Wondering about a lever(ish) gun

[tubadude]

My grandpa has loaned me his Winchester Model 88 for deer hunting next week. I took it out to the range yesterday to check its zero and see if it liked the ammo I planned on using. I ended up blowing all 60 rounds of 308 I brought with me just because this rifle is accurate and really freaking fun to shoot. For anyone that is unfamiliar with the rifle, it is a detachable magazine fed lever-bolt hybrid action rifle where the lever operates a three-lug rotating bolt.

After doing some research on the rifle, I found out that the one in my possession was made in the mid 60s, and the rifle was discontinued in the early 70s.

Are there any rifles like this that are currently in production? I really like the idea of a magazine fed lever gun that can use pointed bullets, but I'll have to give this rifle back in a few weeks.

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[Lindy1933]

My Savage Model 99 in 250/3000 has a top loaded magazine and shoots pointed bullets. BTW: There are a lot of Model 88's here: Winchester Model 88 Rifles For Sale

[BigJon10125]

Hornady makes bullets with a plastic pointed tip that others have said increased their accuracy. I ran a few through my Marlin 336w a few days ago, but I was not checking accuracy, merely feel and function.

[ghost tracker]

You're gonna' be very happy to discover the Browning BLR .308. One of my all-time favorite rifles.

[10thmtn]

Hornady makes bullets with a plastic pointed tip that others have said increased their accuracy. I ran a few through my Marlin 336w a few days ago, but I was not checking accuracy, merely feel and function.

That's the LeveRevolution ammo. Good stuff. Just don't leave it in a tubular magazine for extended periods - the plastic tip can deform, which can impact accuracy.

[bmcgilvray]

That's the LeveRevolution ammo. Good stuff. Just don't leave it in a tubular magazine for extended periods - the plastic tip can deform, which can impact accuracy.

This is the first I've read of this issue. Nice little tidbit to learn.

It's really nice to see a thread that mentions the Winchester Model 88! I would love to add a nice Winchester Model 88, especially in .284 Winchester caliber, to the collection!

That Winchester Model 88 was a very modern lever-action design in its day. It was a fantastic rifle but alas, the design was very expensive to produce so was discontinued. So many really fine designs in the firearms world have fallen by the wayside because they couldn't be adapted to inexpensive production methods. They weren't obsolete in function or durability. They could give fine performance with the self-contained metallic cartridges we're still using today. They just couldn't be built to sell cheaply. A whole generation of shooters is missing out on some timeless designs, having been made accustomed to cast steel, aluminum alloy, metal injection molded parts, stamped parts, synthetics, and plastic.

Here are a two more lever-action designs that load from a box magazine.

The Winchester Model 1895 was the first generally successful lever-action rifle using a box magazine. A sturdy John Browning design, the Model 1895 also could cope with the pressures generated by the more high-intensity smokeless powder cartridges that were being developed at the same time as the rifle's introduction. It was one of the very few lever-action rifles ever produced* that could handle the .30-06 cartridge. The Model 1895 was fairly popular in that chambering. Here's a Model 1895 rifle manufactured in 1904 and chambered for the .405 WCF.


Hot on the heals of the Winchester Model 1895's introduction to the hunting market was the Savage Model 99, originally Model 1899. This rifle model began as a minor design revision of the earlier Model 1895 and lasted for a century. The Model 99 really was ahead of its time featuring a hammerless design, strong method of breech locking, spool magazine and a dynamic futuristic appearance. Its designer, Arthur W. Savage was a keen inventor with several important firearms innovations to his credit along with other non-related inventions including the radial tire. Here's a mid 1950s Savage Model 99 chambered for .300 Savage and a typical 100-yard, 5-shot group fired from a bench rest.





* It's possible to find the relatively scarce Sako Finnwolf lever-action rifle in .30-06 and Browning made the BLR in .30-06.

[gasmitty]

By coincidence I handled a Win 88 that was on the rack at a great little gun store in Phoenix earlier this week. This one was chambered in .308 and was in pretty good condition. My mind started to drift off toward how many deer this gun had taken in the 50-ish years since it was new...

It was highly reminiscent of the Savage 99 in the way it mounted quickly, and if the pockets were a bit deeper I'd have considered negotiating to see if it could follow me home. Make sure you let your grandpa know how much you enjoy this gun... and maybe someday it'll be yours! Happy hunting!