A lot of the old guys I grew up around in ranch country had saddle ring 94 winchester carbines. They said that the great thing about it was you could just hang the rifle from the saddle horn and not worry about loosing it out of a scabbard, and it served as a safety to keep the rifle from sliding out of the scabbard
 From my personal experience I find little difference between carrying a 20 inch or 24 inch lever rifle such as the 95 and 94 winchesters or any of the Marlins and Savage.
So I would say it just mostly depends on your preference after the horse is tied or hobbled.

Are you saying they hung it from the saddle horn without a scabbard, or they tied it to the saddle horn while in the scabbard so it wouldn't fall out?  Or both?

 A lot of the old guys I grew up around in ranch country had saddle ring 94 winchester carbines. They said that the great thing about it was you could just hang the rifle from the saddle horn and not worry about loosing it out of a scabbard, and it served as a safety to keep the rifle from sliding out of the scabbard
 From my personal experience I find little difference between carrying a 20 inch or 24 inch lever rifle such as the 95 and 94 winchesters or any of the Marlins and Savage.
So I would say it just mostly depends on your preference after the horse is tied or hobbled.

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~Mako

Mako,

I posted on another forum and got this reply,

The S&W spec. sheet date 1918 list the rifling as 6 grooves and one turn in 15 inched. I hope that helps. They list all the spec.s if you need them. Roy

As more replies come in, I will post.

Kevin

1887's were certainly having their moment in the Arizona territory back in the days of yore...