Single shot stamping mystery|Winchester Rifles|Forum|Winchester Collector

Wayne said
I have a high wall schuetzen with a mysterious stamping on the left side of the lower tang. Beside the assembly number and the XX wood upgrade is a large US stamp. The only reference I’ve come across that mentions this stamp is in John Campbells book “The Winchester single-shot Volume II”, and then the mention was very brief. The author was describing a rifle that was known as an International Match Rifle, but the description of that rifle was nothing like mine. Mine is a full-blown Schuetzen target rifle and matches the Cody letter to a T. Could there have been a US Schuetzen match team that competed internationally?

  

The “US” marking you found has nothing to do with who the rifle was built for.  It is simply a part of the assembly markings.

Bert

Wayne said
Thank you Bert. I have never seen that mark before.

  

You are welcome.  I have seen the same “U.S” marking on several different Single Shot rifle lower tangs.  The attached picture is the lower tang on s/n 99956.

Bert

Maverick said
Am I recalling correctly that such a marking is denoting the maker of the steel used?

Sincerely,

Maverick

No, you are not recalling it correctly. The steel makers markings are typically found stamped on the bottom of the barrel.  To the very best of my knowledge, no steel makers markings are found on the forged milled receiver frames or associated parts like a lower tang.  Keep in mind that the lower tang started out as a block of steel that Winchester subsequently milled, drilled, and finished.

Bert