Winchester 1873 Sn question.

[Charles]

A friend has a Win. 1873 rifle in 38-40 with the SN 186974B. Madis, says that is a 1885 manufacture date. What does the suffix "B" mean?

This friend has been telling me about this old winchester that has been in family since the 1920s and how it had been reblued and was in terrible shape. He wanted me to look at it and tell him what it was.

I was expecting a piece of junk, and it looked very rough. Upon a close inspection, somebody many, many years ago had given the rifle a coat of heavy grease that hard harded. It looked like paint, but it was decades old dryed grease. When removed the metal will be whatever it was before the grease was applied. Looks like somebody warmed the grease into a liquid and put it on with a paint brush as their are several runs. It appears to work just fine although quite stiff being filled with hard grease. Who knows what the bore is like as it is filled with grease as well.

He will bring it by my shop and I will clean it up, but I expect to find a pretty decent 73 rifle. From what I can see, all markings are sharp and all edges are not worn or polished. I had to take my pocket knife and scrape off enough dryed grease so I could read the SN.

He was quite please, when I told him, his rifle was not the junk he had assumed and it probably had some real collector's value. It was a really nice suprise.

[Buck Elliott]

"Mummified" guns are (almost) always a pleasant surprise...

[ole pizen slinger]

I have a Winchester 1873 that was in similar shape--had the hardened grease inside. Worked for a whole day just to remove it. Mine had a set trigger and the fly had frozen so it no longer worked. I tried turpentine as a solvent and it didn't work. Found that Hoppes #9 cut the grease reasonably well. Used a lot of "Q-tips" and patches to soak off the grease. Gun now functions as it was intended. My SN 167387B also exhibits the "B". Don't know what that signifies. Best of luck with the clean-up of the rifle. You may be surprised to find the insides look better than the outside.
ole pizen slinger

PS You will probably have better results completely disassembling the rifle. Find an "exploded" view of the way it goes together. Saved some time for me.

PS2 So far as I know, no one seems to know what the "B" suffix means.

[KirkD]

Pizen Slinger, PM sent.

[ole pizen slinger]

KirkD,
Thanks! Good luck shooting Monday. I'll be interested in your results.
OPS

[KirkD]

Mine has a B after the serial number as well. I remember reading something about this in Madis' book. If I recall correctly, all the 1873's made over period of quite a few years had a B after the serial number.

[the telegraphist]

Not only were a large number of 1873s having a B after the serial, there were also a large number with the A after the serial, an example I have seen a picture of has the serial 89066A another 129638A and 147720A. I have a copy of George W Stones book The Winchester 1873 Handbook, he makes no mention of when the letters started to appear after the serial number. The second model came into existance with the removeable dust cover rail at approx 29500. At approx 89000 the 3rd model came into existance. This with the integral dust cover rail. Alas the A and B prefixes dont follow the introduction of the different models. So to me they are still a mystery. However both custom order jobs and standard production firearms carried the A and B after the serial number. There were also several different styles of stampings of the serial number figures and letters. If you can find a copy of this book it is well worthwhile. He goes into some depth with the different stamping styles and when they appeared.

Good luck with cleaning the 1873 up sir, I hope she turns out fine for you and you enjoy immensely. Your piece should carry the step on top of the receiver where it meets the barrel. Other than 44WCF all others carry this step. The only rule being that the 44WCF rifles did have a step if they were a shorter than standard length barrel.



Rgds

Regards

[Griff]

Madis sez in his "The Winchester Book"

This letter has no significance as to caliber or other variations but was a factory work mark.

page 141, 1985 ed.

[Old Time Hunter]

I had good luck with a '73 that was made in 1881, but was still wrapped in the original "oil" cloth. Which of course after a hundred and twenty years had transformed into a hard tar. I put the whole shebang in a pizza oven set at around 300 degrees. Slowly the goop softened and I carefully unraveled the oil cloth. There was still grease in the gun, but it was now at a couple of hundred degrees + so I placed it muzzle down, breech open, and douced brake cleaner on all the metal parts (after disassembly of course). The amount of greasy gunk that came of that gun was unbelievable, but it eventually cleaned right up and after a good saturating oiling, looks good as new. The furniture was cleaned by a friend of mine that recovers antique furniture using stuff from the period.