The Cody letter describes this Model 1886 as: "Type: Rifle, Caliber: 45-70, Barrel Type: Octagon, Barrel Length: 36 inches, Extra heavy barrel, Trigger: Plain, Checkered stock, Pistol grip, Sights: Ivory knife blade front, Sporting rear" and "Casehardened". The letter states that this rifle was shipped from Winchester on April 10, 1902. The barrel, magazine and bolt have a blue finish. The loading gate and trigger are a fiery niter blue. The forearm cap, receiver, hammer, lever and crescent buttplate are casehardened. Color casehardened finishes were special order features after serial number 122,000 as indicated by the "Casehardened" notation in the Cody letter. The special order, fancy grain, walnut forearm and pistol grip stock have a piano finish with Winchester "Style H" checkering. The pistol grip has a black, hard rubber cap embossed "WINCHESTER REPEATING ARMS CO." The barrel has a rare Rocky Mountain style front sight with special order blade and a sporting style, buckhorn rear sight with screw-adjustable insert. The 36-inch long magazine is attached to the barrel by two bands. The top barrel flat is roll-stamped with the two-line legend: "MANUFACTURED BY THE/WINCHESTER REPEATING ARMS CO. NEW HAVEN. CONN. U.S.A." ahead of the rear sight. The caliber designation "45-70" is roll-stamped on the top of the barrel just ahead of the receiver. The upper receiver tang is factory drilled and tapped and roll-stamped: "-MODEL 1886-". The 1884/1885 patent dates are roll-stamped on the lower tang behind the trigger in two lines. The serial number is stamped in script numerals behind the rear tang screw. Extra-long, extra-heavy barrels are extremely rare on all Model 1886 rifles and are particularly rare on rifles manufactured after 1900. The combination of a 36-inch extra-heavy barrel, deluxe fancy grain walnut forearm and pistol grip stock, and special order casehardened finish and front sight blade make this, most likely, a one-of-a-kind rifle.

Very fine. The barrel has been professional restored for conservation purposes given its extreme rarity as a 36" special order rifle exhibiting 95% blue finish with traces of high edge wear and delicate pitting. All marking are crisp. The magazine retains 97% blue; there is light edge wear on the barrel bands. At least 90% of the original fire blue finish is present on the loading gate. The forearm cap and receiver retain more than 90% original scarce color vivid and deep in flashes. The stock shows an old coat of reapplied varnish, a dowel pin repair is visible on left side of wrist, a crack on right forward buttstock at the frame juncture. The forearm has a hairline crack on the left side of the forearm that runs from the edge of the barrel channel to the top of the checkering. This massive, special order Winchester 1886 Fancy Sporting Rifle is a scarce 1886 rifle variant that would be virtually impossible to find another documented example like it.