Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Winchester Collectors Thoughts on a Model 55 Winchester 30WCF

I am thinking of purchasing a Model 55 30WCF for about $900. It does not have much blueing left on the receiver but it is very clean and has a very good bore. I am just wondering what peoples thoughts are on this model.

The Model 55 is one of my favorites..........I have one in 25-35 that I bought a couple of years ago.I did pay quite a bit more than what you are thinking of paying......As for the finish,or lack thereof it is quite common for the 55s to have little or no finish left this is due to the metallurgy of the receiver........Mine comes up like a dream and the sights are right there and aligned perfectly.......No searching for them ........I love the configuration of the rifle and am glad I bought it

Iv always wanted one! They seem to have a good following, never see many of them for sale!

Found a 55 accidentally some several decades ago. Not original as Redfield receiver sight & threaded barrel. I wasn't really taken with this rifle, but the word 'cheap' well reflecting my motivation! IN 30-30 and my finish (lack of) is well described by the above comment.
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I've had this urge to swap the buttstock and straight lever with a Model 64 that's with a cruddy recoil pad. Neither of these "original" so no harm will occur in the production of such variations! Of course, some day when I'm gone. such net rifles likely to become touted as "rare Models 55 & 64 variations!
Few of my 55 pix below!
Best!
John

Cool rifle! If you got the chance to get a good one, do it!!!

Does the one you are considering have a stainless steel barrel?

I'd say buy it if you want a nice, svelt takedown Winchester! I just recently bought one in the condition you describe at slightly more than that asking price. In a world of $700+ post-64 M94s, a classic such as the 55 is worth quite a bit more in my book. It's difficult to find a '94 based rifle from that era with good receiver blueing. Mine is below

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Probably get it on Monday

It has a Lyman tang sight, nice! That's worth an extra $150+. I'm going to have to find one for mine, the flat top barrel sight is much too fine for my eyes to use.

The possible 'bugger' as in the takedown mechanism. It's good and adjustable, but still, needing reasonable care. Most rifles I believe factually seldom dismantled in that context. But if allowed to shoot as worn loose or (more suceptible to damage) poorly treated, a problem. They're simply not as sturdy. For me, I'll take the 94 regular carbine genre from about '32-'37 year production span. The sweet combo of barrel integral ramp and carbine stock with substantial wrap over the top butt plate. The 55 is a nice gun. Mine one of the 'poorer models as noted barrel threaded. A 'utility gun' in my parlance. Yet my above described 94, as amply noted, subject to receiver bluing difficulties due to the nickel steel alloy.

Ever remaining, too many nice guns, too little time! JUst maybe to sit back and enjoy with ample "pontificating" here and on Gunboards Forum!
Captive audience & my style!

Best!
John

I’ve found myself as of late hankering for a good clean standard OB FM CB 1894 rifle in .30WCF.
I’d stick a Marbles Tang sight on it too! Kaboku that’s a good lookin’ 55 glad you decided to get it

Thanks! Kind gents. Have you ever had a lgs that had a collection of guns that they were cutting loose and you decided to slowly carve that collection down by getting different rifles from it. These are old traditional guns that belonged to the old Ahtna hunters from the 1890s to 1940s. What happened is that two collectors were successful at purchasing these old guns in the 1970s and 1980s. During that sad time, many of the Ahtna elders had children that were addicted to Alcohol. One collector was Dean Wilson Sr. He was a fur buyer and was quite the mentor to me. He bought many of the old levers and had them in a gallery rack in his house. Sadly while he was out selling furs in NY many of the rifles caught fire and burned up in a house fire. The other collector was a Lesbian woman named Lisa who with her partner ran Serendipity. It was a lodge, gas station and cafe between Valdez and Kenny Lake on mile 46 Richardson. They had. a liquor store and would trade old rifles for booze. The people would haul their old guns to this place and they developed quite the collection. Hell has no fury like a woman scorned but that is eclipsed when you have two women scorned. One woman took the gravel pit and the other took the rifle collection and sold it to a retired Biologist named Fred Williams. Fred was a great guy but like us all he eventually died at the age of 89. His son Ken Williams is selling much of the collection in consignment at the local shop. So, when I see an old gun that I remember from my youth then I can piece together who had that rifle. I purchased the two rifles from Harley King including the Model 71 Carbine that was used guiding Fred Bear. I missed the two 1895s that sold for a song. I probably will find them again. I also purchased an old 1881 Marlin in 32-40 that I called G for the silver plate that has a cursive g on it. I also purchased a 1894 in 25-20 that belonged to an old sheep hunter named Tom Bell who was blind in one eye and had a blue "russian" eyeball as his good eye. This Winchester Model 55 belonged to an old Chief who liked to hunt moose who was known as Frank Billum. I remember him using this rifle to hunt moose up on the Iron Hills Shelf on the Monument which is now Wrangell St. Elias Park. He would look for signs of a bull moose from the cut marks of a moose cutting the old gravel Berry Bros Mine road that was widened to allow President Jimmy Carter to land there and declare it a national park. He would lean the rifle across the hood of his truck and just wait. Not for a couple of hours but for two or three days. I would help him cut it up when he finally connected. Those guys could really read tracks. They hunted moose during a time when moose were relatively rare and would just walk them down like the ! Kung bushman of the kalahari. In some ways, I feel that I am kind of like those modern Sioux in SD buying land back in the West River so that they can raise Bison on it. Most people go into the shop and don't give two hoots about those old rifles but me I am trying to keep them together and I will work on researching each one when I retire from my teaching gig.

Sincerely,
Thomas

it sounds to me like you have gotten into some guns that you sit down with and wish they could talk, but, then turn around the next day and take them afield and use the hell out of them, thats where they belong! That is what I love, just like an old bird dog that has gotten so old they just lay around the house till they hear a shotgun action open. Don't get better than that.

congrats

Nice snag on a cool rifle!

a few years ago I was walking around at a gun show and an older gentleman walked passed me with a Winchester lever action that he had just purchased. I asked him if I could handle it and he allowed me to do so. It was a Winchester Model 55 Deluxe in 25-35, used but not abused. Dang, that was a beautiful rifle.......

Great stories! And a great rifle!!!! Hope you have hours of making great memories. And keeping the memories of the past owners alive!

Thomas, we often wish our rifles could talk and in a way yours do as you know their history. Congratulations!

Reminds me of finding a half magazine 1886 in 33 WCF at a Tucson gun show in the 1980s.
The TD Model 55 I used for years in 30 WCF was a more accurate rifle than any 94 carbine,
and a perfect balance.
But all of that being said, the 86 smokeless 33 half magazine rifles
were the cat's meow in the North woods and Alaska. I have 4 of them including a deluxe
2/3 magazine and reload for them. They were popular in Canada and Alaska.
Browning's design of Winchester's 1886 and 1885 rifles were popular-for reasons of strength and reliability.

Ben Lilly's 1886 in 33 WCF is in NM somewhere between Silver City and Pinos Altos.