The Winchester Model 1866 is an American lever-action repeating rifle produced from 1866 to 1898 by the Winchester Repeating Arms Company.
Being the first iteration of the Winchester rifle, the Model 1866 was a refinement of the 1860 Henry rifle, nicknamed the Yellow Boy because of its distinctively-colored golden receiver, the rifle was an instant success and had a long production run of about thirty years.

After Oliver Winchester purchased the assets of the bankrupt Volcanic Repeating Arms Company, renamed it the New Haven Arms Company and assumed complete ownership of said company, the company received some orders to revise and improve the Henry rifle (which was also manufactured by said company), which was a revolutionary rifle but not without its faults. As such, a new and improved rifle was envisioned; this rifle became the Model 1866.

The Model 1866 was first marketed in, well... 1866, the rifle was an instant success, with approximately 170,100 manufactured during its production life. The rifle remained in production until 1898, despite the Model 1873 and 1894 having already been marketed and sold by that time, in particular due to being cheaper than later models with similar characteristics.

The Model 1866 has four sub-variants, each with some distinguishing points. The rifle was available in three lengths: rifle, carbine and "musket" (which was mainly used to differentiate longer versions of guns of the same model). Of all three variations, the "muskets" were the rarest, with only approximately 14,000 produced while the carbines were the most numerous.

In 1870 during his time as a city Marshal in Ellis County, Kansas, after having a barfight with soldiers of the 7th Cavalry, and killing two troopers, Wild Bill Hickok returned to his room and retrieved a Winchester 1866 Yellowboy, and about 100 rounds of ammo, before barricading himself inside his room.
A number of rifles were also purchased by the French and Turkish armies, the latter is also commonly described as "causing much surprise when outnumbered Turks at the Siege of Plevna inflicted many times more casualties", although in reality the destructive range of Winchester (which was mainly issued to the cavalry) was understandably limited, and the Turks used the standard-issue Peabody-Martini at long distances (and apparently not all ordered rifles were actually delivered due to various problems).

NOTE: The Winchester 1866 uses .44 Rimfire ammo, this ammo is included in the 1860 Henry Pack.

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