Records are in Cody, Wy. at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center. You should know that most true Schuetzen 1885's wont letter, as they almost all were late enough that the records wont show them. If your's is early enough to letter, it is either very rare, or not a true schuetzen.
There are a lot of "special sporting rifles" with swiss buttplates and pistol grip stocks that people refer to as "schuetzen" that will letter.

Is your's a true schuetzen, or a special sporting like this:
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I'm not  a real Winchester guy, but that serial number should date to 1888 or so, and I don't think there were any schuetzens made that early.-Vall

Ditto to what Val said.  Also, the Laudensack lever and butt plate were not developed until after about 1908 or so, IIRC.  They are usually but not always found on coil spring actions.  Does it have wide spaced DST's and the really ornate lever?  That would suggest a factory job, perhaps... but DST's are a little rare on the low-walls.  BTW, which style of low-wall is it?  Does the receiver flare at the front and rear like a thin-side high-wall, or is it the more svelte smooth side version?  More info and pix if possible will help with further identification.

Froggie

PS  Upon reading your second post more carefully, I would strongly believe it is NOT a factory schuetzen job with that bent upper tang, the single trigger, and the #1 barrel.  I think somebody built a custom stock and liked the Laudensack style buttplate for it.  It should be a lot of fun to shoot, though.

Bob, 

     Just because it's not factory original doesn't necessarily mean it lacks collectibilty.  The parts that are on it, and the configuration it is in make it definitely of interest from a "history of shooting competition" standpoint.  Somebody obviously set it up to do some serious shooting.  Just for grins, it might be of interest to look under the fore end and see whether there are any markings to indicate who was involved in the post-factory upgrade.  If it sounds like I'm changing my mind about the rifle, it's because each new revelation makes me rethink my comments.    Whatever else, it is a desirable, interesting rifle from what you have said already.

Regards,
Green Frog

Chuckster wrote on Nov 19^th, 2008 at 10:04pm:


Chuck,
The case was just something I found at one of our local gun shows for $10. It looked like it was fitted for a singleshot, and after some test fitting my Hi Wall and Low Wall sporting rifles both fit it pretty well.