Winchester Pleasant Surprise.

[missionary5155]

Good afternoon
Looks like silver to me. Any Jewler can do an simple acid test to definitively show it is silver and at what caret value. The silver will get dissolved at the spot the test is taken so use a part that has silver on it but covered by a stock or other part. The trigger on the back side would be sufficient. I personally would not take the whole rifle.
Also have the jewler write a test statement. I would call around and see how much they charge. Just tell them you have a family piece you want tested.
Mike in LLama Land

[missionary5155]

Looking at your photos more you may also have a "Short Rifle". Barrel looks to be 20"..... Your letter should say.
I know with the 1892 model Winchester made a run of short rifles which today bring a nice premium .

[Kev18]

Looking at your photos more you may also have a "Short Rifle". Barrel looks to be 20"..... Your letter should say.
I know with the 1892 model Winchester made a run of short rifles which today bring a nice premium .

naaah, its a standard rifle. haven't given any attention to it. IM rebuilding my 1886 instead.

[fatelk]

It looks like silver to me, too, but I'm not an expert. I can tell you what I know about silver plating: I bought a cheap little electroplating kit when I was a teenager back in the '80s. I don't think it cost more than $20 or $30. It came with little jars of copper, nickel, and silver in some kind of gel. I'd prep the metal I wanted to plate, ground it with a little clamp, then apply the gel with a little brush connected to a small electrical charge. Wipe away the gel and you have a very thin plating. Clean it up and coat it several times. You needed to plate a base of copper before using the nickel or silver. I still have my old Ruger Standard that I nickel plated so long ago. It's held up pretty well.

It seems that someone could well have brush electroplated your rifle with silver. Doing it the way I did, it's not terribly hard to do, and inexpensive.

[BFJ]

Great looking rifle and post. Thanks

[john.k]

Silver blackens with sulfur ,a component of all living things ,which is of course the black on eggspoons ......Nickle does tarnish ,and the tarnish is an oxide ,pale green in colour ,and if attacked by ,for instance ,by hot water ,a darker green tarnish or deposit...Nickle salts are generally green.

[missionary5155]

What length is the barrel? At least 24" was a standard and 26" was the common...
We have a real Eastern Short Rifle 44 WF with all the right measurements (barrel, handguard....) And your's sure made me wonder.

[fatelk]

I was going through some old stuff today, and found this old round that I had silver plated with my little rinky-dink electroplating setup a long time ago.



By the way, the electroplating system I used isn't terribly durable, unless you use many, many coats. It will polish off if you get a little aggressive with the cleaning.

[Doolin-Dalton]

Thanks for sharing. It is a fantastic rifle, anyone would love to have this! Granted this is just my opinion, and it's a virtual one, but I don't see any signs of any copper substrate to indicate base for plating and what I am seeing is that every surface of the gun has a - brushed - appearance, a tell tale sign of it being a brushed iron surface that is what give the brightness. Think of jewelry, no one would dare take a polishing stone or 000 Steel Wool to polish their gold or silver. Yet, your rifle has a highly polished surface entirely. The polishing of the iron is what gives it the bright appearance.

[MT Chambers]

The Canadian markings are more recent as it is one of the rifles Trudeau is trying to ban.

[Kev18]

The Canadian markings are more recent as it is one of the rifles Trudeau is trying to ban.

Shame for those bans .

[Ramjet-SS]

Very cool rifle

[Kev18]

Very cool rifle

Thanks

[Speedo66]

Very nice rifle. To me it looks like Nickel Plating. I have a couple of SXS with nickel plated receivers and they do tarnish. Hard to tell in a photo the color seems to be off for silver. The biggest indicators are in the rusted areas. Sliver plating that is flaked of or rusted looks like this. Doesn't matter is it's silverware or fireams. https://www.gunsinternational.com/gu...n_id=100681132

The rifle in the link is factory engraved according to the museum letter. The cost was $3, which with inflation would be $64 in 2020 dollars. Quite a bargain.

[Kev18]

The rifle in the link is factory engraved according to the museum letter. The cost was $3, which with inflation would be $64 in 2020 dollars. Quite a bargain.

I wish it would be that cheap.

[missionary5155]

Imagine if we all could rollback the clock to 1875 and not be held back with shallow pockets !

[Kev18]

Imagine if we all could rollback the clock to 1875 and not be held back with shallow pockets !

I think about that quite often . 1000$ in your pocket.

[T-Bird]

But think how old we'd be today!

[bigted]

A brand new shiney Colt SAA in 1873 cost 1 one ounce of Gold.

Right now ... May 30 ... 2020 ... a brand new shiney Colt SAA cost's 1 one ounce of Gold.

Generally this is the lie that we endure concerning inflation.

For sure a nice rifle there Kev. Congrats on your adoption.

[Mytmousemalibu]

What you need is someone to hit it with an XRF gun and see what metals it detects. Probably have traces of all of the above but if its plated it should spike on whatever it is plated with.