Early Winchester - Model 1886 - lever action rifle - .40-82 WCF - .22" octagon barrel. - Condition is excellent to fine. - 95% thin blue on barrel, mag tube about turned plum; frame & lever silvered out w/ some light roughness & a few individual pinpoint pits; excellent markings. Sound wood appears as excellent, probably sanded at some point. Working. Dirty bore with distinct rifling might clean to about good. - Winchester factory records at Cody show this originally made as a .45-70, 8-24-1887, but changed to .40-65 octagon barrel plain trigger & so shipped on 11-14-1887. - [cons.eemo.otsprc] - s/n7659 - antq - item #RW-59EE - $3,250

Winchester - Model 1886 - lever action rifle - .45-70 - Round barrel shortened to 20", button mag. - Modified; good condition. - Salt & pepper speckled gray metal w/ scant traces of blue; no barrel markings. Good mech. Bore is pitted w/ distinct rifling; mid-barrel bulge. Sound wood, very good buttstock, forend has coarse checkering; White Line rubber recoil pad & sling swivel sockets installed. Buckhorn rear & silver bead on blade front replaced sights. Receiver drilled & tapped for peep sight. - Winchester factory records at Cody show this shipped as a .45-70 round barrel plain trigger rifle on 10-31-1890. An honest old 86, probably shortened early in its life & modified more recently into a working shooter. - [cons.eemo.otsprc] - s/n44837 - antq - item #RW-37EE - $1,750

Whitney Kennedy - lever action rifle - .44 CF; 24” oct. barrel - Very good condition. - Rather crisp metal w/ gray & light brown patina; good markings.  Bore a bit better than usual, might clean to about good.  Very good mech.  Sound wood retains most varnish w/ numerous usage marks, most light except for 1” gouge on left forend. - Ramshorn rear sight missing elevator.  Very nice somewhat scarce early lever action repeater; honest looking piece. - s/n 212 - antq - item #RV-W212 - $2,950

Custom engraved & gold inlaid Marlin - Model 1895   - lever action rifle - .38-56; 25.75” oct. barrel. - Restored & enhanced to lovely about as new condition. - Well executed handsome broad scroll engraving on frame & forend cap, with gold line inlay fencing the frame perimeters.  Retains 100% excellent bright professional blue; excellent markings.  Excellent case colors on lever & hammer.  Excellent condition restored nicely figured & checkered would; crack starting at bottom rear stock.   Half magazine. - made 1898; engraving & inlay more recent - s/n 167177 - antq - item #RV-M177 - $3,250

Winchester - Model 1873 - lever action rifle - .44 WCF (.44-40); 24” heavy round barrel - Good condition. - Gray metal w/ pepper spotting; caliber markings gone, other markings legible including two line barrel address.  Ladder rear sight is missing slider; dust cover intact.  Working; usual bore might clean up a bit.  Wood shows usage; sound buttstock has 8 notches behind bottom tang; front of forend at barrel channel has 2” sliver gone from left side & 3” crack on right - Ca. 1883 - s/n 113636A - antq - item #RW-3636 - $1,800

Winchester - Model 71 - Col. Haun's big game & Yucatan bandit rifle - .348 Winchester; 24” barrel. - Condition is fine to very good. - About 60-70% thinning blue remains, even overall; good mech; light roughness in bore might clean out.  Stock shows much carry & use, including what may be a bullet strike scar. - w/ documentation from former Border Patrolman W.O. McGehee:     

My father, M. Tom McGehee, was an executive of Ben Pearson, Inc., in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. During the 1950’s and early 1960’s, dad was also Ben’s shooting partner in archery exhibition shows. These exhibitions often shared the program with the legendary Herb Parsons “The Wizard with a Winchester”. Getting to meet and watch Herb was pretty damned heady stuff for an eight year old. And I still think he had the most fun recipe for coleslaw ever invented. First time I ever saw a Model 71 .348 Winchester.

            Ben Pearson Archery was as close knit organization nearly akin to a “family” business. Ben was the mechanical genius/archery guru, and Col. Carl Haun had bankrolled the young company. Col. Haun was an avid and well-traveled big game hunter with a love of good firearms. He often stopped at my uncles gun shop, and he had shared our Saturday ritual of coffee and pie. He and I were simpatico in our choice of shooting sports – we were gun men surrounded by archers.

            During the late 1950’s and early 1960’s, I was very ill with a lung ailment which required a long convalescence, hospital stays, and bed rest. My love of the out-of-doors and shooting was well and truly stymied. One day my dad told me I had a visitor. Col. Haun walked into my sick room and we began to visit. He talked about hunting, guns, and shooting. He reminded me that Theodore Roosevelt (my grandfather’s CO) had been “sickly” as a boy, but overcame his illness to lead a life of adventure. He then asked me if I had a good lever-action Winchester to hunt grizzly and moose with. I stammered that I did not, wondering if he had me confused with my uncle who owned a gun store.

            Col. Haun then produced a Winchester Model 71 (to me, the legendary “Three Forty Eight Winchester”), and told me that I did now! He told me to get well so I could take his rifle hunting again. Col. Haun passed away soon after. God rest his soul.

            Oral history about the rifle, passed on by my dad, Ben, and Carl’s son J.T., provided a colorful tapestry of stories of hunting grizzly, panthers, moose, and jaguar. According to Dad and J.T., on one jaguar hunt a duo of jungle bandits accosted the Colonel. The bandits, however, made a tactical mistake. They stayed in tandem. The story concludes with the report that: “A .348 Winchester 200 grain factory load will go clean through two underfed Yucatan bandits”!

 - s/n 2887 - C&R - item #RX-2887 - $3,500

Special order Winchester - Model 1873 - lever action rifle with half mag. - .44 WCF (.44-40); 24” oct/rd barrel - Very good condition. - Generally crisp mottled plum patina metal, with scant memories of original blue.  Good markings, except no cal. mkg. on barrel & elevator mkg is faint.  Intact dust cover has some scaling & does not retract when action is worked; otherwise working.  Very dirty bore w/ very slight bulge mid-barrel. - Wood refinished to fine condition with expert repair to bottom rear of buttstock.  Ca. 1890. - s/n 339462B - antq - item #RW-9462 - $1,350 - Note - rear of barrel has a line across the top that may be a crack.

Winchester - Model 1892 - lever action rifle - .32 WCF (.32-20); 24" oct. barrel. - Nice condition as probably reworked. - Generally crisp metal; bright polished frame & lever w/ a very few pinpoint pits on rt. side frame; maybe 70% thin blue on barrel. Strong markings. Working; light roughness & good rifling throughout bore. - Few dings on sound probably refinished wood. Ca. 1917. Standard rear sight plus Marble’s tang rear sight. - s/n 835837 - C&R ffl - item #RW-5837 - $1,100

Winchester - Model 1873 - lever action rifle - .38 WCF (38-40); 24” oct. barrel - About good condition. - Mottled gray metal w/ fine pepper spotting on frame; good markings except none on brass elevator.  Intact dust cover does not retract when action worked; also lever stroke does not fully cock hammer, and closing stroke is quite stiff.  Usual bore.  Wood probably refinished to fine condition. -   Ca. 1890 -  - s/n 341509B - antq - item #RW-1509 - $1,400

Pre-war Winchester - Model 94 - lever action carbine - 30 WCF (30-30); 20” round barrel - Right side of gun has about 80% original blue, more on barrel, less on frame, with one small area of pitting on the frame & another on the mag tube.  Left side of gun shows 80% blue on the barrel & gray frame with moderate to heavy pitting on the front 2” of barrel & most of the mag tube, and light pitting on the back half of the frame.  Very good mech & bore.  Excellent condition wood with only slight usage marks. - ca. 1940 - s/n 1123845 - C&R - item #RX-3845 - $685

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