Guns International #: 100983394
Seller's Inventory #: #4938

#4938 Winchester 1873 RBFMCB, First Model 44/40 w/mortised dustcover. Very, VERY high serial number for a 1st Model (33XXX -1879 mfgr) and thus being a genuine transition frame with having both the 1st variation frame mortised dustcover and yet ALSO having the external pinned trigger like a 2nd variation!! In all my 50-years of collecting, I have never seen or owned a 1st Model ’73 with this anomaly. It also has a 2nd Model style dust cover devoid of the usual thumb-print and yet without the rear serrations and looks as old as the gun, having the same overall metal condition and looking like it has been with this rifle since it was new. The action is very good, the bore is at best just marginal, being about a 5 on a scale of 10 with some light-to-medium pitting, serious lead build-up, and medium wear to the rifling. Externally it is basically just a smooth grayish metal with some scattered very light pitting, markings are very good, wood shows considerable wear, bumps, bruises, and some “chaffing” to the stock. Now, just any standard 1st  Model 1873 is hard enough to find, but this one really has got to be an extreme rarity …probably less than a half-dozen were ever made with these transitional features! There are lots of pictures of this very rare old Winchester, so if they all do not load up, be sure to e-mail me and I’ll forward them along to you. VG  Was $3750 ...now $3395