1873 Winchester

J

jfranz

Inactive
Hey everyone, longtime lurker but this is my first post. I was going through some stuff that was my grandps's who passed away when I was 17, and found a Model 1873 Winchester 22 cal, the serial number puts it manufactured in 1890. The rifle is in horrible shape, forearm busted, action is bound up and the outside of the barrel and receiver is pitted. The bore is in good shape with no rust.

What is everyone's opinion is this worth buying new parts and fixing up and re-bluing or just make it a wall hanger?
 
The Model 1873 in .22 caliber* is pretty rare (I have seen only one) and I would advise not doing anything yourself unless you have experience with antique arms work. Dollar wise, it is better to leave it alone than to make a mistake and do it irreparable harm.

You can use a good penetrant on active rust to prevent it from getting worse, and clean off the worst of the dirt, but that is all. Meantime use Google to locate experts in that gun. I do not recommend taking it to a gunsmith since most of today's gunsmiths have never worked on any Model 1873, let alone a .22. AFAIK, parts unique to the .22 are simply not available.

If you decide to have it restored, contact www.turnbullrestoration.com and see what they say.

*This assumes the rifle is a factory .22, and not a gunsmith conversion.

Jim
 
I need to get some pictures of this gun but it is in really rough shape. I have found a supply of 22 parts for it from a couple of dealers on-line. I would have to either get a new forearm and cap or build one since half of it is missing. I haven't decided whether to do anything to the finish, but don't have to touch it. The biggest issue is all of the inner tube parts of the magazine are gone. It appears to be a factory .22 since the barrel matches all of the design features as pointed out on various sites.
 
I will be able to put some pictures up tomorrow but I did a bit more investigating on it, and on the carrier it is stamped 22 Cal Short. All of the writing on the top of the barrel has been destroyed due to pitting.
 
It's so rare, that none of that matters - UNLESS you start fooling with it.

FWIW, many collectors value guns still in original, un-restored/unrepaired, condition to one that's had less than a museum quality restoration - which not many folks can do in their home workshop, much less on the kitchen table.

You could easily do what a lot of unknowing folks do - turn a rifle worth several thousand dollars into a $500 (or less) parts gun.



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You are right, that one is rough. The brass sideplates are home made; you can see the "shadow" on the receiver where the original ones were. The receiver is .22 (the "dip" in the top front of the receiver proves that). The foreend and foreend cap should be the same as for the small tube (.25 and .32) rifles, so those parts would be no problem.

But in all honesty, the gun is so hacked up and so much of the surface destroyed that I doubt it can be restored in any way that won't destroy any value that is left. I don't think Turnbull would take on the job, but I could be wrong. You can call them and send pictures and see what they say.

There might be interest from someone who just wants a "relic" .22 to fill a hole in the collection until a better one comes along, but that would probably bring very little, maybe a couple of hundred dollars.

Jim
 
My idea would be to get the parts that are needed to get it back to original shape and then draw file the pitting out of the gun and try to re-blue it. Depending upon the shape of the bore I might try to just make a little plinker out of it.
 
Call John Taylor at Taylor Machine 253-445-4073. John rebuilds old Winchesters, and his work is outstanding.

As far as draw-filing the metal, don't. In working although rough condition, that rifle may be worth quite a bit. Drawfiled and buggered up, it will be worthless. If you are unwilling to put the money into it to restore the rifle, you can sell it as-is to a collector. John Taylor knows several collectors, he may be able to help you find a buyer.
 
This really is a tough one. It's in a little bit of too bad a shape to enjoy hanging on a wall as is. If you were lucky enough to find someone who really wanted it, for some reason I can't understand, you might sell it. There are several people capable of rehabbing it to something you would enjoy looking at and shooting but at what cost and as previously mentioned all collector value would be gone. If it was me and I had the money ( a lot ) to spare I would have it redone, but there are a lot of people that would argue against that. The only sure thing is do not try to redo it yourself, I think everyone would agree with that. My best advice is take some time and don't rush into anything. There are several right answers and really only one wrong one.
 
Yes I would agree normally a diy rebuild would not be a good idea, but I have rehabbed a lot of metal objects (machinery, guns, sheet metal) and have the tools and know how to do as good of a job as anyone. I would really like to find a different barrel but since these are so rare that will be almost impossible. The only thing I would be worried about would be destroying any intrinsic value that it might have, but as been discussed this one is so far gone that it cant be worth more than a Mosin. I am going to get all vintage parts using ebay to rebuild. I probably wont be starting on this until next winter anyways, I have a couple of other projects that I have to complete.
 
Clean it up with oil. Wipe it down well every day for a couple of weeks. You would be surprised how well that alone will work.

Oil all of the action parts well, and let it soak in for a few days. See if the action will work. If it does call it good. I would not try to make a shooter out of it. The condition is a good proof of its authenticity. Many of the old ones have patina.

I would clean it up. Make a display box for it with some memorabillia in with it, and make it a real cool wall hanger.
 
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