Make: Winchester

Model: 1873 Rifle, 1st Model, 1 of 1,000

Serial Number: 25708

Year of Manufacture: 1877

Caliber: Caliber: .44-40 Winchester Center Fire (WCF)

Action Type: Lever Action with Full Length Tubular Magazine and Single Set-Trigger

Markings: The barrel is marked “WINCHESTER’S- REPEATING ARMS. NEW HAVEN. CT. / KING’S-IMPROVEMENT-PATENTED-MARCH 29.1866. OCTOBER 16.1860.”. The lower tang is marked “25708”. The upper tang is marked “MODEL. 1873”. The left of the bottom tang, the upper tang inlet of the wrist, and the inside of the buttplate at the toe each have “615” assembly number. The side of the tang is marked “XXX 615”. The barrel has “1 of 1000” hand-engraved on the top of the barrel at the breech. The inside of the side plate is marked “93”

Barrel Length: 30” Octagonal

Sights / Optics: The front sight is a blade dovetailed to the barrel. The rear sight is a “V”-notch elevator sight dovetailed to the rear of the barrel. The top tang is drilled, tapped and mounted with a peep sight. 

Stock Configuration & Condition: The stocks are two-piece checkered 3-X deluxe walnut with capped forend, straight grip, straight comb and steel crescent buttplate with sliding trapdoor in the rear face. There are no chips or cracks. There is a small compression at the start of the comb where the tang sight rests. There are a few minor compressions. There is a restored crack on the left side of the wrist that starts at the left tip of the tang and reaches down toward the checkering. The checkering is sharp. The LOP measures 12 ¾” from the front of the trigger to the back of the buttplate. Overall, the stocks are in Fine condition as refinished. 

Type of Finish: Blue & Case Hardened

Finish Originality: Professionally Refinished

Bore Condition: The bore is gray with well defined rifling. There is scattered light erosion and light pitting. In this writer's opinion, the bore rates 7 out of 10.

Overall Condition: This rifle retains about 99% of its new metal finish. The case color is exceptionally vibrant throughout with little to no muting. The blue is strong and complete throughout. There are a couple nicks on the edges of the barrel’s octagon that have been blued over. The edges of the ejection port are a little rough. There is no notable pitting under the new finish. The screw heads range from sharp to lightly tool marked with strong slots. The markings are clear. Overall, this rifle is in Fine-plus condition as refinished ANTIQUE.

Box, Paperwork & Accessories: Included is a Winchester Records letter indicating that this rifle was received in warehouse Jan. 30 1877 and shipped Jan. 31, 1877 on order number 8201. The records indicate that it was produced as a Rifle with an octagonal 30” barrel, set trigger, XXX checkered stock, case hardened receiver and notes "1 of 1000”.

Our Assessment: The famous Winchester Model 1873 lever action repeating rifle, known as "the gun that won the West", had its beginnings in the Volcanic Firearms Company and the later designs by Benjamin Tyler Henry. The Model 1873 had a steel frame that was much stronger than the brass framed Model 1866, allowing Winchester to move away from .44 rimfire and develop the powerful new .44-40 WCF round (Winchester’s first metallic centerfire cartridge), as well as a family of other new potent rounds, with Colt usually producing Single Action Army revolvers in the same calibers shortly after they were developed. The Model 1873 has an almost mythical status among firearms collectors, Old West enthusiasts, and fans of the Western film genre. Early in production of the Model 1873, Winchester distributed a flier extolling the virtues of their new rifle and the myriad ways it was an improvement over their previous Model 1866. In this nondescript flier they also etched a plan that would lead to some of the most desired Winchesters ever made, the “One of One Thousand” and “One of One Hundred” Model 1873s. The program would be more fully explained in their 1875 catalog. The initial flier read: "Every Sporting Rifle we make will be proved and shot at a target, and the target will be numbered to correspond with the barrel and be attached to it. When one hundred barrels are thus proved, the one making the best target will be selected and set aside, and another hundred proved in the same way, and so on until one thousand have been tested and ten targets selected with the barrels with which they were made. They will then be made up into Guns, in which each part is selected with the utmost care and finished in the finest manner. They will then be again subjected to trials for accuracy, and the best of the ten selected and marked 'One of a thousand,' the price of which will be from $80.00 to $100.00. The other nine will be marked ‘One of a hundred,’ and the price will be from $60.00 to $75.00 each." Although the plan never fully came to fruition, as there were more than 700,000 Models 1873s made with only 132 "One of One Thousand" rifles and a scant 8 “One of One Hundred” rifles produced, these guns were well known and highly sought after during their time, with two having been ordered by “the father of Montana”, Granville Stuart, one for himself and one for his brother Thomas Stuart. By 1877, Winchester dropped the options from their catalog, and nearly all of the “One of One Thousand” rifles were produced before 1880. Interest in these rare Winchesters was revived in 1950 with the release of Winchester '73 starring Jimmy Stewart, in which the winning and keeping of a “One of One Thousand” rifle was the focal point of the film. Before the release of the movie, Winchester and Universal Pictures began a program to find out just how many “One of One Thousand” rifles still existed. They plastered “WANTED!” posters all across the country and played radio ads. The premise was simple: be one of the first 20 to respond to the ad with a picture and description of your Winchester “One of One Thousand”, its features, and its serial number, and Winchester would send you a brand new Model 94 rifle. The search was so successful that the ensuing pictures and serial number list of “One of One Thousand” rifles brought to light laid the foundation for many of the authentic examples known today. The rifles have since become perhaps the most sought after of all Winchesters.

This Antique Winchester Model 1873 “One of One Thousand” Lever Action Rifle, Serial Number 25708, was made in 1877 and is in Fine-Plus condition. Most interestingly, outside of its gorgeous refinish, this rifle is exceptionally rare as only thirteen 1 of 1000 were produced with a 30 inch barrel according to Winchester’s factory ledgers. It’s chambered in .44-40 WCF, and features a 30" octagonal barrel, 99% of its refinished blue and case hardened finish, two-piece XXX checkered deluxe walnut stocks, and the classic understated yet elegant floral scroll and punch dot engraving around the muzzle and breech, both sections of which also carry engraved bands, and with the latter being centered by the hand engraved inscription “One of One Thousand”. One idiosyncrasy is the sideplate markings, typically the last digits of the serial number or the assembly number; the number on this side plate doesn’t match either. All that said, the factory documentation confirms this as an authentic Winchester Model 1873 “One of One Thousand” Rifle, and is one of only 132 believed to have been made.