Spud,

     Bear in mind this is JMHO, but I think you have already answered your own question.  It is a rifle that was assembled from parts.  Whether it was done very late at the factory (that SN would probably put it in the early to mid teens) or later when somebody changed the trigger tang on an earlier rifle and refinished the receiver to match (and it has now had 70-80 or more years to age and look original) or as a factory repair. 

The trigger tang should have block numbers for the serial, and a block capital A at the end, and I would expect it to be blued, while the flat spring action, if unaltered, would most likely be cased instead.  During the '20s and '30s Winchester would accept 'walls for repairs and replace parts as needed... I have been lead to believe that if major work was done (such as replacing a broken trigger tang, perhaps) that the receivers would be rehardened and blued at that time.  That may be what happened to yours.  Anything else I could say would be gross speculation (as opposed to the nice speculation already!  )

Froggie

Hello Spud,

For what it is worth, Campbell, Madis, and West are poor sources of information in regards to the Model 1885 dates of manufacture.

Serial number 112,000 was manufactured on September 16th, 1911, and serial number 112,999 on February 2nd, 1912.

I have personally seen a relatively large number of factory original  flat-spring actions in the 110,000 through 115,000 serial range. Winchester was using up parts on hand.

Bert H.

The key is the letter "A" at the end of the tang, the serial number doesn't matter. The "A" refers to a design change (as on the Win. 62 & the 62A, where they went from 3 pins in the breech block to 1 pin & also changed the shape of the fore end).       ...MIKE...

A quick question,
About what serial number was the coil spring introduced? Or what is the lowest number anyone has seen for a coil spring?

Frank

Frank,
FYI the earliest coil spring I ever had was a Low-wall in .44 WCF #1049XX.

Spud