Winchester 1886 Extra Lightweight Takedown Sporting rifle in smokeless powder .33 WCF (Winchester Center Fire) chambering, serial number 159525 indicating a manufacture date of 1930. The famed 1886 was one of John Moses Browning’s best and strongest designs. It was especially popular in the West where a repeating rifle capable of handling the largest and most powerful cartridges of the day was desirable. Such notables as Theodore Roosevelt favored the Winchester 1886. This is a high condition and very late production Model 1886 rifle. According to the standard work on Winchesters, The Winchester Handbook by George Madis, “Serial number 256599 was the highest number produced in standard production. It was shipped on December 8, 1920. A fair stock of parts and assembled guns remained on hand, and in the final parts clean-up serials reached 159994, with the last guns assembled in 1932.” After about 1912 Winchester was making very few 1886 rifles each year. Since the old black powder cartridges of decades before were rapidly becoming obsolete, in 1902 Winchester brought out the .33WCF cartridge specifically for the Model 1886. This advanced cartridge design was simply the .45-70 case necked down to accept .338” diameter jacketed bullets and loaded with smokeless powder. At the time it was the most powerful cartridge offered in any tubular magazine lever action rifle and was used with great success on the largest game. This example has the standard buckhorn with elevator bar rear sight. It is paired with a small blade/bead front sight in the correct short ramp base. The 24” round barrel retains about all the bright blue as does the short magazine tube that was standard on this model. It also has the standard Winchester embossed hard rubber shotgun butt plate. The correct blued steel receiver retains most of the bright and deep blue finish as does the bolt on top of the receiver. The barrel has sharp correct Model 1886 markings along with the correct Winchester address and “.33 WIN.” caliber stamping. Screw heads are excellent, walnut butt stock and forend are also excellent and show very tight wood to metal fit. The takedown feature was a special order option and this rifle retains the tight fitting of this feature. The action is also tight and the safety half-cock is strong. The bore shows strong rifling and is a little dark with leading that should clean out. This is one of the very last of the big 1886 Winchesters ever produced and is in extremely high condition. This rifle weighs 7lbs 12oz. Serial Number: 159525. This firearm qualifies as an Antique due to pre 1900's model design and obsolete cartridge, and does not require FFL Transfer or NICS Background Check.