Winchester Model 1873 Saddle Ring Carbine in hard to find and very desirable caliber .44-40, serial number 521966, made in 1898. Of the over 750,000 Model 1873s made by Winchester less than one third were carbines. And of those carbines, the largest and most powerful caliber was .44-40. The Model 1873 was Winchester’s earliest center fire cartridge firing rifle and was immediately popular with frontiersmen, lawmen and outlaws alike, ranchers, cowboys and Native Americans. Made in more limited numbers, the famed saddle ring carbine is often seen in period photographs of the Texas and Arizona Rangers as well as outlaw gangs. One of the only authenticated photographs of outlaw Billy The Kid shows him holding a Winchester 1873 saddle ring carbine. This superior example is in unaltered, fine condition. This in itself is unusual as most saddle ring carbines were used hard on the Western Frontier and the few surviving examples typically found on the collector market today often show extremely hard use and often abuse with replaced parts and broken stocks etc. This example came out of Montana and displays fine wood in the butt stock and forend. The overall metal on the receiver, barrel and magazine display a wonderful soft aged patina with fine original blue on the loading gate. and around the saddle ring. It is very unusual to find any blue remaining on 1873 carbines. The brass lifter on the bottom of the receiver still displays a desirable “44 CAL” marking. This carbine further retains the original ladder rear sight with slide intact (these usually missing or replaced), the original front sight as well as the saddle ring and original staple in the left side of the receiver. The dust cover is also intact which is unusual as most are missing from this model, especially on carbines. The correct carbine butt plate has the brass sliding trap door for cleaning rod storage and the lever catch is also intact. The barrel top is clearly marked in two lines: “WINCHESTER’S-REPEATING-ARMS NEW HAVEN CT” over “KING’S IMPROVEMENT-PATENTED- MARCH 29, 1866 OCTOBER 16, 1860.” Behind the rear sight and directly in front of the receiver top is the correct caliber designation stamping “44 W.C.F.” The upper tang is also clearly marked “MODEL 1873.” The action is tight and fully functioning and the bore shows particularly fine rifling all the way through and is fairly bright, certainly a much finer bore than usually encountered on Model 1873 Carbines. In all, an exceptional early example 1873 Winchester Saddle Ring Carbine in superior original condition that is significantly more rare than the Winchester 1873 rifle version. Serial Number: 521966. This firearm qualifies as an Antique, and does not require FFL Transfer or NICS Background Check.