A Win Saddle Ring Carbine w/a bbl less than the standard length of 20" would be a special order gun. They did provide them all the way down to 14" IIRC (maybe slightly less).
Commonly called a 'Trapper Model' but I'm not sure that was an official factory term. (It's also used to describe short bbl'd Marlin lever action carbines)
One thing the Winchester factory did do on carbines fitted with a shorter than standard 20" bbl, was to also fit those carbines with a carbine style forend that was 1" shorter in length.
The bbl address was moved to a position forward of the rear band. Making it inbetween the rear and front bbl bands.
That roll die marking being moved is one reason you don't see many fake Winchester 'Trapper' carbines even in the 16" (legal w/o NFA paperwork) for sale.
The other is that the Winchester carbine bbl front sight base is a forged in place block on the end of the bbl. When cut off, you loose that one piece attachment and end up w/a soldered or other attachment.
Easy to spot.
You do however see MArlin Trappers w/16" bbls being sold as original quite often as they did not use a shorter forend & did not move their bbl address marking location. Plus the Marlin front site base is a dovetail fitted & soldered attachment that can be refitted.
Not having the factory records available to check on the 1894s in that era makes them a prime target too!
FWIW,,Winchester (and MArlin) rifle bbl of the pre-war2 era are generally 1/16 to 1/4" longer than the advertised length when measured down the bore against the closed breech face. It's just the way they made them.
The Winchester in question, if the bbl were original to the frame,,and it may be, a standard Carbine bbl would have had a one piece forged into place front sight base w/a front sight insert of brass or german silver pinned in place from the side.
If a rifle bbl, it would have had a simple dovetail cut at the muzzle and one of a couple different styles of steel base&blade or steel base w/german silver blade sights in the dovetail.
A crescent butt plate/butt stock may be from another gun if it was originally a saddle ring carbine. But there are some original SRCarbines around that were ordered with a cresent butt. Never say never especially w/a Winchester.
Just some info that I have come to know about these. I can't speculate on what is right and what has been changed on the gun at this point.
The only real way to figure out how the gun left the factory is a letter from Cody.
Commonly called a 'Trapper Model' but I'm not sure that was an official factory term. (It's also used to describe short bbl'd Marlin lever action carbines)
One thing the Winchester factory did do on carbines fitted with a shorter than standard 20" bbl, was to also fit those carbines with a carbine style forend that was 1" shorter in length.
The bbl address was moved to a position forward of the rear band. Making it inbetween the rear and front bbl bands.
That roll die marking being moved is one reason you don't see many fake Winchester 'Trapper' carbines even in the 16" (legal w/o NFA paperwork) for sale.
The other is that the Winchester carbine bbl front sight base is a forged in place block on the end of the bbl. When cut off, you loose that one piece attachment and end up w/a soldered or other attachment.
Easy to spot.
You do however see MArlin Trappers w/16" bbls being sold as original quite often as they did not use a shorter forend & did not move their bbl address marking location. Plus the Marlin front site base is a dovetail fitted & soldered attachment that can be refitted.
Not having the factory records available to check on the 1894s in that era makes them a prime target too!
FWIW,,Winchester (and MArlin) rifle bbl of the pre-war2 era are generally 1/16 to 1/4" longer than the advertised length when measured down the bore against the closed breech face. It's just the way they made them.
The Winchester in question, if the bbl were original to the frame,,and it may be, a standard Carbine bbl would have had a one piece forged into place front sight base w/a front sight insert of brass or german silver pinned in place from the side.
If a rifle bbl, it would have had a simple dovetail cut at the muzzle and one of a couple different styles of steel base&blade or steel base w/german silver blade sights in the dovetail.
A crescent butt plate/butt stock may be from another gun if it was originally a saddle ring carbine. But there are some original SRCarbines around that were ordered with a cresent butt. Never say never especially w/a Winchester.
Just some info that I have come to know about these. I can't speculate on what is right and what has been changed on the gun at this point.
The only real way to figure out how the gun left the factory is a letter from Cody.
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