So when and how did the, "Deluxe" term originate? |Page 3|Winchester Rifles|Forum|Winchester Collector

28 gauge said

 That’s really cool information,Bert.Thanks for sharing.  

Bert H. said
Burt,

I did some digging through my catalogs covering the Model 65 production to verify this statement… to the best of my knowledge, Winchester did not ever catalog a “deluxe” or “Special” variant of the Model 65.

That stated, there were indeed a small number of them made. They are virtually a clone of the Model 64 Deer Rifle and Model 71 Special Rifle. Thus far, I have documented (surveyed) a total of (678) Model 65 rifles, and of that number just (40) are “deluxe” configured rifles, with the majority of them (29) being 218 Bees.

Here are three different 218 Bee “deluxe” rifles

Bert  

Here are some photos of a Model 65 in 218 Bee which I owned for over 40 years. The gun now belongs to a young WACA member who is taking his turn at being the temporary custodian. The gun is as close to new as it gets and at my house was and always will be called a “deluxe” – because it is H-style checkered. When you compare the gun to the 3 samples which Bert provided, you will see the difference is the lack of a capped pistol grip on the gun I used to own. So, technically, you could say my old gun was a special order 65 – it had upgraded walnut, checkering and factory swivels – I believe the bolt peep was standard on all 218 Bee guns. I still think that Winchester marketed guns like Berts examples as a “Deluxe”, – from the factory.