new to me - 1885 Winchester

[nrc]

Picked up a 30" half round half octogon winchester 45-70 this week. I believe this is a badger barreled rifle which would have shipped without iron sights (although the dovetail is cut for a front one).

At the moment it has a 1-5x leupold on it, but I'm thinking of adding traditional sights down the road. For now I'll just shoot it.

The gentleman I'm buying it from in MS says they are changing their hunting regs next year so that single shots no longer get you into the primitive weapons season - whether this is because the season is tightening up, or going away all together I'm not sure. In any case - keep an eye out for single shot rifles from down south.

[bigted]

NRC ... hello and welcome to the forum. how are you doing with your newly acquired Winchester? I have the Browning with the Browning long range vernier rear and hooded insert with a level front. I really like mine and it shoots lights out for me.

that scope will enable you to get a load together so that when you install the long range sight ... you will have eliminated the boolit/load as the culprit if accuracy seems to be lacking. don't ask me why I know this ... [smilie=1:

[nrc]

Hey Bigted - How's the winter this year? I was in Eagle River from '07 to '10 - loved it, but my wife had enough so we came back down to the L48. i was 'nrc' on the Alaska Outdoor forums, but quit posting after we moved down south.

Shot the 1885 today for the first time. I had some of Dad's light reloads (47gr I4895 w/ 405gr J-bullets) and went through 30 rounds. Our range has a 50/100 line that gets pretty crowded so I got the scope dialed at 50 then drove over to the 200 yard line. Unfortunately I underestimated the drop and I was barely on the board at 200 - about half my shots were in a semi cirlce ~5" (with the rest falling short), which is fine for the first time out. Looking at the barrel when I got home and there is quite a bit of unburned powder in there. That load wasn't fully cooking.

Overall I love it though - its the best looking rifle I've ever owned, and the trigger is right where I'd want it. Now to burn through the rest of Dad's handloads so I can start casting.

Nate

[bigted]

gotta be the strangest winter I have seen in the 15 years we been here. every winter is different but WOWWW. this is the icing on the cake I think ... warm mostly with little dips down fairly low. then warming back up for very slick driving conditions ... where we are usually froze down so the ice is sticky ... not this year ... had several freezing rains [instead of the 1 or maybe 2 per year] and it has added to the fun.

we also are going to load up this breakup and head south ... had a blast here but as you pointed out ... it were my dream not the wife's ... so as im tired of acing bones ... we will be in America this summer [around the Eugene area I think] and settle back into the states living ... YIPPY ... gonna miss all this for sure but will feel better with us both happier and not so much stress ... guess a 15 year camping trip must come to an end huh?

glad you like your rifle ... I have the same rifle only it be a Browning with the Browning sights. I really like mine as well and I have the scope setup for it so as to be able to see if it is me or my loads that are strewn all over the target. may need to get my Unertl 10x mounted as this just may be the setup needed to look rite as well as shoot a bit better with my old eyes.

ENJOY!

[EDG]

You are really going to love that rifle.
When you put aperture sights on it you will find that off a bench it will shoot groups like it was scoped.