I hope you find the information useful in some way. It does seem a shame to spoil the wonderful lines of a classic lever gun that way, but hey, if it works..
The Winchester has the cowboy saddle ring and all, but I’ve had to repair it a couple of times, and it works just fine, so now it’s just a home defense weapon. I’m thinking of a Trijicon dot sight to mount on the rail. I’m really more interested in the rail systems for ‘clients’.