Sneak preview to Armageddon

[pricedo]

My latest acquisition:

A brand spanking new Winchester (Miroku) model 1886 Extra Light in 45-70 that I got at a liquidation sale special price.......a mere $1000.
There weren't very many of these made and they are now listed by Winchester as a discontinued item.
I purchased the rifle with 4 boxes of Buffalo Bore ammunition ....... 2 boxes 430 grain hc lead fp & 2 boxes 500 grain fmc fp (Barnes Buster Bullets).
The rifle weighs in at slightly over 7 pounds and features a 22" barrel.
The fit, finish, rich lustrous bluing and workmanship are impeccable as expected.
The wood though high grade walnut has the same anemic greyish liver spot coloring as my uncles skin when he passed away at 97 years old........it definitely needs something.
I worked the action about 700 times in front of the TV and it is now quite slick & smooth.
The shotgun style steel butt plate is covered by one of Jon Kleins leather covers........the cover designed for a Winchester 1894 fit the 1886 ELs butt stock perfectly.
I expect that firing this gun with the BB ammo will be more of a religious experience (sneak preview to Armageddon) than a shooting session with all the attendant roaring & flashing of thunder and lightning and the feeling of my feet being lifted off the ground as I'm swept into the swirling clouds to face judgement.
My kinda True Grit shootin iron/ammo combo.........I can't wait to shoulder it & show it who's boss.
After the shooting I'm going to liven up the lack-luster coloring of the butt stock & forearm with some Tru-Oil......I should be able to move my fingers enough in the plaster of paris cast to accomplish that task.

[Ranch Dog]

Boy oh boy, are you asking for it with that trigger pull. Still, I could not avoid the temptation either. What is a few missing teeth and a dislocated jaw?

[pricedo]

Those big steel lugs locked into the receiver frame & bolt mortise on each side make me very confident in the strength of the lock up of the 1886.
The Winchester 1886 action is one of the strongest lever actions ever built perhaps second in strength only to the Browning BLR which isn't really a lever action but is more precisely a lever actuated bolt action.
This rifle with the Buffalo Bore 430 grain hc fp lead bullets issuing forth at 1950 fps will be instant death bear medicine.
I don't think recoil will be a problem with the flat shotgun style butt plate cushioned by the soft leather of the Klein cover.
Range reports I have read in regards to the Winchester (Miroku) 1886 EL are quite impressive as is the Youtube video review by the well known gun magazine author Mike Beliveau.
I sure like the feel of this gun........that's why I bought it.
The Chiappa 1886 with the 24" octagonal barrel that I tried and dumped a couple of years ago was slick, smooth & accurate but at 9+ pounds was too darn heavy to carry out of the living room.
This rifle is 2 pound lighter.......that's a lot of weight at the end of a long hot trek in the thick bush.

[JackOAT]

After the shooting I'm going to liven up the lack-luster coloring of the butt stock & forearm with some Tru-Oil......I should be able to move my fingers enough in the plaster of paris cast to accomplish that task. [/quote]

At the very least it will liven up the color of your shoulder! Nice rifle though

[akuser47]

the it is gonna be the reaper to your shoulder. keep us posted shes is a looker

[pricedo]

the it is gonna be the reaper to your shoulder. keep us posted shes is a looker

It would need to be for that kind of money.........they normally MSRP for around $1200.

The dry cycle break-in is a little more exhausting in an 1886 as it is in a 92 by virtue of the fact that there is more internal area (therefore more friction) to fine polish. I don't strip these (Miroku) guns down because there are umpteen little parts to fall out & get lost in the trigger & firing pin mechanisms and the Mirokus I have stripped have been clean & polished inside......these guns aren't Rossis........they're 3X the purchase price so I don't expect to be removing hardened clumps of cosmoline, dirt & rust from inside the receiver.

It's got the really fine buckhorn sights & front post/bead like the old pre-64 Winchesters did and that's what I'll be using.......no scope.

I have compared the Miroku Winchester 94 & 1886 rifles with my pre-64 Winchesters and Miroku has borrowed a lot of the finer points from the old originals missing in the post-64 guns and the various brands of Winchester clones like the Rossi rifles.

The Miroku Winchester 1886s tang safety has a large conspicuous red dot which is in constant view from the firing position throughout the "squeezedown" to hammer release & ignition to remind the shooter that the safety is disengaged. I can see the dot even when my eyes are focused on the iron sights & I do not have to move my hand or thumb from the firing stance hold to work the tang safety should I decide not to shoot. Can't say that for the "pigtail" safety on the Rossi 92s or the crossbolt safety on the Marlin Guide Gun. Miroku has really given a lot of thought to the design of this gun. I would expect no less for the $$$ I laid on the counter.

In 2010 Winchester made the OTHER decision of the two that were in front of them in 1964.......either 1) go cheap on materials, quality and features and hold the purchase price (the road they chose to follow in 1964) or 2) retain features and perhaps improve the quality and increase the purchase price to reflect rising production costs (the 2010 Miroku route).

I think either decision would have been the handwriting on the wall for Winchester in 1964 as the era of the leverguns was waning.....todays market is ARs & less than $500 unit price pre-sighted & pre-configured plastic bolt rifle/scope combos that can cut 1 MOA groups right outta the box without lifting a finger.

The more I look at the gun I realize that the duller non reflective walnut which is the same color as a tree trunk is an advantage in hunting & will leave it alone. This is a game getting tool not an ornament. How many glossy trees with shiny, polished wood have you seen lately?......NONE?......well neither have the deer you're hunting.

Like Buffalo Bore says on their ammo boxes.........this is STRICTLY BUSINESS.

[Missionary]

Greetings
But once you get over the fun... wait till you start hauling it around through the bushes hunting. Nice light weight rifle with all the power you could ever need for any mean,angry,toothy critter you could come across. I have had one for 7 years and when I want a smasher caliber .45 rifle for all day walking about the Model 86 goes out.
Mike in Peru

[pricedo]

The 1886 ELs action is really smooth now after about 1000 dry cycles and I've installed the Uncle Mike's #1597-2 QD swivel hardware which uses a 2/3 circumference magazine tube band (I'll use a band on a mag tube but not on a barrel as I believe metal bands mounted on rifle barrels affects barrel harmonics & accuracy) and required only 1 very small pilot hole to be drilled in the butt stock for the screw-in eye which is covered by one of Jon Kleins leather butt stock covers. The leather cover is not only beautiful but attenuates recoil and cheek slap as well as hold 6 rounds for easy access.
I'm using the Quake "Claw" soft rubber sling with the wide carry pad which will not slip on jacket cloth and allow the gun to slide down my back unlike many leather slings I tried.
I don't know why anyone would need any other sights except the very precise & fine (both in profile & quality) iron buckhorn sights the gun came with.
The iron sights on the Rossi leverguns look very coarse and amateurish in comparison like they were thrown on in a haphazard way with no regard whatsoever to line of sight to line of bore relationship which is indeed exactly the case. That's why a lot of Rossi leverguns are 6" or more high at 50 yards with the rear sight elevator on it's lowest setting.
I'm betting that like my legacy Winchester rifles the 1866 EL sights will be pretty close to "bang on" @ 50 yards right out of the box.
I am very pleased with this rifle.
Hopefully I can get out to the range to shoot it now that deer season in my area is over for this year.
I coulda taken the 1886 EL deer hunting but with the Buffalo Bore ammo I bought for it would cut a deer in half. The watered down factory Big Green 405 grain 45-70 ammo would be better for deer but I didn't have any on hand.

[akuser47]

I have not dealt with 1886 rilfes but have heard alot of parts when stripped is this rumor or true?

[pricedo]

I have not dealt with 1886 rilfes but have heard alot of parts when stripped is this rumor or true?

A legacy Winchester 1886 true to JMBs design should have no more parts than an equivalent 1892.
The 1886 action is the same action as a 1892 on a bigger scale to handle bigger rounds.
The newer Miroku made "Winchester" 1886s/1892s have more parts because of the lawyers parts like the segmented firing pin linkage, the tang safety and the rebounding hammer which are absent in the 1886 JMB patent office blueprint.