Winchester Model 1873

I have a Model 1873 Winchester with an octagon barrel. Its a .32 caliber. It says 32 W.C.F on the barrell. Serial number is either 262257B or 26225ZB. The next to last number is kinda worn. Its in decent condition. Not mint by any means but minimal rust. Just wondering on a price. Can anyone help?

hello ,,your 1873 winchester was made in 1888 judging from your serial number ,,the odd thing is the caliber,,the 73's were offered in 32-20 wcf but not 32 wcf,,so possibly sometime during it's lifetime it may have been rebarreled..but thats a guess,,none of my refrence books list it as being chambered for the 32 wcf cartridge..it may be a miss print from winchester ..with that in mind id say your third model winchester would be in the 800-1500 range at auction or to a winchester collector ,,i'd suggest checking with a winchester collector on the caliber and if you can document the 32 wcf as being special ordered it would raise the values ..
bigcurt

Yeah I was kinda puzzled about the caliber too. It was my grandfather's gun and my mom told me that it was a 32-20. However I dont see it marked anywhere on the gun. All that it says is 32 wcf. But thank you for your help with that. I knew it was worth a pretty good amount but not exactly sure how much.

Pillar,

I am a new moderator in the site and my interest is in Winchester lever action rifles. I am going back to some of the old posts to see if I can add anything to them.

Your 1873 rifle is chambered for .32 caliber. The .32WCF and the .32-20 are the same ammunition just with a different designation. Nothing different was done to the rifle. The Model 1873 was first only offered in .44 caliber and no designation is marked on the rifle. In 1879 the .38-40 caliber was introduced and finally in 1882 the .32 claiber came into production. Hence marking the rifle became imperative.

The price range given is probably "OK" as per your description but, there were many special order items and configurations that could make the rifle more valuable. If you are interested send me more info or some photos and I will gladly reconsider the value.

2bit