Thx for posting that link pre6422hornet. I'm not saying Steve is doing this, I don't know who is but to answer your question, Yes. There are people out there manufacturing barrels, stocks, and parts. Original Winchester roll-dies have sold at recent auctions and turning a new barrel to factory specs isn't difficult. Mix in a few original parts with a few new ones and just wait for that "advanced collector" to come along with some cash. The easiest give away though, at least to my eyes, is the finish. You can replicate factory dimensions and specs, but to get that Winchester finish correct is next to impossible. And that is really all you need to do, find one item that's off with the rifle and you can guarantee you'll find more if you look hard enough. And on these ultra rare guns, one issue should be enough to make you run. I knew a guy that would take a newly put together model 70, distress it to give it age, grease/oil it a little, then put it in a garbage bag and blow the contents of a vacuum cleaner into it. Every nook and cranny of that rifle looked like it had 50 years of dust accumulation in all the right spots. People are nuts.
And to address your other point about Winchesters being utilitarian, they were absolutely that and nothing else. How many CT made Winchesters or Remingtons or Kimbers of Oregon or Dakotas, Coopers, etc have you or anyone else on this forum purchased in the last 10 years, left them new in the box, and put them in your safe? Or what about just an odd caliber that has seen some use, maybe a Clackamas made Kimber in 222 Remington that someone says I better hang on to this. I bet the answer is not many. My point being of course we can't say it never happens because it does, just not very often. But in 50 years, some of those are going to be worth a good deal of money compared to what was paid for them today. Years ago Winchesters were being hunted and shot with, that's foremost. Some went on a single trip never to be used again, and some, and I mean very few, were left new in the box or new in the crate for whatever reason. The math is so simple really.
