I had the oppertunity to buy one of these rifles about 20 years ago I was shot down of course by my wife but now I am much smarter.
this rifle was an early stainless pre dating before 1936 the barrel was painted black to hide the steel because the had no way of blueing stainless at the time has anyone else ever seen one of these? I cant even find anyone who has heard of this rifle. It was one rifle that haunts me to this day because I did not buy it.

the model 54 is in my opinion one of the most overlooked winchesters there is. Mine is a 1st yr product marked 30 govt, which of course is a 3006. Originaly it was brought out in 270 with the 06 following shortly. The stainless barrel was a very early type brought out to resist the corrosive primers of the day. The action was meant to compete against the remington 30 , springfields etc., but was in fact perhaps the smoothest action made. While not easy to find, there are some floating around. Check gunlist, & the internet sources. They generally do not bring very high prices.

Butchlock these rifles did not fade away or go extinct. But who has them ,the main difference is the floor plate and lock speed. I cant find another one.

The stainless barrels on the Mod 54 were finished the same as the ones on the Mod 70. They were sandblasted, iron plated, then blued. The resulting finish was fairly coarse compared to the CM barrels. It looked a bit like paint and would show scratches like paint. If you look at one that is painted, it's not original finish.

Purcell
thank you.
I have found a few in my wanderings but none of them said = staynless = on them nowdays some companys use regular steel and coat them in nickel for the same benifits as stainless steel.
I just wish I would have bought it at the time.