Winchester Model 1886 Saddle Ring Carbine manufactured in 1890. This carbine is accompanied by a Cody Firearms Museum letter that describes this Model 1886 as: "Carbine, 45/90" and "Half nickel". The letter further states that this carbine was shipped from the Winchester warehouse on October 19, 1890, with two other guns as Order Number 19543. The carbine has a nickel-plated receiver and buttplate. The barrel, magazine, barrel bands, bolt and loading gate have the Winchester blue finish. The hammer, trigger and lever are color casehardened. The stock and forearm are straight grain American walnut with a varnish finish. The barrel has a steel, block-mounted, front sight blade located in front of the upper barrel band and sporting style, folding leaf rear sight. The rear sight leaf is marked "1873" on the top and graduated to "9".A staple mounted saddle ring is located on the left side of the receiver. The upper receiver tang is factory drilled and tapped. The top of the barrel is roll-stamped: "-MANUFACTURED BY THE-/-WINCHESTER REPEATING ARMS CO. NEW HAVEN CONN. U.S.A. -" in two lines with arrows on either side of each line. The caliber: "45-90/W.C.F." is stamped on the top of the barrel in two lines between the rear sight and the receiver. "-MODEL 1886-" is rolls-stamped on the upper receiver tang. The lower receiver tang is stamped with the 1884 and 1885 patent dates behind the trigger and the serial number ahead of the rear tang screw. The Model 1886 Saddle Ring Carbine was introduced in 1890 and manufactured in relatively limited numbers. Any special order feature on a Model 1886 carbine is unusual but a carbine with a factory half-nickel finish like this example is an extreme rarity.

Exceptionally fine. The barrel, magazine and upper barrel band have 80% plus of the original blue finish intact with some edge wear on the muzzle and magazine cap and some thinning on the top of the barrel. The blue finish on the lower band shows more wear and has developed a plum brown patina. The Winchester legend and caliber markings are sharp. 95% of the original blue is present on the bolt. The blue finish on the loading gate has faded to a blue-gray patina. The receiver retains 90% plus of the nickel-plated finish with some scattered scuff marks on the sides and some minor flaking on the upper tang. The buttplate has about 70% of the nickel-plating intact with some finish wear and some light pitting on the toe and heel. The hammer, trigger and lever have 60% of the casehardened finish with strong case colors in protected areas and some fading on contact points. The straight grain American walnut stock and forearm are both in excellent condition and retain close to 95% of the original finish with a few scattered and very insignificant handling marks. This is an excellent example of an extremely rare Winchester Model 1886 Saddle Ring Carbine with factory "half nickel" finish.