This Winchester Model 1873 .22 caliber rimfire rifle was manufactured in 1884, the first year of production for the .22 Model 1873 rifle. The Model 1873 was the first Winchester firearm chambered for the .22 rimfire cartridge and the first .22 caliber repeating rifle. This rifle is accompanied by a factory letter that describes it as a rifle, caliber .22 with octagon barrel and plain trigger. The letter states that this rifle was received in the warehouse on September 2, 1884, and shipped the next day. The rifle has the Winchester commercial blue finish on the octagon barrel, full length magazine, forearm cap, receiver and dust cover. The hammer, lever, and crescent buttplate are color casehardened. The stock and forearm are straight grain American walnut. The rifle has the scarce takedown pin feature. The barrel has a standard sporting style front sight with nickel-silver blade and a buckhorn, sporting style rear sight with serrated edges. The magazine tube has the early style heavy stop ring. The rifle has the Third Style receiver with integral dust cover rail and a dust cover with serrated edges. The receiver has the "step" at the front edge found on .22, 32, and 38 caliber Model 1873s. The upper receiver tang is factory drilled and tapped for a tang sight. The top barrel flat is roll-stamped with the two-line legend: "WINCHESTER'S-REPEATING ARMS. NEW HAVEN. CT./KING'S-IMPROVEMENT-PATENTED-MARCH 29. 1866. OCTOBER 16. 1860." ahead of the rear sight. "22 CAL." is roll-stamped on the top barrel flat between the rear sight and the receiver. "22 CAL/SHORT" is roll-stamped in script letters in two lines on the bottom of the cartridge elevator. The upper receiver tang is roll-stamped with the model designation: "- MODEL 1873-" in fancy letters with foliate devices at either end. The serial number is stamped in script numerals on the lower tang between the rear tang screw and the lever latch.

Extremely fine. The rifle is all original and retains 85% plus of the original blue finish overall. The blue finish has faded slightly and slight finish loss on the barrel edges. The contact points on the magazine show traces of plum brown patina. The receiver has edge wear on contact points and some scattered age spotting, but has most of the bright blue finish. The dust cover retains 80% of the blue finish. The trigger and lever have strong case colors. The right side of the hammer has some finish loss. The case colors on the buttplate have faded to a silver gray patina. The stock and forearm are very good overall; the forearm shows some finish wear, and the stock has a number of shallow handling marks concentrated primarily on the lower left side. This is a very fine example of a scarce Winchester Model 1873 .22 caliber rifle.