1 of 1000 available for auction

Well, everybody knows what a 1 of 1000 is, but if an investor rather than a collector, they may not know that a 1 of 100 is actually much scarcer, and a '76 to boot.

P.S. Not that you would want to shoot it, but the '76 is a .45-75, not .45-70.
 
Darn it. I thought it was a 45-70 Government. I don't own a lever action, yet.

If I win this, I would shoot it. Its not an unfired gun.
 
In actuality is t it 1 of 8 according to the description ? I believe it is marked 1 of 100 but reads as if they only made 8.
 
The 1876 couldn't handle the length of the .45-70, so Winchester brought out a series of bottlenecked cartridges like the .45-75 and .50-95 that were short enough to work in the action, but which could match the power of the big straight walled cases.

The 1 of 100 rifles are rarer using higher grade wood and finishing than the 1 of 1,000 rifles.

Trivia question...

Anyone know the movie in which a 1 of 1,000 rifle featured prominently?
 
I figured someone would know it right off bat.

I THINK, but am not certain, that the rifle from the movie is in the Cody museum.
 
In actuality is t it 1 of 8 according to the description ? I believe it is marked 1 of 100 but reads as if they only made 8.
Click to expand...

They only made 8 in 45-75 of the 1 in 100 series.
 
I THINK, and if I REMEMBER right, there's a display about the movie "Winchester 73" in the Cody museum that features a model 71, .348 Winchester, that Herb Parsons used to do the actual shooting of the coins tossed in the air during the shooting match for the "73" that Jimmy Stewart's character won. Of all things to do aerial shooting with; a .348! I had a Browning M71 for a while, and that's the last thing I'd use to try and hit a GARGAGE CAN lid thrown in the air for me to hit... There's also some coins in that display that Mr. Parsons hit with the M71.
 
"LOL, Mike, it was in the text describing the rifle."

You have got to be kidding me...

I didn't read the text on either rifle. :o
 
In actuality is t it 1 of 8 according to the description ? I believe it is marked 1 of 100 but reads as if they only made 8.
Click to expand...

Winchester advertising was that rifles with the very best accuracy would be marked One of One Thousand given "extra finish" and sold for $100. Nearly as good would be marked One of One Hundred and sold for $20 more than base price for the gun as equipped.
There seems to have been no intention of doing any specific number of guns or of actually grading out the best of each 100 and 1000.

They obviously did not get many orders for the special deal and quit cataloging them after 1877. No wonder, that was an awful lot of money for a rifle selling for $12 in 1901. (I don't have 19th century prices.)

Madis says 136 1/1000 Model 73s, nothing about 1/100. RIA said 5 made.
Madis says 50 1/1000 Model 76s, only 8 1/100.
 
The film also featured Rock Hudson as an Indian chief, with the line 'This is gun I want', and Tony Curtis in his first speaking role, and great footage of the Saguaro Forest near the Old Tucson movie set.
 
There's a very well reviewed book on Amazon on the subject of the 1 of X rifles.

It would be a nice one to have if you're really intent on the subject as apparently the illustrations are quite good.

The "extra finish" must have included select wood, because the few 1 of X rifles I've seen, either in photos or collections, the wood has all been spectacular.
 
Yes, Madis goes into that.
"Extra finish" at Winchester in those days meant not only better polish and blue on the metal and better polish on the wood, it got you a higher grade of walnut.
 
These would be black powder only no matter the chambering, correct? For that reason alone I would avoid shooting. I would avoid having to clean a highly collectible BP only firearm. I might be missing a trick or two, but my modern BP arms require pretty extensive disassembly to completely remove all traces of the corrosive BP.
 
Yes, all of Winchester's 1 of X rifles were made prior to the general adoption of smokeless powder.

That means one other important thing...

These rifles were never intended to be shot with jacketed bullets -- lead only.

The softness of the iron and early steel used in those rifles and the extra hardness of jacketed bullets can result in a badly washed out bore.
 
Mike Venturino wrote that '76s are very accurate, as lever actions go.
All he slugged were very close on bore and groove diameters.
 
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