OK, I'm NOT an authoritative Winchester collector, BUT.... there are plenty of issues with the OP's "rifle" that already make this gun into collector repellant.
1) It's rusty with basically zero finish. Winchester collectors demand better and better is easy to come by at reasonable prices compared to this gun.
2) The gun is not original as it is. Someone has mix-mastered it in the past. It's got a rifle front end and a carbine butt. I'm thinking the chances it left the factory like this are exceedingly small as it would have had to be special ordered. I see no other special order telltales (take down, double set triggers, checkering, unusual sight options, etc.) to lead me to believe this was a bespoke firearm, so that leaves us with some tinkerer swapping the buttstock for whatever reason. Right away this moves the gun from collector to shooter.
3) The muzzle is shot out. So to the guys saying "just enjoy it", how long would you live with that if the gun keyholed? I'm thinking not very long.
Now the practical side of things. If the plan is to fix it up to spin it, jus keep walking. Making this more valuable will require more effort than you will fully recoup by selling it. The quick and dirty fix would be to shorten the barrel to carbine length, but to re-use the rifle mag hanger and forestock. This will require smithing work best done by a professional. The barrel needs to be shortened, re-crowned. The hanger dovetail need to be re-cut. The mag needs to be shortened as well, and the mag cap retainer screw re-driledl into the underside of the barrel.
To do a full blown restore, you'd re-stock the gun, source a new barrel or have the existing one re-lined or opened to a larger calibre (tough since it's already a .38/55). You'd need a full quality re-blue by a really good bluing man. Rust blue would be the most appropriate. You could even have Oskar Cobb case harden the receiver and lever.
But i it doesn't speak to you, save the grief, work on something you will keep and use. Tire's no profit in fixing this up unless someone is agreeing in advance to cover all your labour charges.
