This excellent Winchester Model 1873 Musket was manufactured circa 1903. This musket has the Third Model receiver with integral dust cover rail and dust cover with serrated edges. The musket has the distinctive 30-inch round barrel with full length forearm secured by three barrel bands, steel block front sight that serves as a mount for a socket bayonet, socket bayonet, sling swivels on the middle barrel band and stock and military style folding leaf rear sight. The musket has a carbine style buttplate with sliding brass trapdoor. The upper receiver tang is factory drilled and tapped. The barrel, magazine, barrel bands, receiver and dust cover have the Winchester charcoal blue finish. The loading gate is fire blue. The hammer, trigger, lever and crescent buttplate are casehardened with muted case colors. The stock and forearm are oil-finished straight grain American walnut. The top of the barrel is roll-stamped, "WINCHESTER'S REPEATING ARMS NEW HAVEN Ct./KING'S IMPROVEMENT PATENTED MARCH 29. 1866. OCTOBER 16. 1860." in two lines between the lower barrel band and the rear sight. The caliber, "44 W.C.F.", is roll-stamped between the rear sight and the receiver. The upper receiver tang is roll-stamped, "- MODEL. 1873. -" in fancy letters with foliate devices at either end. "44 CAL" is roll-stamped across the bottom of the brass cartridge elevator in script letters. The serial number is stamped in script between the lever latch and the rear tang screw. This musket is one of a 700 gun lot of Model 1873 Muskets in the 569,000-57,1000 serial number range that were shipped to Central America in September 1903. In the late 1950s, some of these muskets were discovered in storage in Nicaragua and imported to the U.S. These muskets were generally unissued and unfired and remained in nearly new condition. Provenance: Richard Peters, USMC, Reserves Law Enforcement, a Gentleman