New gen. Winchester 1886 rifles?

[Ragnarok]

I looked at these a year or so back...and they didn't look too bad. I didn't really like the tang-safety...and I thought the front sight looked like an after-thought...the rest looked good. I believe it was a 24" 'short-rifle' I examined at the gun store.

Does anybody here own a new-gen 1886 rifle to give a report on??

I may or may not buy one of these here in the near future.

[Jon K]

I bought one about a year ago. I am happy with it, balances well, for off hand shooting. I use it to shoot Levergun Silhouette.
I did change the stock(shotgun butt), removed the safety put a tang sight in that spot, changed the front sight.

I bought this mainly for the 24" barrel, before eye surgery.

Jon

[Ragnarok]

I really wish they offered a carbine stock...or better yet..a true 22" saddle-ring carbine version.

I may search for a Browning version of the 1886 saddle-ring carbine too. Not for sure what I want..but I do know I want a modern .45-70 repeater.

[Gunlaker]

I have one of the 24" Short Rifles. I haven't shot it very much, but I do like it. I added a Marbles Tang sight and a Lyman 17 front sight. It seems to be pretty accurate. My only complaint is the heavy trigger pull of 5.25 lbs on my guage. One thing that is kind of nice is that it will feed longer rounds than the Marlins will, however it is a bit pickier about bullets as it seems to have zero freebore. You can use the Speer 350gr bullets crimped in the proper location which is something you definitely cannot do in a Marlin.

Chris.

[KCSO]

The biggest problem with these is the rebounding hammer. In a lot of cases (four out of six in this shop) they don't give consistant ignition. This is more noticable with black powder but if you get any verticle stringing this is probably the cause. Once this is fixed they are good shooters.

[GARCIA]

If you can find a reproduction 1886 Browning jump on it!
Fit and finish is far superior to the reproduction 1886 Winchester.
Damn funny thing is that both are made by Miroku in Japan!

Tom

[pietro]

IIRC, at the time, Browning was a separate company from Winchester (unlike now), and most likely held Miroku to a higher standard (contractually, and actually).



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[Ragnarok]

Well??....I can either buy a new new Winchester 1886 short rifle for for about $1400 at a nearby gunstore...or I can buy a Browning 1886 SRC..lightly used with box/manual for a bit over $1400...the Browning is the way I'm leaning.

Tell me about the Browning M1886 SRC you fellows that own them??

When did they make them....and what did they cost new?

Any mechanical issues/ammo or feed issues with the Brownings?

[veeman]

I have one, love it. never had any trouble with it, and is accurate. I want to say late 80's early 90's is when they were made, but not sure. I bought mine in 95, NIB for $600. If there is anything I don't care for it would be the sights. I prefer a buckhorn rear.

[Sgt Red Leg]

I bought my first Browning/Miroku Winchester (crescent butt rifle) for $1000.00 in 2000 I think. Lightly used, no box or papers. I just bought the second one, new/old/stock in the box w/paper for $1625.00. It was the third one I had bid on. At the same time I could find stacks of NEW (recent) Winchester/Miroku rifles for $999.99. The new ones of course are all rebounding hammers and tang safties . . . ugh. The Browning/Miroku rifles were made in the mid to late 1980s and of much higher quality in my opinion. My rifle really likes 405 gr boolits ahead of 30 gr. of 5744 . . . . it is a gong ringer out to 300 yards w/stock sights. I think .45-70 was the only chambering for this rifle. I would love to find a Browning/Miroku in .38-55 ! ! But do not believe there is one out there. I could always make one I guess . . . . but that would mean finding and changing one. Anyone have a BEATERR out there and wants to sell it cheap . . . . . let the ol' Sarge know!!

[Sgt Red Leg]

Ya know Ragnarok, go to page #4, 8th row down and there is a thread started by Garcia "...1886 SRC Browning...." that has quit a bit of info in it.

Sarge

[Ragnarok]

I'll soon have my hands on a lightly used Browning 1886 carbine(with box)...maybe this afternoon...maybe tomorrow...maybe Monday..just depends on how fast Fedex 2 day air really delivers.

I checked out Garcia's thread as advised. Surfed the world-wide web looking at Browning 1886 rifles and saddlering carbines...looking at and reading about the newer Winchester and Chiappa 1886 rifles/carbines/short-rifles too.

The general concensus is the discontinued Brownings are the top of the heap. And really..The Browning carbines are easy enough to find!

I watched a couple Browning 1886 SRC auctions end and should've bid..but went for one in a store in Minnesota which shipped it yesterday.

Really shocked me to find that so many of a long discontinued, low production gun are up for sale new or near new in the box.

I'll have a lot of questions when I get the 1886 carbine. I load .45-70 and cast bullets for the chambering..however my .45-70 production is geared to feed an ancient 1881 vintage Trapdoor rifle(really a very high quality rifle...just old...odd and cool). The 1886 SRC will allow me to step-up a bit from the 'Cowboy' power(trapdoor-safe) .45-70 loads I'm using now. This could be fun!!

[Vaughn]

Hello all,
I have just set up a Yahoo Group site for the Miroku made Winchester and Browning 1886 Rifle.
As the site is sponsored by Yahoo Groups it is necessary to join Yahoo Groups first , this is easy click on this link to get to the site You can join after joining Yahoo Groups.
The purpose is to bring owners of these firearms together to share and exchange information. I would ask that you bring this to the attention of all owners of these rifles and also new original Winchester rifles.
https://au.groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/1886Winchester/info
Regards to all Sincerely Vaughn Gunthorpe

[Loudenboomer]

I had problems with misfires caused by to light hammer strike in cold weather on my Miroku 86. I removed the rebounding hammer feature ( as per thread here on Cast Boolits) and problem solved. Great cast shooting hunting rifle and very dependable now.

[NSB]

Get a newer Win/Miroku 1886 and send it to Turnbull. He'll remove the rebounding hammer and safety and fill in the hole on the receiver so you'd never know it had been there. While he's got the gun have them run a reamer in there and give it some throat since they don't come with any at all. Oh yeah, get it case colored while he's got it. I spent somewhere around seven-hundred bucks on top of the eleven-hundred I spent to buy the gun NIB. It now has a three pound trigger, shoots five shot inch and a half groups at 114yds (range at my camp), feeds any bullet, and looks great. It's my prized possession at this point. It NEVER misfires. Had a little cross wind when one group was fired but still not bad. I shot these with a Burris FastFire3 3moa dot. Since then I've put a Williams FP on the back and a small green fiber optic on the front. Easy to see with these old eyes.

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[OuchHot!]

Nice Gun, NSB!!
I have an older browning src....no problems at all but as has been said a bit of a throat would help with some of my boolits. My only complaint is the stock front sight is narrow and hard on these old eyes. They really did a pretty good job on this clone.

[pls1911]

A friend gave me his new one. Said it shoots great.
Have not shot it, maybe never will. However, with the exception of the silly tang safety it's a truely beautiful piece
Marlins remain the go-to field guns.

[RJH]

My old man had one, and it always shot good enough.

[NSB]

Nice Gun, NSB!!
I have an older browning src....no problems at all but as has been said a bit of a throat would help with some of my boolits. My only complaint is the stock front sight is narrow and hard on these old eyes. They really did a pretty good job on this clone.
Turnbull ran their reamer into my gun and lengthened the throat by about .2500" They told me that this is the normal throat on all Miroku guns and that is because they are made to the original specifications. I checked that out and that is correct. It didn't shoot any better by lengthening the throat but it allowed me to use any bullet without crushing it into the rifling to load it. Some of the longer bullets simply wouldn't load at all. I have to say that I'm completely satisfied with everything Turnbull did and it was worth every dollar spent. Their work is flawless. They really know what they're doing.

[303carbine]

My 1886 carbine had the rebounding hammer and tang sight, I never had a problem with accuracy or function of the rifle.
I prefer no tang safety and would rather have the tang sight instead, but over all it was a very good shooter and was too pristine to take outside and was sold over the holidays.
I did however keep my little Marlin 336 RC in 35 Remington for the spring bear hunt, it's more suited to the hunting I do here and I won't be scared to get a few drops of water on it.:wink:

[Ragnarok]

Thread is still alive after two years!!..Wow...

I will add that as a result...I bought a Browning 1886 SRC...real nice with matching box..no manual/papers. Got it from the Rogers Minnesota Cabela's gun room and had it shipped to my FFL. This Cabela's gun-room was slower than dirt and didn't respond much to emails..however eventually they got the gun shipped..and It's a sweetie! Thought I was going to have to wrestle my receiving FFL for it! :smile:


This thread also caused me to incur collateral financial damage..because when I went to pick-up the Browning carbine...my FFL dealer had a fair/decent US M1917 rifle in the used rack for a fair price! Had been looking for one of those!..I bought it too.

These events from 2 years back mark themselves in my mind...mainly because between the Cabela's Browning SRC and the gun-store M1917 rifle this was and still is the most I've ever spent in one convoluted gun-deal. That..and just a couple days after I left the gunstore with an arm-full of rifles the Newtown massacre occurred...:-(..sort-of knocked the joy out of me for sometime.

[MtGun44]

My Extra-Lite is a beautifully manufactured rifle with a nightmare of a
incompetently redesigned by lawyers firing system. The hammer is massively
lightened, the firing pin has an internal lock which absorbs a lot of the (reduced)
energy from the hammer in the plunger & lock mechanism. I had large numbers
of misfires and hideous vertical stringing (18"!!!) at 100 yds with otherwise good
loads. I have partially disabled the rebounding feature, and am looking into
adding back the weight to the hammer, and then brazing the firing pin solid
to really fix this mess.

STUPID design changes by incompetents to meet ill-considered lawyer requirements.

Original 1886 firing pin will NOT fit, not sure if hammer will.

Extremely nicely manufactured, beautiful to look at, precisely made ----- to a STUPID
and unreliable design of the firing system.

AFAIK, the early 'Browning' marked guns did not have this mess, and are like the originals,
reliable. No idea if any other than the batch of Extra-Lites had this messed up firing
system.

Bill