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The top of the dust cover is marked “WINCHESTER EXPRESS/50 CAL.
95 GRS.”, and the bottom of the brass cartridge elevator is marked
“50-95”. The upper tang is marked with the early style “MODEL. 1876.”
without the flanking foliage design, and the serial number is marked
on the lower tang between the screw and the lever latch. The sides
of the forend cap, hammer and forward sides of the lever have a
small amount of floral scroll engraving. The barrel, 1/2 magazine,
loading gate and dust cover are blue, and the forend cap, receiver,
hammer and lever are casehardened. The rifle is mounted with a
delicate hand checkered fancy grade walnut forearm and a nice
feathered crotch walnut pistol grip stock with an ebony insert in the
bottom of the grip and a checkered hard rubber buttplate. Each side
of the stock is stamped with a small “D.O.K.”. The accompanying Cody
letter verifies the rifle configuration with round matted barrel, plain
trigger, checkered pistol grip stock, sights listed “Sights as per letter”,
1/2 magazine, rubber buttplate, casehardened, “Engraved $1.50”, that
it was received in the warehouse on February 13, 1882, and shipped
on order number 30589, February 16, 1882. These big 1876 lever
actions rifles were intended as an improvement on the 1873 rifle
by lengthening the action to accommodate the new and improved
rounds such as 40-60, 45-75, and of course, the 50-95. There were
only approximately 64,000 made before the introduction of the
newer improved 1886 rifle, making any 1876 rifle very desirable with
a deluxe special order rifle such as this one even more scarce.
CONDITION: Very fine. The barrel retains 60% original blue finish with
a smooth grayish brown patina on the balance. The receiver retains
20% of the original case colors mostly concentrated in the protected
areas, with the balance a smooth silver gray. The hammer and lever
have a smooth gray patina. The stock and forearm retain over 50% of
the original factory varnish, showing a little more wear on the forend
from normal use with some scattered minor scratches, nicks and
dings. The right side of the buttstock is starting to show some very
minor age cracks in front of the buttplate. The checkering remains
crisp showing some very minor wear and a few minor dings. The
engraving and markings remain clear and crisp. The action is very
good. A very fine example of a desirable .50 Express special order
deluxe 1876 lever action rifle for the discerning Winchester collector.
Estimate: 18,000 - 25,000