What's its purpose?
Pistol-cartridge, metallic silhouette + light-game hunting
What makes it so suitable?
Due to the following reasons:
- 1. 24", (heavyish) octagonal barrel
2. Half length magazine (no barrel bands)
3. Near new (resleaved) barrel
4. Chambered in the light-recoiling 32-20
5. Natively takes a tang receiver
6. Very reasonably priced
How does it shoot?
Incredibly; not only is it inherently accurate, but more importantly, the long sight radius, super fine front post and low recoil equates to easily the most user-friendly (iron-sighted) lever gun I've shot to date. I see now why old Winchesters are so popular, and also why the 32-20 is sometimes categorised as a varmint round.
What condition is it in?
The barrel is immaculate, but the action was absolutely PUTRID, like it hadn't been cleaned in 113 years! So I firstly tried just spraying out with carb cleaner:
Then after realising how disgusting it was, a full disassembly saw a phoenix rise from the ashes: