Winchester Mod. 99 (Thumb Trigger )

[jack404]

Doing some stuff up for the Auctions here and the house has come back with a real ( to me ) lowball estimate on one rifle

the thumb trigger

what are these bringing in the US ??

houses description is as follows ( their review not mine, for the catalogue)

22 Cal; 18” barrel; exc bore; clear address &
markings to barrel; g. profile; silver grey finish to barrel & action with fine pitting to rhs of barrel near the muzzle; g. stock
with a couple of repaired, aged fine cracks to forend; gwo & cond.

[hunter29180]

never heard of one! interesting though

[hrf]

One sold on G B last month for $511, another for $427.

I'd rate condition of yours between them.

[jack404]

$325 was their valuation , mines a pre number ( first 800 had no serials )

i figured $550 mid range for the no serial quirk .... cheers

i may send this one along to the states too ,

most of the time i'm happy with their estimates but theres been a couple ..

i wonder if they'd make a house offer . we're all sharks eh ?? hahahahaha

i paid $350 to a Lady for it and got it on the register ( as it was never registered , hubby "misplaced it" i suspect, when the gun laws changed ), but she was going into the nursing home and they are no gun and the costs to store it , ..

the local gun shop offered $100- $120 ..

they are about not really Rare , just not real common , they tend to be safe queens

but a nice shooter eh , i found it awkward to shoot but only put 25 rounds through it of sub sonic and got decent groups on the plastic oil bottle ( real accurate test eh )

this is the third i've traded , both the other two where 20 something years ago

here some states banned them totally for the lack of trigger .. but i put this on my collectors ticket , but time to turn it over

if i get $550 in the US thats about $470 real cash after costs so better than whati'm told here , but i may shop it a bit first

or roust the auctioneers and put on a $450 reserve

that'd make em smart ...

[Ken W]

I never knew about this model. Fascinating. Something else to add to the list of things I need to get.

[Bert H.]

Hello Jack,

None of the Thumb Trigger rifles were serialized. $550 is a bit too high (at least here is the U.S.).

Bert H.

[jack404]

i read they where supposed to be a way around some law restricting shooting galleries but PT Barnum got a lawyer to squash it , the specials were no longer needed and some sales guy made a name by getting folks to by them they made em for a few years but stopped when the sales fell . not a lot on then in the Winchester books , so dunno about a German author on Winchester

dont shoot magnums outta them , you'll hurt your thumb ..

[jack404]

Bert ok wont disagree , but the ones that arrived and where sold here did have serials , now would that be for expert only ( and i assumed the rest had serials the article spoke of 800 made for the sideshow folks without serial .. thats all , nothing about serials )

Bert what do you think then ? real dollars

i'm pretty sure i'll find a local to pay $450 , thats a ok deal .. spent $55 on transfers and post reg fee's on top of what i paid the lady ( i think i paid close to retail for what it was but .. nice elderly Lady , what do ya do ? )

[Bert H.]

Jack,

Were the serial numbers hand stamped on the barrel? Winchester did stamp numbers on some of the non-serialized model guns intended for export, but not all of them.

If you can get $450 for it locally, that is a better than fair price.

Bert H.

[jack404]

they aint lined up perfect , under the guard and on the barrel and the stock is numbered under the butt pad

yeah i'll set it for $435 reserve ..

[Bert H.]

Jack,

Can you post or send me pictures of one with a serial number marked on it?

Bert H.

[Jim K]

Hi, Bert and Jack,

OK, for my own curiosity. I read years ago that they were made for export to Australia and the conventional trigger was changed due to some law there. That seems borne out a bit by their scarcity in the U.S., but do you guys know the real story?

Jim

[jack404]

i only know what i read Jim the two winchester books i have only lists em and shows a pic the old time line drawing, the german author , on other things he conflicts , so hard to know whats whats i'll dig everything out and get a pic ..

thought i was gonna be away all today .. free again ..

[Bert H.]

Jim, and Jack,

Herbert Houze wrote a superb reference book "To The Dreams of Youth WINCHESTER .22 Caliber Single Shot Rifle". Chapter 5 of the book is dedicated to the design and history of the Thumb Trigger model.

There is nothing in the book that suggests that it was made for export to Australia (or any other country). Herb lists the total production as 75,933 (from 1904 through 1923), and that in the just the first three years of production, nearly 50% of the total were manufactured and sold. Sales figures show that 38,001 Thumb Trigger rifles were sold in 1904 - 1906. In that particular time period, Australia was booming, and tens of thousands of Winchester firearms were imported. Recently, I have been documenting (in my on going surveys) all of the Winchester Model 1885 Single Shot Rifles that were imported by Australia... thus far, I have documented nearly 1,500 of them, with the bulk of them in the 1900 - 1909 time frame. I suspect that at least 10,000 (or more) Thumb Trigger rifles were exported to Australia in that same time period.

The reference book I mentioned is a "must have" for any serious Winchester .22 rifle collector.

Bert H.

[jack404]

Thank You!!

amazon ahoy!

i got side tracked today to get the rifle from lockup and get a pic but will do so tomorrow , i gotta finsh the rest for the catalougue here or they wont make the sale ..

cheers again for the info eh ..

too much we dont know about early winchesters here

but can vouch for two 1901-1909 range ones from my early days

[jack404]

i've a few early ones i have grabbed recently .. but they too are in storage , , but will dig em up and investigate em when i get the book and some other stuff

normally i'm a mill rifle , british flinter , but thanks to the forum members i've moved into percussion and early colts and remingtons ( not a lot yet but a couple nice ones ) that Tap O Cap from oftig , it was a game changer seriously ..

and thats opened me up to the early winchester rifles .. and i'm no expert on them , work on em ok , but not the collect and trade side .. there i'm a wood duck ..