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Winchester 1876 "Open Top" First Model, First Year, Serial #540
Guns International #: 102013883 Seller's Inventory #:
Category: Winchester Rifles - Model 1876 - Winchester Rifles - Antique Lever
Seller's Information
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Seller: Buckhorn Antique Arms
Member Since: 7/24/22
First Name: Michael
Last Name: Casanova
State: North Carolina
Zip: 28677
Country: United States
Phone: (980) 428-0706
Total Number of Listings: 15
Seller: Private Seller
Return Policy: 3 day inspection and return policy on used guns.
No international shipping
Payment Types Accepted: Cashiers Check, Personal Check, Cryptocurrency
About Us: Buyer and Seller of antique Winchesters, Colts, Henry's, Marlins, etc. Invested in the preservation of historic and collectable firearms and western memorabilia.
Description:
Make: Winchester
Model: 1876
Serial Number: 540
Year of Manufacture: 1876
Caliber: .45-75 Winchester
Action Type: Lever Action Repeater
Markings: The upper receiver tang is marked "Model 1876". The lower tang has the serial number "540". The top of the barrel is marked with the address:
"Winchester's Repeating Arms. New Haven, CT.
King's-Improvement-Patented-March 29, 1866. October 16 1860.
Barrel Length: 28"
Sights / Optics: The rear sight is a semi-buckhorn with the elevator bar still present. The front sight is a fixed blade made of silver.
Stock Configuration & Condition: The stocks are straight-grained American walnut with oiled finish. The Buttstock is in fine to excellent condition with only minor wear. The forend is slightly worn, mostly on the bottom, but is otherwise in fine condition.
Type of Finish: Blued receiver, barrel, magazine tube, and small parts. Case color hardening on hammer and lever.
Bore Condition: The bore is in fair to good condition with strong rifling. There is moderate pitting in the grooves, and a few spots of heavier pitting.
Overall Condition: The rifle retains much of it's original finish with strong blueing on the barrel and magazine tube. The majority of the blue remains on the receiver, which is just turning brown and shows typical wear along the edges. The wood fits the metal nicely, and has minimal wear and an even medium-to-dark brown finish. The brass elevator is in very good condition with a well aged mustard patina. All the external markings on the gun are clear, and all the screws are in fine condition apearing to not have been removed for some time. There remains a correct for this model 4-piece steel and brass cleaning rod in the buttstock. The buttplate is worn to mostly white with some rust spots and slight traces of the orginal finish on the top tang.
Mechanics: The action functions smoothly. The trigger has some excess play at rest, but does function perfectly holding the hammer at the full cock and safety notch without trouble. We did not fire this rifle.
Our Assessment: This is a remarkably fine example of the rare "Open Top" first model 1876 rifle. The factory letter confirms the configuration of the gun and that it was received in the warehouse on November 7,1877 and shipped on November 15,1877. The first dust covers were offered at about the 1600 serial number and became common after about 3000, making these Open Tops quite rare. The low 3-digit serial number of this particular example, combined with the high condition make it stand in even more rare company. It would be a prominant addition to any collection of antique Winchesters.
Wikipedia:
The Winchester Model 1876, or Centennial Model, was a heavier-framed rifle than the Models 1866 and 1873, chambered for full-powered centerfire rifle cartridges suitable for big-game hunting, rather than the handgun-sized rimfire and centerfire rounds of its predecessors.[12] While similar in design to the 1873, the 1876 was actually based on a prototype 1868 lever-action rifle that was never commercially produced by Winchester.[13]
Introduced to celebrate the American Centennial Exposition, the Model 1876 earned a reputation as a durable and powerful hunting rifle. Four versions were produced: a 22-inch (56 cm) barrel Carbine, a 26-inch (66 cm) barrel Express Rifle with a half-length magazine, a 28-inch (71 cm) barrel Sporting Rifle, and a 32-inch (81 cm) barrel Musket. Standard rifles had a blued finish while deluxe models were casehardened. Collectors identify a first model with no dust cover, a second model with a dust cover rail fastened by a screw, and a third model with an integral dust cover. Total production was 63,871[12] including 54 One of One Thousand Model 1876s and only seven of the One of One Hundred grade.[9]
Originally chambered for the new .45-75 Winchester Centennial cartridge (designed to replicate the .45-70 ballistics in a shorter case), the Model 1876 also had versions in .40-60 Winchester, .45-60 Winchester and .50-95 Express; the '76 in the latter chambering is the only repeater known to have been in widespread use by professional buffalo hunters.[14] The Canadian North-West Mounted Police used the '76 in .45-75 as a standard long arm for many years with 750 rifles purchased for the force in 1883;[15] the Mountie-model '76 carbine was also issued to the Texas Rangers. Theodore Roosevelt used an engraved, pistol-gripped half-magazine '76 during his early hunting expeditions in the West and praised it. A '76 was also found in the possession of Apache warrior Geronimo after his surrender in 1886.[16]
The Model 1876 toggle-link action receiver was too short to handle popular big-game cartridges, including the .45-70, and production ceased in 1897, as big-game hunters preferred the smoother Model 1886 action chambered for longer and more powerful cartridges.[12]
SOLD
Antique: Yes
Rifle Caliber: .45-75 Winchester