 55 in a deluxe grade? I have a model 55 serial number 1003xxx. The gun has 3X wood, double set trigger, and Swiss butt plate. The wood has been refinished and the metal is in original condition. Does Cody records office have information on model 55s ?
Thanks Gerald
Gerald,
The partial serial number you mention is not in the known Model 55 range. Please double check it, and then repost with the entire serial number.
Winchester did not catalog a “deluxe” grade Model 55. They did offer special order options that if ordered, could make it a “deluxe”. The only records that survive for the Model 55 are the Polishing Room serialization record books, which provide the date of manufacture only.
Bert
WACA Historian & Board of Director Member #6571L
Bert,
My mistake. The serial number is 1033802. Thanks for your help.
Gerald
Gerald,
Of the 1,009 Model 55 rifles I currently have recorded in my research survey, (38) of them were ordered with a Pistol Grip butt stock and other features that would qualify them as either semi-deluxe or deluxe. Your Model 55 will become number (39) in the survey when I get all of the details for it from you.
Based on the serial number, it was manufactured in 1928. Accordingly, it should be a Take Down. Have you checked the barrel date? Which caliber is it? Can you send me clear pictures of the rifle?
Bert
WACA Historian & Board of Director Member #6571L
Bert,
It is a takedown and the caliber is .30. i’ll get the barrel date and take some pictures. what is your email address?
I’m going to renew my membership with Cody museum and join Winchester Collector Association. I have well over 200 Winchester firearms and can’t believe I haven’t joined. The amount of time and energy you and several other members must have devoted to collecting data on Winchester firearms is nothing short of amazing. This collector truely appreciates your efforts.
Model 55 with H-style checkering and capped pistol grip – I have always called it a deluxe – serial number is 5.
January 26, 2011
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Deluxe 76 said
Burt, what an awesome rare winchester. Wow!!!
I agree, that’s one heck of a M55….. thanks for posting.
~Gary~
thanks – it has been in my safe for 40 years – I had not thought about it in a long time and then I saw the post inquiring as to whether they ever made a Deluxe 55. As I said, I have always called it a “deluxe” but Bert set me straight about “deluxes” several years ago. As Bert said Winchester apparently did not offer a deluxe version of the model 55 in their catalog so we are left with what collectors want to call a deluxe, or semi-deluxe – there are lots of opinions on that. I like Model 55’s and any new collector should tuck away a nice one, if they can find it, before they are gone or too expensive. I also have a near new standard grade 55, serial #42. I always wanted to have a checkered Model 53 – that is a rare one. I have only seen two of them and passed on one in 44 wcf many years ago because it was only about 70% – big mistake on my part!
Deluxe 76 said
Bert,It is a takedown and the caliber is .30. i’ll get the barrel date and take some pictures. what is your email address?
I’m going to renew my membership with Cody museum and join Winchester Collector Association. I have well over 200 Winchester firearms and can’t believe I haven’t joined. The amount of time and energy you and several other members must have devoted to collecting data on Winchester firearms is nothing short of amazing. This collector truely appreciates your efforts.
Thanks!
WACA Historian & Board of Director Member #6571L
To qualify as a “semi-deluxe” or “deluxe”, a Model 55 must have a Pistol Grip butt stock. Standard Model 55 rifles were all straight gripped. The difference between what we call a “semi-deluxe” and a “deluxe” is in the quality of the walnut and the checkering pattern. 2X or 3X walnut with H-pattern (or one of the carving patterns) qualifies it as a “deluxe”. If the stocks are plain walnut, or 1X, and have I-pattern checkering, it is a “semi-deluxe”.
Bert
WACA Historian & Board of Director Member #6571L
January 26, 2011
Offline
Deluxe 76 said
Did Winchester offer the model 55 in a deluxe grade? I have a model 55 serial number 1003xxx. The gun has 3X wood, double set trigger, and Swiss butt plate. The wood has been refinished and the metal is in original condition. Does Cody records office have information on model 55s ?Thanks Gerald
I’d sure like to hear more about Gerald’s M55. That sounds like a “whale of a gun” as my good friend Mark would say. Please post some pictures so we can take a look if you don’t mind.
~Gary~
Burt Humphrey said
Burt,
Serial #4 is currently for sale on Guns International and is in the same configuration as your serial #5. The price is kinda steep. Yours appears to be in much better condition. Thanks for sharing the pictures. She’s a beauty.
Bert,
Do you have SN 9992 in your survey? It is a 32 WS with a highly figured and “H” pattern checkered forend. It has a pistol grip lower tang and lever, but is sadly missing the buttstock. Not surprisingly I’ve had a little trouble finding a correct buttstock for it. Will likely have one made for it at some point. It deserves to be “whole” again.
Mark
Mark Douglas said
Bert,Do you have SN 9992 in your survey? It is a 32 WS with a highly figured and “H” pattern checkered forend. It has a pistol grip lower tang and lever, but is sadly missing the buttstock. Not surprisingly I’ve had a little trouble finding a correct buttstock for it. Will likely have one made for it at some point. It deserves to be “whole” again.
Mark
Mark,
I did not have it in my survey… but I do now. Finding a 3X H-pattern checkered butt stock with a fluted comb and shotgun butt is like a needle-in-the-haystack.
Bert
WACA Historian & Board of Director Member #6571L
Serial number 3 is also identical to serial numbers 4 and 5. I suspect that serial number 1 & 2 are also identical.
Bert
WACA Historian & Board of Director Member #6571L
I am also looking for a Model 55 buttstock with a pistol grip and shotgun buttplate. I could use a forearm, too, due to someone’s injudicious handiwork in the past before I owned the rifle.
My gun is a .32 WS takedown. I’ll have to dig it out for the serial number. The gun had a steel buttplate that has also been butchered.
The buttstock was shortened to about 11.5 or 12 inches length of pull, and it’s carrying a couple of deep gouges. The forearm was trimmed behind the cap for a white spacer. No checkering.
I’m on the fence about repairing these stocks or using them for duplication. I believe I can repair the forearm and gouges, stretching the buttstock will also stretch my experience.
I found a stock maker that makes Model 64 stocks, and he tells me the lever curve is different enough that they won’t work on a Model 55. I have to defer to his experience.
Lee,
The vast majority of the Model 55 rifles were made with a straight grip butt stock. A pistol grip butt stock on a Model 55 was a special order option only, and relatively rare. That stated, the pistol grip shotgun butt stocks used on the Model 94 are identical to the pistol grip stocks used on the Model 55. I would like to see clear pictures of your Model 55.
Bert
WACA Historian & Board of Director Member #6571L
I’ll see about getting a few photos and the serial number.
I also own two other old takedowns, a Model 53 made in 1926 chambered for .32-20 Win, and an 1894 chambered for .32 WS made in 1924.
Thanks for the info about the 1894 buttstocks, those are reasonably available, and I could make an accurate tracing and a few dimensionsto send to a stock maker for confirmation.
Lee L said
I’ll see about getting a few photos and the serial number.I also own two other old takedowns, a Model 53 made in 1926 chambered for .32-20 Win, and an 1894 chambered for .32 WS made in 1924.
Thanks for the info about the 1894 buttstocks, those are reasonably available, and I could make an accurate tracing and a few dimensionsto send to a stock maker for confirmation.
Lee,
Please pass along the specifics on your Model 53 and Model 1894 so that they can be included in the research surveys in progress.
Bert
WACA Historian & Board of Director Member #6571L
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