Winchester 1885 rare “Thickside Highwall” single shot rifle in very limited production .40-70 Ballard caliber. The 1885 single shot rifle was standard with a “Thinside” receiver in which the forward and rear edges of the receiver flair where the receiver meets the stock and forend. This rarely encountered “Thickside” receiver is flat across its length and was usually only used on special order rifles of large caliber. Winchester made almost 140,000 1885 single shot rifles and of these only 316 were chambered for the powerful .40-70 Ballard caliber. Few in this caliber have survived to the present and existing examples are seldom encountered. The Model 1885 single shot rifle was John Browning’s first design that was purchased by Winchester and began their long business relationship. It is one of the more difficult of the early Winchester rifles to obtain today in any caliber. This example with serial number 69551 was made in 1894. Aside from the rare thickside receiver, this rifle features a stout 30” No. 3 weight octagon barrel. The stock sports a crescent steel butt plate and is in very fine condition with tight wood to metal fit. The forend is also very fine and retains the factory ebony wedge” inlay in the forend tip. The receiver shows a lovely mottled gray patina while the barrel retains very good aged blue. All Winchester barrel markings are fine and the barrel is fitted with a buckhorn rear sight with elevator bar intact along with a Rocky Mountain blade front sight. The action is tight and the trigger pull is still light and crisp. The bore is fairly bright and excellent showing sharp rifling indicating that while this big game rifle was used, it was meticulously cared for. This was a serious, heavy caliber big game rifle that no doubt saw service in the frontier West. A fine and handsome rifle with an extremely rare thickside receiver in an equally rare big caliber. The rifle weighs 9lbs. Serial Number: 69551. This firearm qualifies as an Antique, and does not require FFL Transfer or NICS Background Check.