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LOT 3042
Scarce Exempted Short Barreled Winchester Model 1894 Lever Action Saddle Ring Trapper Carbine with 15 Inch Barrel and ATF Letter - Serial no. 602691, 30 WCF cal., 15 inch round bbl., blue finish, walnut stock.
The included 1991 ATF letter lists this carbine among others as exempted from the NFA and as classified as a curio or relic firearm, and it appears on the current Curio or Relic list. It was manufactured in 1913, well before short barreled firearms became restricted due to their association with bootleggers and other organized crime. Short barreled lever actions like this would have been handy on horseback or when getting in and out of motor vehicles as they became more prominent in American life. While semi-automatics and machine guns also became popular with law enforcement and criminal elements, plenty of period photographs show that many lawmen and outlaws stuck to their trusty lever guns. This carbine has a pinned blade front sight on a block behind the upper barrel band, a notch and folding ladder rear sight, the nickel steel marking and caliber designation on the left, the “WP” oval proofs on the barrel and frame at the breech, a saddle ring on the left, the model and trademark information on the upper tang, and smooth carbine stock and forearm.
CONDITION: Fair with mix of faded period refinished blue and gray and brown patinas overall, file marks on
the sides of the frame, some mild pitting and general moderate wear appropriate for a trapper carbine used as designed as a handy gun whether it was being carried out on the range in a scabbard on horseback or kept at the ready behind the seat of a Model T. The refinished wood is good and has thin repaired cracks by the upper tang, some dings and scratches, small chips and slivers absent at some of the edges, and mild overall wear. Mechanically fine. This is a very handy Winchester Model 1894 carbine. While it is the most popular Winchester lever action of all time, only a limited number were made with these short barrels prior to the National Firearms Act of 1934 and subsequently exempted from NFA status making surviving examples like this particularly scarce and desirable.
Estimate: 6,000 - 9,000
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