The woman holding the rifle was the first black US mail carrier. After escaping Tenn she spent some time in Ohio before moving west to Montana. I suspect she could hold her own on a stage line. It looks like some version of a Winchester 76 carbine to me.

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Looks like a 1876 musket.

Model 1876 military carbine. The Musket version was longer.

Was used by the Canadian Mounties. It impressed the Sioux more than their single-shot Sniders had!

Caliber was probably .45-60 or some other unique to this model. Superseded by Model 1886, a stronger design by John Browning for Winchester.

Didn't Teddy Roosevelt have a Model 76, fancy, and with a half length magazine? I realize that he was better known for his later use of the M-95, including a .405 that he took to Africa. His son Kermt had one, too, and one in .30 Army , probably meaning .30-40 Krag.

What Texas Star says above

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No clue but am absolutely certain that gal ( or guy? ) would not hesitate to use it.

Thanks, the stock looked musketish to me but OAL was obviously too short. I was not aware of a musket carbine but it makes sense. That carbine may well be a photo studio prop but it would also be very handy on a stage coach.

The Mounties had them in a short saddle bucket, I think. Somewhere, I have a booklet on firearms of the RCMP, and the Winchester was well shown.

Yes, Theodore (he hated to be called Teddy) had a Model 76 in the configuration you describe. I've seen what is obviously a studio picture of TR in buckskins holding a Model 76 at port arms. Another famous 76 user was Geronimo. He turned one in when he surrendered.

Webb Hayes, son of president Rutherford B. Hayes, brought a Model 76 in caliber.50-95-300 Express to Wyoming in 1879 to hunt big game with General George Crook. The General was Rutherford's commanding officer in the Civil War. Rutherford often brought his sons to camp between campaigns. Crook took a liking to Webb and taught him hunting and fishing and woods craft. The two came to Wyoming annually until Crook died in March of 1890. The Winchester is in the collection of the Wyoming State Museum.

I think that that woman is the real thing, something about running a stage stop outpost of something. So the rifle could very well be hers and not a photo prop.
EDIT: I found her. Her name was “Stagecoach Mary”.

Neat story.
Thanks for posting

I think the woman is the real thing but her photo appears to be shot in a studio...too nice for a stagecoach stop. What this has to do with the rifle being f=real or a prop, who knows?

Escaped from Tenn. Made her way out west. Mail carrier. Rifle. God bless her! She didn't have to apologize to anyone! Sincerely. bruce.

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Antique Arms, Inc. - Winchester 1876 NWMP Saddle Ring Carbine

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You think you have a tough life. This poor woman lived TOUGH.
Great photo, thanks.

She didn't really "escape" from TN, she was emancipated at the end of the war and went to Ohio. She went west because a Mother Superior previously of a convent where she had stayed got sick with pneumonia. She was a helluva character, drank, smoked, and didn't mind gunplay, which got her kicked out of the convent. Very popular woman.

Momma means business, the mail will get delivered.

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