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Is there anyone here on WO's site that is knowledgeable of component rifle barrels built by Olin in the 1970's chambered in 38-55, half round/half octagon bored .3765, 26", angle eject, marked "1 of 1000?
When exactly were they produced?
Was the total production run 1000?
Why weren't they used in rifle production?
Where did they go after USRA bought up production and inventory?

I dont know enough to give you the best answer but if the barrel is an Angle Eject it is probably a Texas Sesquicentenial from 1986. They built 15,000 18 1/2" barrel carbines and 1,500 24" rifles.

In 1983 they built the 24" chief Crazy Horse full octagon top eject.

I dont remember a half octagon 26" barrel 38-55. The longest 38-55 barrels I remember are 24" and there 5 different releases of 38-55 24" rifles.

Yes, I was aware of those you listed, but they were all marked USRA , not Olin Winchester. This barrel I have is definitely pre USRA.

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What about that rifle issued as the "Legendary Frontiersman"? If I remember correctly, it was a Winchester made gun.

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I don't know of any production guns from Olin in 38-55 on an AE receiver. I saw a listing for these barrels from a liquidator and several of us bought them. I put mine in a cross bolt safety action, had the magazine built to button length, a steel fore arm cap fitted. Lyman Tang site installed, finished very nicely and is a fine, fine shooter. I use Lyman 375449, 265 gr. gas checked, chronoed from the 26" barrel at 1800 FPS, 10' from the muzzle. I was just wondering if anyone else here had any info on the original intent for the barrels. Obviously it was stopped by the change over to USRA.
My barrel was so perfectly built that it screwed in and headspaced with out any further machining.
Just wondering, lots to wonder about with Winchester and Colt, as well.

The problem is the Legendary Frontiersman is a top eject and a 24” barrel rifle from 1979

This is one of the advantages of the Winchester Model 94. If you look at the distance from the face of the bolt to the vertical locking lug it is the same on all rifles. You are able to polish the vertical locking bolt to make minor adjustments to headspace to take up for wear. The hammer forged barrel ensures the chambers are the same length and dimension.
Even pre-hammer forged barrels have very uniform chambers and the barrels are pretty much interchangeable.

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I am curious, how do you know that is a Winchester barrel? Winchester/Olin never made an Angle Eject anything.

We never saw all the commemoratives that were made. Many were made for export to other countries, some never left the factory because Winchester or USRA didn't think they would sell.

It is marked as "1 of 1000", was built as an angle eject, and was advertised by the liquidator as an Olin product disposed of by USRA. That's all I've got except that it is a beautiful rifle in a traditional sense, even tho it is built with many modern features. Just wondering if anyone had any figures or dates of production for these barrels. That last question was why I started this thread to begin with.

This is an interesting thread.
I looked around and Robert Renneberg pictures a barrel in his Winchester Model 94 book book marked: Winchester Model 94AE Cal. 38-55 Win. So I am now looking for a late issue 1 of 1,000 commemorative.

My rifle is a custom built rifle using declared "excess" AE, 26", half round fully finished, blued, fully machined with all dove tails etc machined and finished with all Winchester roll marks consistant with 1970's production guns. I'm curious about the barrels, not finished commercial production rifles. One other feature that was unique in my mind is that they are bored to .3765 groove diameter. In my experience Winchester and Marlin for that matter were traditionally .378 on up to .381 in many cases. This barrel that I had built into a rifle is probably the best I have ever used in a standard production name brand barrel.

The book "Winchester Commemoratives" by Tom Trolard might be of interest.

My rifle is not a commemorative, it is a custom build using a production Winchester barrel and a middle 1990's M94 receiver, cross bolt safety type, that I bought as a complete used 30-30, 20" barrel carbine, standard production and had the rifle assembled to my specifications. My rifle is not, not a production gun, will not appear in any book. I just want to know about the barrel.

I vaguely remember the 1 or 1,000 rifles but cannot remember if they were for overseas release or domestic, The book may help to identify them. An interlibrary load of the book is the way to go.

[EDIT] Page 290 of R.L. Wilsons Winchester book pictures a 1 of 1,000 Commemorative but the barrel is round and the markings were highlighted in gold. - no mention of caliber but the rifle is top eject. These are from the 1978 time frame. It is possible to cut a second extractor cut - this has been discissed on the Levrguns board.

My barrel seated and head spaced without any machining what so ever, it was a perfect fit and beautiful, fitted a 1/16 X .360 front sight and a Lyman tang sight and went to work developing loads. If I ever buy a camera and learn how to use it I'll post pics. I don't like that thought one little bit, just more magic electrons to make me mad.

MMCSRET wrote:My rifle is not a commemorative, it is a custom build using a production Winchester barrel and a middle 1990's M94 receiver, cross bolt safety type, that I bought as a complete used 30-30, 20" barrel carbine, standard production and had the rifle assembled to my specifications. My rifle is not, not a production gun, will not appear in any book. I just want to know about the barrel.

It's quite possible that your barrel was intended to go on a planned 1 of 1000 Commemorative rifle that never made it into production.

Modern 1 of 1000's are, by most collectors, considered Commemoratives.

Information is likely to appear in Trolard's book, Vol. 1 and/or Vol.2, available from the Winchester Collectors Association.

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Several 1 of 1000 guns were made for other countries and never saw sales in this country. One instance is the Alberta Diamond anniversary or jubilee model. Then there was a European shipment of 1 of 1000 guns, neither of which do I have a barrel description. Another thing is the closing of USRA. Everything in the place including gun parts were sold to salvage dealers. I have several boxes of proof ammo from there. I have seen receivers with no serial number that came out of that sale. The point is anything could have been made for future use or engineering models never intended for sale, all that went to the salvage people and much of it has turned up in the gun community.

This barrel predates the closing of USRA by 20+ years. Speaking from memory here, but didn't all the commemoratives have the subject of commemoration marked on the barrel as well as the medallion in the stock and them some also marked on the receiver? My barrel has no such markings and was completely finished and blued when I bought it.

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Sorry, I missed where you said that you had the barrel for over twenty years. The "1 of 1000" guns had no marking on the barrel other than the standard markings and the 1 of 1000. Believe what you want, I give up.

Just conversing and conjecturing, sorry to upset you, wasn't meant to cause disharmony in this small community of common interest.

The information you are giving certainly points to a later production barrel.
Winchester reduced the bore diameter for the 375 Winchester cartridge and used this diameter and a shorter cartridge length for the 38-55. Tis caused problems with the Marlin rifles which had a bore diameter and chamber length intended for the larger diameter bullets and longer cases.

It is interesting speculation. The gun is fantastically accurate. I've had several highly qualified shooters commend me on the gun and load I developed for it. The barrel has never had a factory round or a jacketed bullet hand load fired in it. Nothing but cast lead and my loads, it makes even me look good and that is a difficult task.

Finally got the camera figured out, loading some pics, maybe, of my custom AE 38-55.