new one

[Lloyd Smale]

went to the buddys gunshop to find a new muzzle loader and came out with a thompson omega and a win 44 mag trapper saddle ring. real nice little gun thats like new and has real nice case colars. Only downside is it has that ugly cross bolt safety.

[jlchucker]

I don't recall where I saw it--this website or maybe another--but somebody out there is/was marketing a replacement for that safety.  It consists of a screw arrangement that replaces the unit and is flush with the receiver on both sides.  That would leave you with a rebounding-hammer Winny.  Not a bad thing--they used to come that way, briefly, back in the 1980's before the lawyers got involved.  I have a trapper something like yours, without that safety but with a rebounding hammer.  I bought it new and have never had issues with that rebounding hammer, but I stopped buying new Winchesters when they came out with that safety button and later that tang safety. My gunsmith and I, from time to time, have discussed those button safeties, and he said it's not a hard job to remove it and replace it with a flush screw--so I guess any competent gunsmith could make you up a plug arrangement if you wanted.  I've had a couple of Marlins with those button safeties (current models still have them)--the Marlin button is a better design, and can be ignored if you so choose.  They retained the half-cock option, unlike Winchester.

[salvo]

That was me, I made quite a few of them but got fed up with the safety nazi's and liability concerns.
Fairly easy to make if you have a lathe.
Congrats Lloyd mine is also a .44 Trapper, great little carbines!
I also converted mine to the old half cock hammer.

[jlchucker]

Now that I see the pics of your trapper, Salvo, it makes me want to weep at my own short-sightedness. About a year ago I stopped by a gunshop that's not particularly into lever guns, and passed up an angle-eject 30-30 with one of those safeties, and which had some rust-pitting. In decent shape otherwise. I thought to myself  "truck gun", since they were only asking for $185.  I figured I'd find another around the same price, but maybe of the vintage just before those safeties.  When my gunsmith buddy said he could make a plug kind of like your design, I went back, a couple of days later.  That Winnie was gone. 

I've never had a problem with my rebounding hammer, and have fired my 44 cal trapper extensively, mostly with cast bullets.  Nice to know it can be switched over to a half-cock though.  With my carbine my biggest gripe always was the lever link.  It's always been too narrow at the wide parts at the front and back for the opening at the bottom of the receiver, making for a kind of wobbly lever arrangement.  That's really not a function problem-except for maybe a tendency to rattle in the woods.  Mostly I've used tighter Winnies when I seriously hunt.  I expect that with my trapper, somebody at Winchester either machined the lower opening in the receiver a bit to wide, or I got a link that was machined a bit too narrow.