aireloom winchester

[Guest grays]

So my Dad gave me a rifle passed down in the family for a while. Its a winchester lever action gun it says on the top of the octogon barrel "winchester repeating arms new haven coiin" " kings improvment patent March 29 1866 - october 16 1860" then at the base of the barrel it says 32 wcf. I have two questions what is this gun is it rare? and how much is something like this worth? I am not getting rid of it but just like to know. My Dad said it was an ole saddle gun. Thanks much

[Parrothead]

Pctures would help a lot. Sounds like you have one hell of a rifle......

[1gewehr]

".32 WCF" is just an old name for .32-20. As it was introduced in 1884, your rifle is certainly no older than that. King's patent was the loading gate on the right side found in most WInchester rifles starting with the Model 1866. I haven't heard of any Model 66 rifle in .32-20, so yours is most likely a model 1873.

Condition is everything as far as value is concerned for these old Winchesters. There is a wealth of inofrmation on the 'net. Just search and you'll get some excellent information that will help you figure out what you have and gie you an idea of value. Do not jump to conclusions, small details can make a huge difference in price. Any modifications will most likely detract from value.

If it IS a '73, this link will give you an idea of when it was made.

http://www.gun-data.com/winchester_73.htm

[gregintenn]

I'm guessing a model 92, but could be a 73 Condition, barrel length, and other options are all key to the value of the gun. Especially condition! Could be $300. Could be $50,000. you can't post this type of thing without pictures!!!!

[Dolomite_supafly]

Whatever you do make sure you do nothing more than wipe it down with oil. DO NOT try to shine or remove any patina because you will remove any collector value. All to often people think they are improving the value of a gun by polishing and shining but with collectible guns it is just the opposite.

With guns that old they used something called rust bluing. It makes the metal more of a brown color and that is the correct color for this gun, not blue. It is only modern guns that are blue.

To give you an idea of how bad it can affect value I will tell you this. I watched a guy walk into a show with a very old and very rare Colt single action. In its original finish it was worth $3,000-$5,000, maybe even more but because he took a wire wheel to it the day of the show it turned it into a $500 shooter. He said he was trying to get the brown rust coloring off. It didn't appear to have any pitting and the grips were in nice shape other than where the wire wheel hit them.

I say that just to impress upon you how important it is to leave original guns original.

Dolomite

Edited March 23, 2012 by Dolomite_supafly