Guns International #: 101638234
Seller's Inventory #: 210003

Category - Colt Rifles - Lightning - Colt Rifles - Antique

Category
Colt Rifles - Lightning
Colt Rifles - Antique

101 RANCH Antique Lettered COLT LIGHTING Slide Action .38-40 WCF Cal. Rifle Rifle Used in the MILLER BROTHER’S 101 RANCH WILD WEST SHOW!

Description:
101 RANCH Antique Lettered COLT LIGHTING Slide Action .38-40 WCF Cal. Rifle

Rifle Used in the MILLER BROTHER’S 101 RANCH WILD WEST SHOW!

Here we present an antique Colt Lightning Medium Frame Slide Action Rifle in .38 CLMR (.38-40 WCF), with a 101 punched into the frame and a Miller Bros. 101 Ranch cast placard set into the left side of the butt stock, made in 1891, in Hartford, Connecticut. The factory letter lists the rifle with a 26-inch octagon barrel in .38 caliber, blue finish and wood stock when shipped to H.C. Squires in a batch of 80 to New York City on Apr. 24, 1891.

This was Colt’s entry into the pistol caliber rifle and carbine market, which was absolutely dominated by Winchester at this time. Pistol caliber rifles were instrumental in the hands of those settling the West, as they were able to carry one type of ammunition to feed both their long gun and their sidearm. It also enabled a rifle to be stoked with the maximum number of cartridges, sacrificing power for capacity, useful when outnumbered at close range. The Colt Lightning was successful, but never approached the numbers that Winchester’s lever action was able to achieve.

After “The winning of the West,” something new was added to the American scene with the birth of the Wild West Show. Names such as Buffalo Bill Cody, Pawnee Bill, and Colonel Cummins are synonymous with the many Wild West Shows that were to become part of our nation's popular entertainment. The Miller Brother's 101 Ranch Real Wild West Show stands out as one of the last really big Western extravaganzas. From its inception in 1905 to 1939, their show over-shadowed even the famous Buffalo Bill Wild West Show. Bill Cody was a superb showman, but the Millers built a show second to none.

At its peak, the 101 Ranch, founded in 1879 by Confederate veteran Col. George W. Miller, was a sprawling 110,000 acres of land that seasonally employed two to three thousand people. Many of the ranch hands were also performers in the Wild West Show. There were close to 80,000 people on the ranch opening day in 1905 with the first Wild West Show. And no wonder with such attractions as the Apache prisoner Geronimo, Buffalo Bill, Tom Mix, Bill Pickett and Lucille Mulhall. Plus a buffalo hunt and barbecue, Indian sports and dancing, riding and roping contests, bands and a gigantic parade. Bill Pickett, referred to as the “Negro Cowboy” made the 101 Ranch and Wild West Show famous because of his cowboying and “bulldogging” technique. He went to work on the 101 Ranch in 1905 and remained there for thirty years. The 101 Ranch Wild West Show lasted 35 years. From 1905 to 1939 the 101 Ranch “Real” Wild West Show thrilled audiences and gave life to a bygone era.

The overall condition is good+. The action is strong. Nice bright bore with good rifling. “101” is tamped on the left side of the stock. A Miller Bros. 101 Ranch cast placard is set into the left buttstock naming all three brothers with engravings of their likeness! Chip missing from the toe of the stock. Here is a one-of-a-kind rifle paying homage to a Ranch that romanticized the “Old West” even in its day!

Own the original! This is a legitimate antique and not a reproduction.

Barrel is 26 inches.

Caliber: .38-40 Winchester Center Fire (.38 CLMR)

Overall condition as seen in photos.

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Guaranteed AUTHENTIC & Includes CERTIFICATE OF AUTHENTICITY.

ancestryguns

$3425

#210003

 

SOLD

Antique: Yes