Winchester 1907 followed me home...

Apart from usual stuff like bore condition, as noted above, you want to inspect the forestock and potentially the buffer, though realistically you need to take the gun apart quite a lot to see buffer condition, so I don’t really check that before buying.

New buffers are impossible to get, so if it’s bad, you’d have to make a new one out of Delrin or similar.
 
As for foreshocks, they are thin, but not overly prone to break unless it’s shot with a loose nose cap, or the wood takes an impact. Repro wood can be found, and if not, it’s not that hard to carve a new fore stick if you know how to work with stock wood.

But definitely do not pay a premium for a gun with a cracked stock.
 
Claven2 said:
As for foreshocks, they are thin, but not overly prone to break unless it’s shot with a loose nose cap, or the wood takes an impact. Repro wood can be found, and if not, it’s not that hard to carve a new fore stick if you know how to work with stock wood.

But definitely do not pay a premium for a gun with a cracked stock.
Click to expand...

The only Achilles heel of most older Winchester rifles & carbines is the finicky little screws that need an inordinate amount of patience as not to strip them upon installation.

Barrel tenon screws seem to be of particular blame. With a short screw and obvious short threaded portion, opposing screws have to be very gently started on each side. This is compounded frustration when that old barrel band(?)that they both screw into, is worn out and easily moved out of reach of the first thread of the screw.
Ran into a very similar issue with a M92-M65 and a 1901 shotgun.

Patience is king.
 
Brutus said:
The only Achilles heel of most older Winchester rifles & carbines is the finicky little screws that need an inordinate amount of patience as not to strip them upon installation.

Barrel tenon screws seem to be of particular blame. With a short screw and obvious short threaded portion, opposing screws have to be very gently started on each side. This is compounded frustration when that old barrel band(?)that they both screw into, is worn out and easily moved out of reach of the first thread of the screw.
Ran into a very similar issue with a M92-M65 and a 1901 shotgun.

Patience is king.
Click to expand...

Not really an issue on the 1907 - the forestock is held on with a HUGE castellated nut forward of the front barrel band that engages threads on teh outside of the barrel, and it's tensioned with a spring-loaded plunger in the band itself.
 
HuskyDude said:
Fore stocks crack easily. Hard to find one that isn't.

Ended up glassing the one I shot.

V6OLvbQ.jpg
Click to expand...

As a question - did you glass it to repair a crack, or as a preventative measure to prevent one?

And is that a 1907 buffer photo or a 1910 or 1905? The 1907 usually has a stepped buffer washer, or at least in the small number of these I've had apart.
 
Thought I'd post some photos of vintage ammo I have for my rifle. I don't collect ammo, so the 100+ mixed rounds I have will eventually get shot to harvest the barass for reloading. I have the redding dies, Lee factory crimp, and lots of the plated 180gn bullets from Grafs.

First off, here's a shot of the difference between .35SL and .351SL. the former is unique to the Model 1905 self loading rifle, and latter is unique to the 1907 self-loading rifle.

TvrEwFD.jpeg


Headstamps of these 2 vintage rounds:

EjBGICn.jpeg


And here's a mix of the headstamps I have available for .351 SL ammo. I've got early Western ammo, slightly later Winchester Repeating Arms marked ammo, Peters ammo that pre-dates Remington and Peters merging, and some later Remington UMC ammo.

qCcEJ90.jpeg


Some weird history - What today is the Olin corporation was founded in 1898 as the Western Cartridge Company. Western itself was the merger of two companies, both founded in 1892: Franklin W. Olin's Equitable Powder Company and the Mathieson Alkali Works. All owned by the same family. This concerns competed with Winchester's and Remington's ammunition subsidiaries, often fiercely. Interestingly, Western was healthy enough to buy Winchester in in 1931 when Winchester went into receivership that year. In 1935, the companies were merger by patriarch Franklin Olin in 1935, forming Winchester-Western.

The Peters Cartridge Company was founded in 1887, but went out of business in 1944. At some point Remington acquired the brand name Peters and made Peters ammo into the 1970's.

Union Metallic Cartridge Company (UMC) was founded in 1867, and merged with Remington Arms in 1912, after which ammunition produced by Remington was marked REM-UMC. Remington used this headstamp on a variety of ammo until 1970.

All the vintage .351SL ammo I have is cupro-nickel jacketed 180gn soft point. Cupro-nickel fell out of use in US made commercial ammo generally in the 1920's, so I suspect all this ammo if from the 20's or earlier, but not earlier an 1912 in the case of the REM-UMC stuff.

The ammo came with the rifle I bought, which was dated 1922, so I'm guessing the ammo is all in the 1922-1929 range. But will never know for certain.
 
As an aside, if anyone has an old marbles W13 or Lyman “SL” tang sight they’d part with, pls let me know.

Edit - I found one for sale stateside and have ordered it. Ouch. Was pricey. Will post what arrives and report on utility/practicality on the firearm.

I like scopes, but feel it would be sad to drill and tap an original in-refinished example like mine that is really in well above average condition.

For the ranges this round is deer effective, I’m hopeful the tang sight will work well anough with my aging late 40’s eyes.
 
well damnit - after over a month of run around, the US dealer admitted they didn't actually have a Lyman SL sight in stock (I think they must have been hoping to find one at a gunshow or something?) and they cancelled my order and issued a refund. Back on the hunt for a tang peep sight...
 
Claven2 said:
well damnit - after over a month of run around, the US dealer admitted they didn't actually have a Lyman SL sight in stock (I think they must have been hoping to find one at a gunshow or something?) and they cancelled my order and issued a refund. Back on the hunt for a tang peep sight...
Click to expand...
Well, that bites.
Hope to see more of these interesting firearms.
Nice pics guys and great research being passed along.
Rob
 
Peep sigh problem solved, managed to locate a near-new (old stock) Marbles tang sight for my example after several delightful people selling rifles with things like mags missing, etc. would not sell me their tang sights separately (oh well). The one I found, while it had been mounted on a gun before at some point I think, came with its original box, paperwork, screws, etc. and is really in nice condition. It also sits further back than a lyman, allowing room to get my thumb over the grip, ahead of the sight (a bonus).

DO37ak5.jpeg


I've since removed (and bagged and tagged) the original buckhorn sight an put in a Lyman slot blank.

Check out the cool old packaging (1920's perhaps?) that it came in:

iJTKBhK.jpeg


And the neat Marbles product catalogue sheet in the box...

fEZPrmr.jpeg


fLRb3VH.jpeg


I sure wish this sight had only cost my $4.... and for that matter, an old Marbles compass would be cool, or one of their axes, or that cool woodcraft vintage hunting knife.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom