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Not sure if i would call it "Grab Bag" assembly, parts were machined and put into a bin, assembler normally just reached in and took off the top.

Sometimes frames hung around for years after they were serial numbered.

Good friend of mine who used to work in Winchester's Custom Shop told me once that it was not all that unusual to have a 4 digit serial number M21 come thru the shop and this was late 70-early 80s. Keep in mind, the last M21 frames were actually manufactured in 1940, Winchester kept producing them well into the 80s.

As to the OPs original question, I've CCH a number of Winder Musket frames, as well as weld on them, machine flats on the front ring etc... no issues

V/R

Mike

There is probably a better term for the assembly method than "grab-bag". Also, "parts bin" is kind of misleading. Campbell (or maybe someone else) shows a photo of the actions awaiting assembly. The actions awaiting the assemblers were stored on specially constructed racks, with each piece in a separate place. The actions (and presumably other critical parts) were not just piled or dumped in a parts bin.

And since the #s were on the lower tangs, were the lower tangs attached to the actions in storage? Or did the assembler attach the lower tangs?

The lower tangs were polished with the frame in the polishing room. There are records commnly referred to as "polishing room records" that list by serial number; the dates that actions were polished. A little more accurate than the factory shipping records as to date of manuufacture.

Yes, larger parts: frames, hammers, levers, buttplates would have been racked, smaller (internal) my guess is that they were binned/

V/R

Mike

Maybe I have not read carefully enough, but I have not before come across a reference to "Polishing room records". Do they still exist?

Just reading about polishing rooms gives me bad vibes. My father was a watchmaker and died of lung cancer at an early age. When he died, his lung tissue had many fragments of what was later identified as "commercial buffing compounds". The pathologist told us that buffing compounds had caused the cancer. Keep wearing those face masks.

Yes a good portion of the polishing room records exist, The Cody museum has the following:
1. Model 1866 - incomplete (only the late serial numbers exist).
2. Model 1873 - incomplete (the first 65,000 serials are missing)
3. Model 1876 - incomplete (the first 12,000 serials are missing)
4. Model 1885 - incomplete (the first 2700 serials are missing)
6. Model 1887 & 1901 - complete
7. Model 1890 - complete
8. Model 1892 - incomplete (serials 1 - 917240, 1006822 - 1007608 available)
9. Model 1893 & 1897 - complete
10. Model 1894 - incomplete (serials 1 -1352066 available)
11. Model 1895 - complete
12. Lee (Navy) Straight Pull - complete
13. Model 1903 - complete
14. Model 1905 - complete
15. Model 1906 - complete
16. Model 1907 - incomplete (serials after 50,000 are missing)
17. Model 1912(12) - complete (serials 1 - 1970885 available)
18. Model 1917 - complete (serials 1 - 548255)
19. Model 24 - incomplete (serials 1 - 47744)
20. Model 31 - unknown if complete (serials 1000001 - 1350000)
21. Model 43 - complete
22. Model 52 - incomplete (serials 1 - 66633 available)
23. Model 53 - complete (for all serials not in Model 92 range)
24. Model 55 - complete (for all serials not in the Model 94 range)
25. Model 61 - incomplete (serials 62775 - 68758, May 1st, '42 - December 14th, '45 available)
26. Model 62 - incomplete (serials 151251 - 167688, May 20th, '42 - December 29th, '45 available)
27. Model 63 - incomplete (serials 51891 - 57994, May 19th, '42 - December 26th, '45 available)
28. Model 70 - incomplete (serials 49135 - 54805, May 18th, '42 - December 10th, '45 available)
29. Model 71 - incomplete (serials 1 - 23010 available)
30. Model 74 - incomplete (serials 123349 - 136739, May 20th, '42 - August 4th, '44 available)
31. Model 75 - incomplete (serials 36722 - 49097, May 19th, '42 - December 5th, '45

The records for the models 1892, Lee Enfield, 17, 12, 21, 70, 88, 40, 42, 50, 52, 56, 61, 62, 63, 74, 75, 07, 20, 24, 25, 39, 1910, 1911, 100, 120, 1400, 71. And the Model 94 including dates from Jan. 1946 to March 1967, are in a private collection of a good friend of mine.

The PORs will tell you when the frame entered the polishing room, SN applied, but it will not tell you when it was shipped or the configuration (round/octagon barrel, set trigger etc.)

V/R

Mike