Winchester Model 1873 rifle with Cody Firearms Museum letter. The letter describes this rifle's features as: "38 caliber, Barrel length: 26 inches, Barrel Shape: Octagon" and "Set Trigger". (It does not verify the shotgun butt). The letter states that this rifle was shipped from the Winchester warehouse on April 7, 1883. The rifle has a blued barrel, magazine, forearm cap, receiver, dust cover and special order shotgun buttplate. The loading gate is niter blue and the hammer and trigger are color casehardened. The rifle has a standard sporting style front sight with nickel-silver blade and a buckhorn sporting rear sight with screw-adjustable center piece. The receiver has the round 'step' used on .38, .32 and .22 caliber arms. As noted in the Cody letter, the rifle has a special order single set trigger. The stock and forearm are straight grain American walnut. The top of the barrel 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. The caliber designation: "38-CAL" is roll-stamped on the top barrel flat just in front of the receiver. "38 CAL" is stamped in script letters on the bottom of the brass cartridge elevator. "{MODEL.1873.}" is roll stamped on the upper tang in fancy letters with foliate devices at either end. The serial number, "112091" is stamped in script numerals on the lower tang behind the lever latch.