Today is my day to likely get flamed...maybe even put on a spit for a few hours and throughly roasted, toasted, basted, etc. Anyway, here goes:

I'm sure you have all heard that the Model 71 Winchester was ONLY factory barreled and chambered for the .348 winchester.

I find that hard to believe, as I have owned one some numerous years ago in .33 Winchester.

Before anyone shouts "That is impossible...it had to be an after-market re-barrel", or whatever, here is a quote from the Winchester Sales Manual of 1938:

"the gun chambered to handle .33 caliber can also be furnished on special order"....

(And, yes, Virgina, Winchester once thought enough of its products hat it produced and distributed sales manual(s) so that its products were properly represented by Winchester regional reps and major distributors. In those halcyon days, they would make many things just because a single customer or more wanted them, and they sold lots of special order guns.....)

No flame here AC. IIRC George Madis in his The Winchester Book states that the 71 was chambered in 33 Win. For the unbeliving, I will look up the page when I get home and add it to this post.

My bad, Madis in his 1961 edition states"Caliber .348 Winchester, which had been developed for this model, was the only cartridge for which the 71 was chambered except for experimental models."

Now I have to find where I read it, for I have seen reference to the fact they were also made in 33Win and 45-70 by a reliable collector.

I had the oppertunity to buy one in .33 WCF around 10 years ago. I passed because it had a mail order proof mark ( double proof mark). Yes, they did make this gun in .33 WCF. They also make afew in .45/70. I saw one of these at the OGCA show when it was held at the IX Center back in the 90's.