Refinished 1886 question |Winchester Rifles|Forum|Winchester Collector

Techfasteners said
Hi All!
I’m a younger Winchester collector that has caught the bug that you have all had for a while I would assume. I have the opportunity to purchase a 1886 Sporting Rifle (round) originally chambered in 40-65 WCF and in the 70’s it was rechambered and rebored to 45-70 along with being reblued and the receiver was nickel plated. It is a beautiful rifle and I understand that the true collector value was ruined however it is priced at $1,800. The serial number under the front stock does match the tang.

Can any of you offer me some guidance on if there is still “value” here? 

Thank you for any life lessons you all can add! I have been on the site for a while but Bert just recently twisted my arm around so hard that he left me no option but to join as a full member… ?

Adam  

Adam – welcome.  It nearly brings tears to my eyes to hear of a, “younger Winchester collector.”  With regard to the rifle you describe, you have been correctly informed that the the collector value has been ruined.  My advice would be to put the $1800 toward a Winchester that is in original condition.  The rifle you describe would likely only have value as a shooter, and $1800 is a lot to spend for a shooter.

I don’t turn my nose up on refinished Winchesters (or other makes) quite so much as some folks do. As long as they are done right, and not some backyard hack job. The rifle you describe would likely cost about the same if you were buying a recent reproduction. If you’re looking for a nice looking ‘old’ rifle in .45-70 to pack around, shoot, and hunt with….why not buy one you don’t have to worry about taking a hit on collector value. And ammo is available off the shelf. I recently bought a commemorative 94 because I liked the way it looked. It isn’t NIB with papers, but the price was right. I won’t feel bad about taking a ‘fancy’ rifle out hunting. 

Manuel said

Welcome to the club!  I’m also one of those young collectors as well. (40 but been at it for a little bit now)   This will get expensive…..So if you have a significant other…..make sure they are ok with the amount of money you will be spending!    

Manuel – good to hear there are more, “young collectors” around here than I thought.  And yes indeed, a lot of money can be spent on this, “hobby” (cough… addiction).  There are prostitutes and cocaine as alternatives….

As stated by Steve and others I would stay away from that one. Look for a 33 or a standard rifle in one of the less popular calibers, 38-56, 40-65, 40-82. I got two on Gunauction.com last year that are respectable, a 38-56 28” oct set trigger, mostly brown with a very good bore for near 1800 and a 40-82 rd with 60% blue and also nice bore around 2000 keep an on local auctions 

TR said
 Adam, I got into collecting Winchester’s in the 1980’s. The older collectors at that time gave me some good advice that I didn’t take, it cost me money. I hung in there learning from the school of “hard knocks” until I graduated. My turning point was the day I was standing in front of Tommy Rholes table at a national show, getting ready to buy a deluxe 86 he had on his table. I explained that his gun was more than I had ever paid for a gun, he pointed at much nicer deluxe 86 on another dealers table and said buy that one. He followed by explaining,” buy the nicest gun you can afford”. I bought the more expensive rifle and still own it, it’s worth two to three times what I paid and when I look at it, I smile. The rifle Tommy had on his table is probably worth the same now as then.

 If you are a collector, your taste in guns will change with time and original clean guns are easy to sell. Fixer upper guns can turn into a money pit with little resale value. If your a shooter those original clean guns shoot well to. T/R  

TR – I think the advice Tommy gave you has always been true – throughout my collecting career anyway.  I will also add that now is a really good time for a beginning collector to enter the market.  It’s a buyer’s market for the plainer, vanilla grade, or lower finish rifles.  You still see some dealers and sellers asking high prices for these rifles, but they’re not moving them either.  Those that actually want to sell them, will usually deal with you.  One continuing exception can be auctions – auctions continue to be flush with hype.

steve004 said

CJ – these look like decent, honest guns.  Neat that your .38-56 has both a special length barrel as well as the set trigger.  There’s nothing wrong with the cartridge either.  I load for the .38-56 and have both an ’86 Winchester and a Marlin M1895 in this chambering.   

Steve

There not show Pieces, but honest not  abused, tight and still very useable. The reason I posted is for the new guy, that you can get an Original at a reasonable price and use it and you will be able to get your money back and will still Appreciate and make a few bucks when your upgrading. Those Marlin 95s are hard to find in nice condition, I’ve seen a few on GB and Regular Auctions that were abused, poor RE blues and shortened barrels that were over priced!

steve004 said
Apologies to the Winchester purists, but I like Marlins as well.  I don’t have as many as I do Winchesters, but they have strong appeal to me.  I like the Marlin M1895 the best.  Mainly because it was their biggest gun and was Marlin’s answer to the Winchester M1886.  It came in all the same cartridges with the exception of the .38-70 and the .50’s.  I think for every 9 Winchester 1886’s there was 1 Marlin M1895.  So they are relatively scarce and, as CJ suggests, many of them have had alterations.  And, just like I really have a fondness for the Win. ’86 SRC, the same is true for the Marlin ’95 SRC.  I’ve only owned one, and that was ordered without the ring.  I would have preferred it had the ring – because the ring is so cool looking 😉  

Marlin made a pretty nice 1895 33WCF rifle also!