Lordy, at an early family party yesterday, my son-in-law presented me with an 1873 Winchester .44-40. He discovered it, along with an 1887 Winchester Shotgun, wrapped and hidden in an air duct in an old home he purchased.
1882-built, appears to fall between fair to good. I am delighted, will do light cleaning, but it appears in excellent shooting condition. Serial #962**.
Wow, will you put a pic of it up? That is cool! Should be fine to shoot after a cleaning, make sure there is no obstructions and cause some destruction!
Dang, I should have thought of that before posting! I was just a little delighted. Will see if I can get them, and of course figure out how to post them.
Wow just wow! That thing is in great shape. How is the butt and barrel?
The butt is heavily pitted. It appears it must have spent many years with the butt on a damp floor. Still, the little cleaning rod hatch (the rod itself is missing) opens freely.
The bore was heavily fouled with lead. After three days of cleaning, I am still getting lead residue. Visually, there appears to be light rust pitting, but it is hard to tell because of the remaining lead. No question it is in good shooting condition now though.
I am tickled. I need to locate a rear sight ramp. It is missing, although there is no evidence of it having one in a very, very long time.
I have been told that it was likely placed in the air duct in the late 1950's along with an 1887 Winchester 12GA, evidently as defense against having them stolen by burglars. The elderly owner, and his spouse, are deceased with no heirs, and the guns were apparently unknown to anyone else. The executors of the estate sold most of the home's contents and then sold the home and everything remaining to my son-in-law, who eventually discovered the guns while re-plumbing, heating etc.
Way better than gold as the price of them old guns ain't going down.
The Mayans had it right. If you�re going to predict the future, it�s best to aim far beyond your life expectancy, lest you wind up red-faced in a bunker overstocked with Spam and ammo.
Boy, after three weeks I am still getting a little lead fouling out of the bore, but it is looking really good. She's ready to shoot and I am just awaiting dies and components to load some up and go out and re-foul everything.
