Yet More Yellow Boys!
SOUTH AFRICA’S INCREDIBLE Winchester “Yellow Boy” saga continues to beggar belief. It began with an article in Magnum’s May 2015 edition, identifying a fragment of a .44 Henry rim-fire cartridge case (which a reader had picked up in the veld and mailed to me) as being that of a Winchester Model 1866 “Yellow Boy”. I included a discussion on the history and rarity of this rifle. This led to another reader revealing his possession of such a rifle, which I wrote about in Magnum’s July 2016 edition. This in turn led to a series of astounding local discoveries described in the Feb and Nov 2017 editions. And now there’s more – but to appreciate the significance of these finds, a résumé of the details is needed.
The M1866 lever-action was the first firearm to bear the Winchester name. Its forerunner, the Henry repeating rifle, was made before the company was renamed Winchester. M1866 serial numbers began where those of the Henry ended, the M1866 being a much-improved 16-shot repeater chambered for the same .44 Henry rim-fire cartridge.
