Role of the Winchester 1886 in 1890s?|Winchester Rifles|Forum|Winchester Collector

I’ll leave this to those members here who were around back then  😉

I don’t know about four-legged dangerous game, but for two-legged dangerous game Winchester’s big bore levers (1876 and 1886) were considered very adequate in the 1890’s.  During the 1892 Johnson County, Wyoming war, the invading cattlemen and their hired Texas gunman used at least three (3) Model 1876’s and seventeen (17) Model 1886 rifles.  Most of the big bore rifles were carried by the wealthy cattlemen and the stock detectives.  Most of the Texans had 1873 rifles.  

The Dalton gang was known to have at least some 1886 rifles when they pulled their dual bank robbery of Coffeyville, Kansas in March 1890.  There is a well known photo of a short barrel 1886 laid over the dead bodies of Bob and Grat Dalton.  One can presume this rifle belonged to one of them.

F.K. said
Thanks a lot, guys! Took me a while to respond – lot of work and trouble on patrol these days 🙁

Bill – the Information on the use of the 1886 in the Johnson County War – where did you get that from?

Its so amazing, because it shows that the 1886 still was in fact an Wild West gun! ?   

The information came from “The Arms of Wyoming’s Cattle War” by Robert A. Murray in the July 1967 issue of Shooting Times magazine. Murray discovered the list in the U.S. Army records located in the National Archives.

At the end of the invasion, the leader, Major Wolcott (his Civil War rank and honorary only in 1892) created a list of rifles, revolvers, cartridges and belts that were surrendered to the U.S. Army.  It gives the name, make, serial number and caliber of the weapon (such as Winchester .45-90 or Colt .45 ), and some other information such as cartridges and belts. This paints an incredibly detailed picture of firearms used by the invaders during the Johnson County war.   It’s the most complete list of firearms used in an insurrection that I know of.  

The list does not list the model of each weapon, but in most cases it can be determined.  For example, a rifle listed as Winchester .45-90 is most likely a Model 1886.  It could possibly be a Single Shot, but not likely.  Also, the serial numbers can be helpful to determine the model.  Some of the Colt .45’s could be either an SAA or a Model 1878 double action.   

Here is an example from the list. Stock detective W.H. Tabor had a Winchester rifle, caliber .45-90, serial number 48917.  With help from a WACA member who did a Cody SN search, I was able to find out more about his rifle.  His .45-90, octagon barrel, plain trigger model 1886 was shipped Dec. 15, 1890 to order number 23020.  He also had three cartridge belts with a total of 142 cartridges.  Tabor also had a Colt SAA in .45 Colt, SN 29768.  I then compiled the information into a table.

Yes, very interesting history.  By the way, the Arapahoe County Winchesters (50 of them) were discussed here in 2015.  I’ve seen several of them for sale over the years.  These were definitely ordered for use on people in mind.  Interesting that they were all ordered in .40-82.  I wonder what went into the decision to select that chambering.

https://winchestercollector.org/forum/winchester-rifles/winchester-model-1886-arapahoe-county/