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I am hoping some experts here can give me some information on this Model 1873. All I have is one crappy photo and a serial number. Anything you can tell me about it will be useful information. Year mfg, sub model, what’s right or wrong with it, maybe a rough ballpark of the value…
Serial number is 421451B (what I was told…)
Thanks, Kevin
November 7, 2015
Offline
Can’t tell anything from that pic other than it’s a carbine.
Mike
You’re right, not much of a photo. TX is correct, it is a carbine of standard configuration. You didn’t mention caliber, but I’m assuming it’s a .44. It dates to 1892. Without better photos and description, I can’t place an accurate value on it.
Caliber was listed in title, yes, 44 WCF. I will handle it tomorrow… I plan to try and get a few decent pics that I can post. So does 1892 mfg date make it a first or second model carbine?
Thanks, Kevin
Kevin,
The gun is a third model. Here is a picture that I lightened up. It looks like it does not have much for finish but looks like its all original with the right sights. Wood looks good but with better pictures might show other issues. Its in the $3500 to $4000 range.
Bob
WACA Life Member--- NRA Life Member---- Cody Firearms member since 1991 Researching the Winchester 1873's
Email: [email protected]
Well, It looks like the gun in that Sylvester Stallone movie were is mom scrubs the blue off his gun. Someone cleaned the gun with something abrasive and has that bad look but my estimate stands. A gun that has wore away finish is more appealing than a cleaned finish.
Bob
WACA Life Member--- NRA Life Member---- Cody Firearms member since 1991 Researching the Winchester 1873's
Email: [email protected]
The protruding tips of these machine screws
have been flattened by the aggressive attempt to remove rust. It looks to me like it was done by hand rather than on a buffing wheel. I’m ignorant about 1873 values. If this specimen had an unusually nice bore, might it make up somewhat for the atrocity visited on the external metal?
- Bill
WACA # 65205; life member, NRA; member, TGCA; member, TSRA; amateur preservationist
"I have seen wicked men and fools, a great many of both, and I believe they both get paid in the end, but the fools first." -- David Balfour, narrator and protagonist of the novel, Kidnapped, by Robert Louis Stevenson.
Zebulon said
have been flattened by the aggressive attempt to remove rust. It looks to me like it was done by hand rather than on a buffing wheel. I’m ignorant about 1873 values. If this specimen had an unusually nice bore, might it make up somewhat for the atrocity visited on the external metal?
I’m not seeing flatting just the protruding ends are shinned.
Bob
WACA Life Member--- NRA Life Member---- Cody Firearms member since 1991 Researching the Winchester 1873's
Email: [email protected]
Hi Bob. I blew the image up 20 diameters or so. They look more like cylinders than balls at that magnification.
- Bill
WACA # 65205; life member, NRA; member, TGCA; member, TSRA; amateur preservationist
"I have seen wicked men and fools, a great many of both, and I believe they both get paid in the end, but the fools first." -- David Balfour, narrator and protagonist of the novel, Kidnapped, by Robert Louis Stevenson.
November 7, 2015
Offline
Zebulon said
Hi Bob. I blew the image up 20 diameters or so. They look more like cylinders than balls at that magnification.
Bill-
I was going to say someone may have used a concave pin punch on the ends of those screws but that doesn’t make much sense. That could leave the marks I think I’m seeing. May be a good excuse for some replacement screws but I’d just chalk up under “character” and enjoy shooting it.
Mike
FYI… This 1873 was at a local auction, no online bidding, sold for $5000!
Regards, Kevin
Kevin Johnson said
FYI… This 1873 was at a local auction, no online bidding, sold for $5000!
Regards, Kevin
Interesting how some of those local auctions can do better than gunbroker or the big auction houses.
steve004 said
Kevin Johnson said
FYI… This 1873 was at a local auction, no online bidding, sold for $5000!
Regards, Kevin
Interesting how some of those local auctions can do better than gunbroker or the big auction houses.
Seen it here in Texas and Oklahoma for an old-school auction I follow around…crazy bid-ups on some guns, some reasonable. Seems to be a handful of folks there with “blank checks,” I figure a few of them to be buyers for someone else with money and they don’t care at all what they’re spending….probably also leads to these inflated prices we’re seeing with some dealers.
Ten old pickup trucks in a local auction house parking lot belonging to rednecks with a thick wallet, each one of them wanting the single firearm in the auction can artificially elevate the price of a firearm. I’ve seen this happen on several occasions.
Many years ago there was a small auction of a home’s contents after the man died, widow surviving and moving. Included was a model 1873 (why I was there) but it was junk. However there were several folks all excited about it being for sale. I no longer recall details but it sold for way beyond reason. Now i suspect rather than folks really wanting the rifle in question they were instead trying to help out the widow by overpaying by significant amounts. Still, it reflects if you try to compute ‘averages’. Tim
Tim,
I’ve been to several local estate sales and I’ve seen the same thing but I seen guys carrying a blue book before the auction and they were the ones driving it up. People that don’t know what they are bidding on. Its the first time a Winchester has come up for sale in there neck of the woods and they want this rare gun.
Bob
WACA Life Member--- NRA Life Member---- Cody Firearms member since 1991 Researching the Winchester 1873's
Email: [email protected]
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