This exceptional Winchester Model 1886 Sporting Rifle includes the Cody Firearms Museum letter which describes it as; rifle, in 40/65 caliber with octagon barrel and plain trigger. The letter states that this rifle was shipped from the Winchester warehouse on January 15, 1889. The rifle has a blue barrel, magazine and casehardened forearm cap, receiver, hammer, lever and buttplate. The loading gate and bolt are fiery niter blue. The straight grain American walnut stock and forearm have the standard Winchester oil finish. The octagon barrel has a dovetail mounted brass Rocky Mountain front sight with a set screw on the right side of the base and a sporting style rear sight with serrated edges. The upper tang is factory drilled and tapped. The caliber designation is roll-stamped on the top of the barrel at the breech. "-MODEL 1886-" is roll-stamped on the upper receiver tang. The lower tang has the 1884 and 1885 patent dates stamped behind the trigger, and the serial number "8550" is stamped in script numerals behind the rear tang screw.

Excellent. The rifle retains 98% of the original blue and casehardened finish. The barrel and magazine retain nearly all of the original blue finish with some minor edge wear at the muzzle. The blue on the magazine band is thin. The forearm cap, receiver, hammer and lever have 90% of the original case colors. The sides and top of the receiver and the upper tang have fiery case colors. The case colors on the bottom of the receiver and the lever show light handling wear and have a silver patina. The casehardened finish on the crescent buttplate have silvered and has several small spots of age discoloration. The bolt and loading gate retain 98% of the niter blue finish. The stock and forearm are both excellent and retain 90% plus of the original oil finish with a few scattered very minor scratches and handling marks. This is an excellent original example of a Winchester Model 1886 Lever Action Rifle.