Early WRA Bullet Guides

[Jersey Devil]

I wish these early WRA bullet guides were parts of my collection, but they're not. These belong to Bubba.

[Bubba1]

left to right

earliest Educational Order bullet guide B8875
later Educational Order B8875 WRA, ( WRA hand added to lower right )
early production B8875WRA , ( all on same line )

[RCS]

That B8875 Winchester is very rare, Redfield had some of the bottom W.R.A. stamped bullet guides.

My friend Brad Pedersen just sent me a photo of his Winchester bullet guides, the B8875 was also
in his photo

[Bubba1]

The B8875 was indeed a hard one to find. I only need 2 more.

[RCS]

Paul, are you going to upgrade the Rahway Educational Order Winchesters ? the neat stuff is always the most difficult to
restore. Have you done any research on the followers and slides for this period ?

[Bubba1]

Trying to bring them 100% correct . I have one of them 95% or better and the other two are 85-90% correct. I had to use the bullet guides with the WRA handstamped on two of them . All of the follower and slides are Winchester with early slides ( to the best of my knowledge ) .
I still need ,
2 numbered rear handguards
1 type 1 follower rod , winchester
2 sets original keystones
and it's a toss up on the rear handguard clips if they had holes or not, at least at these serial numbers

Bubba

[RCS]

Paul, bet you found the Winchester follower rod and springs from Winchester 100559. The owners son once fired 60 rounds
through that rifle with the keystone and comp ! Complete length keystone has to be worth 3K or 4K nowdays. That 100559
was made on Dec 27th 1940

[Bubba1]

One of the follower rods did come from 100559. I had put a winchester follower rod in it. It had a springfield follower rod in it when I bought it. I sold that rifle to a friend of mine. I found another winchester follower rod from another friend a few months ago. Lucky find.

[RCS]

Here are photos of the early Winchester barrel pads, these are from original rifle/barrel combinations. The drawing number is on
the op rod side. You can find different variations but I would think that a long pad is better on a early restoration

[Pederson]

I know of less than a handful of the B8875 bullet guide. I am extremely grateful to two fantastic gentlemen in Texas that helped me find one.

[CCyooper]

Is it possible that WRA could have used a B-8875 too? I have a B8875WRA and they are identical matches as far as my old damaged eyes can tell. The striations match, filings match as well as the hardness punch location. The B- guide is blued/dulite.

[Pederson]

Punch mark has always been a misconception about a part being WRA. SA hardness tested too. It is a poor indicator. Machining marks too have been an over assessment, as SA had some poor machining as well.

Remember the general sequence at SA was B-, then B space then B no space. The first WRA rifle was B no space, thius making it illogical (not impossible) that WRA would have gone back and put in a dash.

No original WRA rifle has surfaced with a B-8875 bullet guide, however SA rifles have.

Many early SA parts have a blue color, however it is not Dulite. Look at an early Type I SA follower rod, it is likely blued.

Lastly, if you look at the fonts between a B-8875, a B8875 and a B8875 W.R.A. (hand stamped) only the latter two are the same. Only after WRA converted to the roll stamped B8875W.R.A. did the font change.

[CCyooper]

Thank you. All makes sense to me. That is what I was thinking too but I noticed a parts seller was selling an early part as Winchester. I have understood the punch mark for a long time and could not figure why WRA would use a 1939ish marking system B-8xxx but other characteristics were almost the same. I don't think the part is Dulite either. It is old but it does not have that certain hue that Dulite normally has. Thanks again for the detailed and logical response.