South African Model 1873 Winchester

I'm looking for help to determine the provenance of an interesting Winchester Lever Action rifle that I recently bought at a UK auction. It's a full-length Model 1873 Winchester in 44-40 Calibre with an octagonal barrel and appears to be completely original. The serial number indicates that it was made in 1897. There are two important features of note:

1. On the top barrel flat, in the first two inches from the receiver, the U Broad Arrow Military Acceptance Stamp has been placed twice, one before and one after the factory calibre stamp. I presume that these are Cape Colony stamps.

2. On the right barrel flat, approximately two inches from the receiver, "BESL" is stamped. I have not been able to find any corresponding Cape, Bechuanaland or South-African military, paramilitary or police unit titles that would correspond to the abbreviation. "British Empire Service League" (ie the predecessor of the South African Legion) would be the only abbreviation that readily comes to mind.

I'd like to establish some more information about the rifle and whether it might have arrived with the first contingent of the Canadian Mounted Rifles at the beginning of the Second South African (Boer)War. Many Canadian officers served there from 1899-1902, and many of these men were recruited from Western frontiersmen and the NWMP; these men would have been familiar with this rifle and may it may have been a private-purchase sidearm for one of them. The Cody Museum has been of limited assistance and I don't know whether there is a traceable London Agency source for Winchester dating from that era. Any assistance would be of value.

We'd love to see some pics of this one...?

I'll try to get some closeups of the stamps. The gun is pretty plain-Jane. Of significance: there are no British proof marks. On another forum I was directed to a SA gunsmith/gunmaker who, in the 1880s, regularly imported Winchester rifles directly from the US. The models included the 1873 and 1876. However, this firm apparently stopped importing when he and his son died within months of one another, in 1890. I am also interested in pursuing another interesting link to the Canadian War Hero: Major A.L. Turner:

A.L. "Gat" Howard was born an American, and was a Union Army Officer. In the 1880s he became the foreign sales representative for Colts, who were attempting to market Gatling Guns. In 1885 he and a Colt Gatling Gun accompanied the NW Field Force to quell the NW Rebellion and he operated the gun in winter conditions. Subsequently, he remained in Canada and eventually became a Canadian Army officer. He was a lieutenant when he sailed with the First CMRs to South Africa in 1899, and, through hard work and daring, rose to the rank of Major, eventually becoming the C/O of the Canadian Scouts (later the Royal Canadian Dragoons). He was well liked and respected by all who met him. On Feb. 17, 1901, while on a recce with his CSM, he was captured by the Boers. Both men were summarily executed when their identities became apparent. It would be no small surprise that such a man would equip himself with familiar American weapons, and these may have been private-purchase items he brought with him in 1899. I have been told that he carried a Winchester rifle and Colt pistol as his personal sidearms. It would also be no surprise if the Cape Government later acquired a Winchester rifle from surrendering Boers, who would have most-certainly relished such a gun captured from an enemy officer.

Of course, all this is conjecture on my part. But, the fact remains, the provenance of this gun has to be interesting, whatever it might actually be!

Pictures of South African M1873:Attachment 68940Attachment 68941Attachment 68942Attachment 68943

Maybe it's simpler than you think: Besl is a somewhat uncommon German family name. 73 personal and 10 business entries online. But no luck with the Netherlands telephone book.

However, in South Africa...

I leave it up to you to follow this clue. You may be surprised.

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Thought Buffalo Bill Museum might be of help.

Thanks: I've contacted Cody Museum, Winchester Collectors Association and the South African Military Historical Society, to name a few. However, no real Joy yet. I've looked through the Imperial surname list of the Anglo-Boer War Historical Society without success, although I suspect that this would more-likely be a Boer-Dutch/German/Swiss surname, and I'm not sure just how inclusive the list is. Unlikely to be Boer, given that most combatants would not have had the means or skills to strike their initials on a gun barrel. Most would have carved them in the stock, as they did with their Mausers.

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Originally Posted by Centurion

... Unlikely to be Boer, given that most combatants would not have had the means or skills to strike their initials on a gun barrel. Most would have carved them in the stock, as they did with their Mausers.

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I'm not sure that is a valid assumption. Agreed, it is more likely that individuals would (and did then) carve the stocks given an abundance of idle time, boredom and an available knife. However, one can not assume that it was unlikely that Boers didn't have access to the tools or the skill required to stamp a name on a rifle. Nor can one ignore the possibility that this particular rifle may have been stamped with an owner's name when it was purchased or otherwise acquired.

--I've looked at a lot of wartime Boer guns and have yet to see one with initials stamped on the barrel. It is entirely possible that the letters were stamped by a gunsmith/gunmaker who might have directly ordered the gun from the US. It is also possible that the letters were stamped at some later date. I've seen lots of wartime capture guns in Legion messes over the years--the gun may have been removed after spending years on display in a Legion mess somewhere. In any case, at this point, all this is pure conjecture. It would be interesting to see similarly stamped guns with known provenance, as that would probably clarify things quite a bit. Attached are pictures of typical Boer stamps/marks. Typically, only guns purchased by the Orange Free State (OVS) prior to the war have stamps placed on metal parts.

--Typical Boer Rifle Markings:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Centurion

It is also possible that the letters were stamped at some later date.

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73 Besl matches in Germany
4 in Austria
0 in Netherlands
0 in South Africa
150 in USA

Above are for private persons, not businesses, listed in "White Pages" or equivalent.

I may well have missed something, but the statistics seem to make it most likely that the name was stamped on the barrel by the owner after it arrived in the USA. Please search yourself to confirm/alter these results:

Patrick: this gun NEVER arrived in the USA--it was manufactured there in 1897 and subsequently arrived in South Africa: it may have been stamped with an American individual's name, and that same individual took it to South Africa. However, it was unusual for an American owner to have had the factory install sling swivels. This was more-typical of a military or European user. The gun found its way to the UK, where it was subsequently auctioned-off. However, it was never licensed for use in the UK, as it would have required British proofing, and there are no UK proof marks present on the gun. I'm waiting for the shipment details from Cody to determine more info on who it may have been shipped to and to confirm whether the sling eye and swivel were factory-added. As to whether the initials actually represent a surname; it would be unusual for an owner of that era not to have added his first initial to the surname, as typically-done on the wooden stock-carved identities.

Attachment 69003Attachment 69004Attachment 69005

More on African Winchesters--1866 and 1876 Winchester Rifles used by Henry Morton Stanley during his epic expeditions to locate David Livingstone. Their firepower was credited with saving his men on multiple occasions when attacked by hostile African tribesmen.

Attachment 69006Attachment 69007Attachment 69008Attachment 69009Attachment 69010--Winchester M1873 Sporting Rifles shipped directly to South African clients/dealers in the 1880s--so-called "seven-leaf" rifles, after the number of sight leaves. Some of these may have been used by the Boers against Empire troops.

Attachment 69011Attachment 69012Attachment 69013--rare military-contract M1873 rifles, the Spanish and the Naval Contract Rifles, supplied directly by Winchester to client nations other than to South African Colonies.

Attachment 69014Attachment 69015Attachment 69016--There is photographic evidence that Canadian Cavalry officers purchased and carried non-issue firearms--Col. Sam Steele with his M1896 Broomhandle Mauser Pistol (similar to that carried by Winston Churchill), and unidentified officers posing with what appears to be a lever-action magazine gun, or posing with an 1878 Colt Double-Action Frontier Revolver.

In my previous posts I had been focussed on the Canadians as the most-likely colonial troops to have favoured Winchester rifles as personal favourites supplementing the standard issue weapons of the day. I was therefore surprised to receive a picture from an English gentleman of no-less a personage than Lord Robert Baden-Powell (founder of the Boy Scout movement), then colonel-commanding officer of the South African Scouts, who clearly favoured his Winchester saddle-ring carbine for personal defense:

Attachment 69061

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Centurion

I was therefore surprised to receive a picture from an English gentleman of no-less a personage than Lord Robert Baden-Powell (founder of the Boy Scout movement), then colonel-commanding officer of the South African Scouts, who clearly favoured his Winchester saddle-ring carbine for personal defense:

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He may have but in that photo he's posed with a medium frame Colt Lightning carbine, not a Winchester. Note the absence of a lever loop and also that the barrel/mag tube is visible between the stubby fore end and his right hand.

--Yes, on second view I have to agree with you. I guess, in any case, it documents that some officers did not solely carry standard-issue firearms.

Didn't the RCMP have a swag of "slightly different" (musket pattern) '73 and '76 Winchesters?

Attachment 69101

--The RCMP (then the NWMP, or Northwest Mounted Police), used Winchester M1876 Muskets from 1878 until they were replaced by SMLE rifles in approximately 1910. Long-Lees were purchased as interim rifles as the Winchesters were retired, most having receivers that simply "wore out" and which were considered non-repairable. Long-Lees were not popular as they were not handy and somewhat fragile. The SMLE addressed these problems following the lessons taught by the Boer War. Winchester rifles were surprisingly durable and I've been told by a South African correspondent that ex-Boer and donated Model 1873s were used in the 1914 South African invasion of German Southwest Africa. No doubt British-supplied rifles were in very short supply at that time!