I have three of the Browning 1885s: a .32-40, a .38-55, and a .405. I've had two Shiloh Sharps .45-70s, still have one I bought thirty years ago. I much prefer the 1885 and it's design over the Shiloh Sharps, but they're both excellent guns.
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I have three of the Browning 1885s: a .32-40, a .38-55, and a .405. I've had two Shiloh Sharps .45-70s, still have one I bought thirty years ago. I much prefer the 1885 and it's design over the Shiloh Sharps, but they're both excellent guns.
I have the same rifle with iron sights and it does great. I shoot the Unique loads and they are very accurate, and kill deer well under 200yds, dont feel like beating myself up for no reason.
Just curious, is that .32-40 a factory barrel? I've had an itch for one of those!Originally Posted by lotech
Yes, CDNN had these as closeouts about ten years ago. It's a Traditional Hunter model, just like the .38-55 I bought more than twenty years ago; 28" octagon barrel and a tang sight.
Sweet! Too bad they don't still make them. I'd be all over it.
Black powder equivalent in 5744 . I found works well but Lyman Reloading book specs are much slower than what I got over chronograph. Had to backdown 4-5 grains. Was trying for 1300 FPS.
My son was wanting a Roger #1 a few years back and I asked him why he didn’t buy an 1885 instead. He didn’t even know what they were. Well, I found one for sale on another forum and he bought it from a guy who lived in Alaska. He killed hogs and white tails here in Texas for a couple of years and then got a chance to hunt South Africa. He killed everything from kudu to warthogs to zebra. He said there were some Guys with fancy rifles there in camp but they all wanted to check out his 1885 Browning 30/06.
I’m hoping mine gets here by Friday. This gun doesn’t have a tang, so mounting a tang sight isn’t going to be an easy proposition. I’m planning on a scope, to begin with anyway. It’ll let me see how accurate the rifle is, and work up accurate loads. Then I’ll have to decide about a tang sight.
I'd agree. But I just don't see where there's not room for those who want to shoot smokeless also. Maybe if guys weren't so adamant about BP in single shots, then people might eventually work their way around to loading BP?
You're funny. Some people just have different preferences, and nothing to do with being "afraid of blackpowder".
You sound like some kind of a fanatic.
There certainly is room for both BP and smokeless. I've been shooting BPCRs for over 40 years. I shot a lot of BP in that time. I've also used a fair bit of smokeless, just depends on the rifle and what I want to do. Sure you need to be cautious and use good sense.
But I shot both very successfully, and still do. To each his own - PERIOD!
Midway lists a Marbles tang sight that I think is for this model 1885.
https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1005871161?pid=118542
Has anyone tried on of these? I don’t like the idea of drilling into the wood, but maybe you don’t have to ???
I have one of those sights on a m1892 Winchester. It is servicable, but not the quality of the originals.
I still have two 1885's left--Browning BPCR 45/70 and Winchester Traditional Hunter 32/40. Shot the BPCR often when I first purchased it a long time ago, but not so much in recent years. The latter hasn't been shot much at all, but here lately I have been thinking of adding this scope to it: Leupold VX-Freedom Scout Rifle Scope 1.5-4X28mm Duplex Reticle Matte
It has longer eye relief than standard, but much less than a true scout scope or pistol scope.
I've been wanting another 45-70 and I've always liked the 1885s, My father has one and it is a beautiful rifle. I"ve been looking at the Uberti Hi Walls also, they look really nice and I like the classic look plus the price doesn't seem to bad, been watching some on Gunbroker just trying to decide if I want to jump on one or not.
Chris
If you go to a tang sight, you need some sort of a base inletted into the wrist of the stock to mount it. You could simply screw it into the wood with wood screws, but that's not a great mounting solution. And you don't want to use a base designed for the 1885 High Wall or other long spaced bases. Better to use either Marlin 1.125" base, or Stevens 1.5" base spacing.
I've used brass stock about 1/2" wide, and 3/16"-1/4" thick inletted into the wrist, and installed with epoxy to keep it secured. D&T it first for the base hole spacing and put some tape just over the bottom of the holes to keep epoxy out of them when you bed it.
There are black powder shooters that appear to be afraid of smokeless powder since a careless handloader can spray shrapnel on the firing line.
EDG
I ordered a set of Leupold mounts from Midway, and I have a few scopes to choose from. Most likely I’ll put a Vortex Viper 2-7x on it.
I really don’t want to start cutting the wood, if that’s the only way I’ll probably go with a scope instead.
Unfortunately that's the drawback on this model. I understand not wanting to cut the wood too. I took my stock to a friend who has a better milling machine than I have. He simply used a end mill to mill the slot in the top of the wrist, which made a nice clean opening. Then I cut and filed the brass plate to fit the slot he milled perfectly. Made a very nice, clean installation, and better than me trying to inlet a slot with carving tools.
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