I strolled into my favorite shop yesterday to see what had come in for consignment in the last month. My mind was blown right off of the start. A fella behind the counter that I have gotten to know has got me dialed in as the guy who likes old guns. He asked me if I wanted to see the most "cowboy thing ever?" He pulls a '73 Winchester saddle ring carbine of a rack full of Winchester and hands it to me. It was manufactured in 1875, it is in very nice shape with wear on either side of the muzzle from being slid in and out of a scabbard.
Apparently a local collector or the family of one has decided to have the shop sell the collection of over 45 rifles. I started hugging the long guns in the vain hope that some of coolness would rub off on me, it didn't.
He handed me a Henry 1860 rifle in awesome condition, two 1866 rifles also in rimfire. One a very early one, '66 or '67 and the a couple years later. Then a 1876, 1886... so many rare and beautiful original examples all made before the turn of the century.
I have no financial interest in the sale of the guns, I wish I had the means to buy the whole collection as it stands. If anyone is in the Sacramento area and want to check them out, go to J G Guns shop.
The last time I saw this many antique lever guns was in the Cody museum, and they frowned on my touching them.
Rusty